Posted on 04/11/2009 7:15:37 PM PDT by fooman
This isn’t going to be the most challenging situation that he’s going to face. All he really has to do is call the CNO into the Oval Office and say, “Admiral, handle it. I want that captain back alive and the pirates made an example of”. Then the pros take over, and Obama comes out of it smelling like a rose.
He won’t do that. As you’ve pointed out, he doesn’t have any idea of what to do. He’s probably trying to micromanage it from the White House, which is going to end up being a great big bucket of fail.
The Obama supporters are too damned stupid to care!
Give me my free tv, car and pay my rent is all they care about. Me, me, me, me...give me...that’s all they have known their entire lives!
And the MSM will cover for Obama because they helped elect him!
“I have a feeling this is going to end badly, with the captain dead or maimed AND we will lose cred like in Blackhawk down.”
If that happens; there had better be massive, huge destruction of the Somali coastline.
This is asinine; and a simple problem that is not a new one to figure how to deal with.
Will be spun to look like a great big victory by the same MSM that helped get the jerk elected. After all, the people around Obama who are calling the shots are part of the MSM elites who also helped Clinton stay in office after Monica.
They can't allow Obama to fail because they will also look like failures (because they are!).
I heard some very NEGATIVE RUNORS! Why can’t we stop it all????
Go to DU or Kos. They are ignoring this and hoping it will just go away.
That kind of thing is why I have more contempt for the mass media than I have for this feckless administration.
If they make to shore or to help, 0bama should be impeached, now!
500 kilometers is 310.6856 miles. That’s what I would call far, especially in a boat. LOL
It is NOT GOING AWAY! Everyday this b****** is in office is another day I will remind them how incompetent he is and what idiots they are to have elected him!
I don't think exposure is a problem. He wasn't in the water very long, and the water temp around that part of the Indian Ocean isn't very low. If anything, it's probably very hot and uncomfortable in the lifeboat.
I think the longer this goes on, the better the skipper's chances actually become, so long as the lifeboat is kept at sea and can't reach the shore or another vessel. Tired, hungry and thirsty pirates make mistakes. Hopefully, it will be a mistake that can lead to his freedom and not his death.
If they make to land, or to help, 0bama has effectively, already bowed.
If they make it to land, we will end up paying 10MM in ransom. Then there will be DOZENS of expats kidnapped ‘round the globe.
Who would have guessed that one of President Obama’s biggest foreign tests in his first 100 days would come from a ragtag band of pirates and a high-seas hostage drama?
The Pentagon has dispatched naval firepower, and the FBI sent in hostage negotiators But Obama has remained silent on the standoff so far.
His top lieutenants have fired back with broad pledges to solve the problem of piracy in the region — without providing detailed plans for doing so.
Attorney General Eric Holder said this week the United States will take whatever steps are needed to protect U.S. shipping interests against pirates, but he also said it is too early to tell what action the U.S. government might take against the pirates if they are captured.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for world action to “end the scourge of piracy.”
Hopefully he's letting his military people do the driving on this one.
If Obama can’t handle this, what the hell is he going to do if the Korean peninsula goes up?
Good grief, the President doesn’t have to personally solve every problem. He’s supposed to have people working for him who *do* know what to do. You turn them loose, then you back their decisions. If you don’t trust them to make sound decisions, then they shouldn’t be there in the first place.
Geez, I learned that in NCO School a quarter of a century ago when I was a kid. Presidents are supposed to know this stuff.
This guy at the Washington Post (Ken Menkhaus
Political Science Professor, Davidson College) is already making excuses for Obama...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/04/10/DI2009041001303.html
“The piracy problem off the coast of Somalia is real, and needs attention, but over-stating its impact on international trade and overreacting is likely to make things worse. The total ransoms paid last year, $20-40 million, is a lot of money in Somalia but little more than a nuisance tax for global shipping.”
That is EXACTLY what's happening. The Indian Ocean has two main currents - one north of the Equator, and one south of the Equator.
The northern current literally runs parallel to the Equator then slams into Somalia, runs up past the Gulf of Aden and up towards the Persian Gulf. ANYTHING off the coast of Somalia gets driven to land, at a pretty healthy 3-4 knots per hour. Given they were bobbing for close to 4 days, that would be 96 hours. Or a potential 400 miles covered.
NOAA current map, showing the Somali current driving water into and up along Somalia.
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