Posted on 04/10/2009 6:21:26 AM PDT by broken_arrow1
WASHINGTON (AFP) The US ship captain being held hostage by pirates off Somalia jumped off the lifeboat where he was being held early Friday but failed to escape his captors, US networks reported. Captain Richard Phillips jumped into the water during the night and tried to swim towards the nearby US destroyer, the USS Bainbridge, but pirates jumped in and recaptured him, three US television networks reported. US military officials told CNN that Phillips was in good condition and that the pirates did not hurt him. The Bainbridge, accompanied by a P-3 Orion surveillance plane, was preventing the pirates from moving their hostage to a larger ship. Meanwhile Vice Admiral William Gortney, the commander of the US 5th Fleet based in Bahrain, told CNN that negotiations between officers on the Bainbridge backed by FBI experts and the pirates were continuing. "We have the USS Bainbridge on station currently negotiating with the pirates to get our American citizen back," Gortney told CNN. Gortney said a key concern was that the pirates were in touch with clan members on the mainland and could try to draw reinforcements to the standoff. "They are communicating. With communication possibly comes coordination, cooperation with each other," Gortney said. Somali pirates have attacked numerous ships in the area in recent months, but this was the first attempted hijacking of a US-crewed vessel -- an act Gortney said represented a new stage in the piracy crisis. "We always thought that one of the potential game changers out there was the US flag -- with US citizens onboard.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Delivering Obama’s pizza chef
where were the sharpshooters and the SEALS?
This is disgraceful
Calling Ross Perot
Navy Sharpshooters? With Obama as our President, you think a Naval officer is going to give an order to take out a Somali “civilian” caught up in the fray, because “civilian” is exactly what this administration & the media would call the guy who swam after the captain. The media would swallow the story the guy the Navy sharpshooter took out was simply caught up in this thing and was actually trying to rescue the captain from drowning. The Naval officer would be demoted and face charges. The sharpshooter would be kicked out of the service and the family of the “civilian” would get $100,000 taxpayer bucks for their agony!
Why weren’t there Seals in the water? Are there instructions from the White House to avoid a confrontation?
WORST HEADLINE EVER!
HE didn’t fail. Our people should have been able to grab him the second he escaped from that vessel.
You would think that infrared sights would be trained on those undocumented Somalia sailors
Guess not. The Captain made a bold attempt for freedom and no one was even paying attention? That’s harsh.
Why are these guys still sucking in oxygen?
An unbelievable failure of leadership.
After this incident, the Navy should unload on Somali ports and Pirate ships. That will learn them!
-He has more sympathy for those Muslim pirates than he does for our American sailors, and/or
-He's simply a big, fat pu$$y. He makes Jimmy Carter look like Chuck Norris.
I know, I know, purely anecdotal and hearsay.
If true, though, how entirely backwards.
These pirates need to be made into fish food. FAST.
Remind me, why do we have a Navy?
This is so wrong and so embarrassing. Where are the Seals/Delta? ... if they had been unleashed this whole piracy problem could have been solved in 48 hours. Just a few pirates are holding the mightiest nation hostage ... this does bode well for our future on the world stage.
unfortunately for our shipping interests obama sees these pirates as
a) black muslims
b) fellow africans
c)community organizers
d) wealth redistributors
meanwhile, let there be St Louis pizza at the WH today
Calling Jimmy Carter..... (sic)
this is pathetic
No, 0bama makes Woody Allen look like John Wayne.
Was the destroyer monitoring the pirate boat? They do have night vision in the Navy right?
As soon as the captain was overboard and out of direct line of fire, flip on the CWIS and turn the rest of the pirates into chum. They don’t have men standing watch with .50cal guns?
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