Similar to my thought when the capt. tried to escape. Swimmers loitering under the boat could have "neutralized" the pirates when the capt went into the drink.
Perhaps that is naive, not knowing fully what is involved in "loitering" swimmers below.
The poor captain probably thought a SEAL team was waiting in the dark ocean to take out the terrorists when he jomped overboard.
Just like when The US Army asked for tanks in Somalia pre-Black Hawk Down and the Congressional Black Caucus told Clinton NO. “You will not use tanks against Africans.”
Also - you will not have ANY oversight over Fannie and Freddie when the CBC, Dodd and Frank say so.
I also came up with the same thoughts independently of reading freerepublic. Now that we have all these military guys sitting around give them what they need and the go ahead to get it done. Make it so captain. The guy jumped in the water, whats Obama doing sitting on his hands? Ohhh the sweet irony that the first US ship is the USS Bainbridge. THAT STANDS FOR COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bainbridge When the United States found that bribing the pirate Barbary states did not work, and decided to use force, he served against Algiers and Tunis. In 1800, Bainbridge was sent to carry the tribute which the United States still paid to the dey of Algiers to secure exemption from capture for its merchant ships in the Mediterranean. Why are we such wussyies having to repeat history? No arms on merchant ships, WOW. Hello? 911 yeah my captain has been shot in the head. Could you send some homicide investigators?
Yeah. See the problem with just sort of hanging around in the waters off the shore of Somalia has to do with the large toothy sea life that hunts there. Ever see the movie (or read the book) Blackhawk Down? When the noob is flying in to join the unit he remarks how inviting the beach looks and somebody in the chopper says the water's real warm but loaded with (gulp) SHARKS. Yeah, well.
I have been asking SEALs for 30 years what do they do if they parachute from 30K feet into offshore waters to scuba into the beach and suddenly Mr Great White shark shows up? Maybe with some of his buddies? I mean the great Hammerhead shark schools by the hundreds in the bay of Campeche off of Panama, C.A. and that's the spot where Jacques Cousteau lost his son to a shark attack! So it does happen.
I just wonder how many SEALs have fallen victim to such a sea predator given the amount of time they spend in the water? I guess they could pop a grenade and shove it in the critters mouth but then there's a whole new set of dangers with the concussion underwater....
This is a watch I would not enjoy standing...