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.
The List, ping
Gee color me suprised. Our terrible leader wouldn’t have the cajones to order it. And besides I love how the AP reports that he twice ordered it....What? Twice. Why twice? They just put that in there to make it seem like all along he was for military action when he really wasn’t. The Navy Seals or whoever freed him should get the credit...not Obama
Those are not the pirates I knew.
Eeh... Who HASN'T eaten boiled eggs and cabbage to run off inlaws?
Next time, I'll invite some squids.
BZ, Navy.
/johnny
Throwing the Pirates under the bus.....Wish I could do the graphics....Big orange bus!
Obama did the bare minimum here.
I am glad Obama did not screw things up, completely, but there is plenty of time for that. Just watch -— what will he do next to stop this stuff from happening again?
Big Orange Bus....with pontoons!
In other words Obama was present on this crisis and nothing more than that.
FYI
Yes, they’re saying this is his first security test and how well he’s passed it. If it were President Bush we’d get stories of the poor pirates and why the USA forces them to be pirates.
A Navy rebuilt by Ronald Reagan, revitalized by George Bush and held back five days against four pirates by Hussien Obama.
Those Muslim religious nut job pirates should have known better than to have been clinging so tightly to their guns.
Awesome. This will be blasted on talk radio tomorrow all across the Fruited Plain.
You need to read this.
During this whole ordeal I was wondering how this was going to be played by the WH: I had a hunch Obama would NEVER give a shoot-to-kill order and risk agitating the Muslim world, who he just assured we were not warring with/
But how, how, how did they anticipate it would unfold?
I know a few days ago there were “negotiations”, which “broke down” because the “US” insisted the pirates be brought to justice and stand trial. THEN, the next thing you know, (all the while with NO news directly stating that Obama himself had given any orders to do ANYTHING,) there was news of the disabled boat, out of gas, with only the Captain and several pirates aboard, and then a sudden firefight, with three pirates dead, and the Captain rescued probably by Navy Seals. Meanwhile in the last several hours newsreaders on both cable and MSM are reassuring us that the President gave the order, and Geraldo can’t keep himself from gloating that his boy Barack may actually be a ‘wartime’ President after all. I guess I will have to wait to hear the AM news tomorrow and hear anew whatever spin the WH wants to put on it.
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