American Captain Tries Daring Escape from Somali Pirates .....(quickly recaptured)

ABC News ^ | April 10, 2009 | MARTHA RADDATZ

[IrishMike]

American Captain Tries Daring Escape from Somali Pirates

Both Sides Send Reinforcements to Pirate Standoff

The American captain being held hostage by Somali pirates dove into the water during the night in an attempt to escape, but was quickly recaptured, Defense Department officials said today.

The daring overnight escape attempt by Capt. Richard Phillips was the Vermont sailor's latest bit of heroics in the four day old drama on the high seas 300 miles from the nearest coastline.

Phillips had earlier volunteered to be a hostage after his unarmed men took back their freighter, the Maersk Alabama, from the pirates. The captain stepped forward to be a hostage to avoid a bloody battle with the gun toting pirates.

Phillips, 53, didn't get far in his effort to single handedly end the standoff. He was quickly recaptured by the four pirates in the 28-foot open lifeboat. The pirates, out of gas but armed with AK-47 rifles, insist on taking Phillips back to Somalia to hold him for ransom.

Tensions escalated around the little boat today with both sides sending reinforcements to the scene.

The U.S. destroyer Bainbridge has been keeping an eye on the four pirates in recent days and is being joined by another warship, the Halyburton, which carries two helicopters.

The pirates also claim to be sending reinforcements, hijacked ships with their captured crews as human shields.

[EBH]

The lifeboat is an enclosed boat.

[shoutingandpointing]

So what is the picture on Drudge’s homepage? Looks like a bunch of hoodlums whooping it up in a Boston Whaler! http://drudgereport.com/

[Jim Noble]

And what was this message Obama sent? We are weak, very weak.

Guilty, weak, and deserving of contempt.

[fso301]

The hostage separates himself from his captors and nothing happens. Welcome to “The Day’s of Malaise II”

[lacrew]

Alot of people have some action movie type solution here. ABC News has video of the lifeboat. It if fairly well enclosed, and 28 feet long. So, the idea of some sort of simultaneous sniper shot at all 4 pirates seems unlikely. The fact the captain jumped off means that they are getting tired, which is good.

My negotiation would have started this way: If Phillips dies, you all will die. If Phillips lives, you get to live. Since you’re out of gas, lets get this over with.

A recent report stated that the navy gave them radio batteries and food. I wonder how that exchange went...it may have been an opportunity to overpower them...but who knows.

Now, the pirates’ friends are steaming that way, in other hijacked vessels, with their kidnapped crews. Even the pirates know that Obama is a ‘citizen of the world’. Obama should IGNORE these other ships, and not let the circumstance of foreign sailors cloud the situation he has with one American. Step one in this would have been to deny the pirates the ability to communicate...I don’t understand why the Navy hasn’t been able to stop that yet.

Anyway, I hope that Phillips makes it out of this...but I don’t expect alot of gun play.

[jveritas]

Well we have to get our act together in 2010 and 2012 to defeat the socialists and defeatists. It is going to get much worse before it can get better. We are Americans, we will never surrender and will never give up even if our President and the liberals in Congress are socialists and defeatists.

[jwparkerjr]

re: four pirates in the 28-foot open lifeboat

The pictures I have seen of the lifeboat shows it to be one of the covered, no open, types. If it's covered then that really limits the usefulness of snipers to resolve the situation.

Are other pirates really stupid enough to send additional hijacked vessels and their hostages to the area, to be used as human shields?

One answer lies not with the pirates themselves, but with their family and/or friends. Take a bunch of wives and kids or parents to the scene and tell them give up the captain or it's curtains for the relatives. Might also do some serious damage to their homeland, especially around where some of these guys hail.

I would also make it abundantly clear to the pirates that NOTHING would done by coalition (US) forces that would give them martyr status. In fact, if need be they will be dealt with in a manner that absolutely assures their moon god would never let them into his paradise. Same for the kinfolk.

This delay in a resolution is maddening, but when I think about the situation without the interference of emotion I realize the first and foremost goal is the safe return of the captain. And that could well mean waiting them out.

Sadly, the stated, and demonstrated, intentions of our new President regarding dealing with Muslim adherents make it very difficult to deal with these vermin in an appropriate manner, a manner that will prevent further such missions.

[Rebelbase]

Drudge prefers sensationalism in the images he uses.

[VRWCTexan]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090410/us_nm/us_somalia_piracy

Update of sorts....

One can only assume obama is too timid to act - worse : he is afraid to kill a few fellow black african muslims

[reagan_fanatic]

So what is the picture on Drudge’s homepage? Looks like a bunch of hoodlums whooping it up in a Boston Whaler

Drudge is just using a stock photo - that's not the one involved in the current crisis.

[mware]

Wonder what would happen if some Navy Seals would swim under that boat and put a hole in it??

[shoutingandpointing]

“Now, the pirates’ friends are steaming that way, in other hijacked vessels, with their kidnapped crews. Even the pirates know that Obama is a ‘citizen of the world’. Obama should IGNORE these other ships, and not let the circumstance of foreign sailors cloud the situation he has with one American. Step one in this would have been to deny the pirates the ability to communicate...I don’t understand why the Navy hasn’t been able to stop that yet.”

—

Two words: Operation Entebbe. End of story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe

[shoutingandpointing]

Indeed. I left off the “/s” after my post (doh!).

[AmericanInTokyo]

I think some Republican congressmen with balls should begin the quiet drafting of the Articles of Impeachment; we are probably going to need it in six months' to one year's time. Let the Democrats go on record as being traitors and against our country and in favor of one man bringing it to ruin.

That man SWORE to protect the United States from enemies foreign and domestic.

[RandomUserName]

The hostage separates himself from his captors and nothing happens.

That mirrors my first thought. If I were in the captain's situation, I would think that surely the US Navy would have people just itching for me to get into the water, away from my kidnappers, so they could act decisively.

What must he be thinking now? Let down by incompetence. Someone else posted that O has given orders for no shooting and no Seals in the water. If so, the good captain's current situation is a direct result of those orders.

[Girlene]

The hostage separates himself from his captors and nothing happens.

I'm confused about this, also. I'd think the Navy would have eyes on the lifeboat 24/7 with night vision. Once he was seperated from the lifeboat, blow it out of the water. I can't fathom why there wasn't a plan in case the captain did try to escape overboard.

[SampleMan]

This man just provided the perfect opportunity to take out all of the pirates with minimal risk to him.

[BradyLS]

If Capt. Richard Phillips survives this, we need to see how he swings politically. He might be Presidential material.

He's got my vote over the current occupant already.

[exnavy]

I’m sure the navy does have eyes on that life boat day and night. Rules of engagement are determined by the Commander in Chief. Anyone care to guess who that would be?