Currently, its jets don't have sufficient range to operate for extended periods to the outer limits of China's territorial claims, experts say.

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Special Agent Warren Worth, an Army criminal investigator, testified last week that there was confusion at Abu Ghraib over where the outer limits of this authority lay, and how far the military police soldiers (like England) should go in softening up detainees.

CNN: Carter: The 'I followed orders' defense

In a briefing given shortly after the incident, Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, maintained that the warships were traveling 15 miles from Iranian land territory at the time, and therefore outside the outer limits of the 12-mile Iranian territorial waters.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Sirens in the Strait

Yet earlier this month the Interior Department released a new five-year plan that puts most of the Outer Continental Shelf off-limits for oil drilling.

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There are tens of billions of barrels of oil--not to mention gobs of natural gas--off the U.S.' coasts, yet Congress has declared 85% of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf off-limits to exploration and drilling.

FORBES: We've Seen This Movie Before

There are tens of billions of barrels of oil--not to mention gobs of natural gas--off our own coasts, yet Congress has declared 85% of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf off-limits to exploration and drilling.

FORBES: We've Seen This Movie Before

Most of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf is off-limits to oil and gas exploration and production, even though there are upward of 100 billion barrels of oil and immense amounts of natural gas estimated to be there.

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