Posted on 04/12/2009 8:19:45 PM PDT by Nachum
Sorry libs. Obama did not give the direct order to kill the Somali pirates. You'll have to wait another day for the cut-and-runner to earn his hero badge. Blackfive has the real story:
I just finished listening to the press conference w/ ADM Gortney about the rescue of Captain Phillips. At the time it happened the USS Bainbridge was towing the lifeboat to calmer waters as the sea state was deteriorating. One of the pirates was on board the Bainbridge as the talks about obtaining Phillip's release continued. The lifeboat was approx. 25 m behind the Bainbridge when snipers on the fantail observed one of the pirates in the pilot house of the lifeboat pointing an AK-47 at the back of a tied up Phillips and the other two pirates on board were visible (at least shoulders and heads). The standing authority gave them clearance to engage the pirates if the life of the captain was in imminent danger. The on scene commander deemed this to be true and gave the order to fire. All three bad guys were taken out and then a rigid inflatable boat went to the lifeboat to retrieve Phillips. It is unknown at this point whether the shooters were SEALs or Marine Scout Snipers as both would have been available.
This was not a rescue attempt ordered by National Command Authority i.e. the President. It was a reaction by the on scene commander under standard authority to safeguard the life of a hostage.
The AP is reporting that President Obama gave the order to use military force to rescue the hostage, that is misleading. They want so desperately for the community organizer to become a real hero.
More... They were pointing their weapons at the captain. Reuters reported:
"They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain," Vice Adm. William Gortney, head of the U.S. Naval Central Command, said in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain.
Gortney also said Washington had rejected negotiations with the pirates. "The United States government policy is to not negotiate," he said.
Now if these were babies who had survived botched abortions...
ping
Thanks for the ping!
Did they think we really bought that story to begin with? This is no surprise to this freeper whatsoever.
I noticed when the crew got off the plane last night that they were walking right by the “journalist” asking them questions. It looked like (and i’d heard) that they weren’t allowed to talk about what transpired.
Only one guy talked to the journalist and he appeared to have been “celebrating” (wink wink) on the flight back. Which he rightly deserved i’m sure.
Now that’s a disgraceful picture!
Don’t you know that Obama should be a SIX-star General?
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