[jveritas]

Do not compare the Iran hostage crisis to this in term of magnitude and difficulty. There is a big difference to rescue hostages held hundreds of miles inside an enemy nation with hundreds of thousands of armed troops versus a single hostage held by 4 ragtag pirates on a tiny boat in the middle of the ocean surrounded by our US Navy the mightiest Navy in history of man.

Our enemies know the difference and they know that we are weak today very weak and all this because of Obama.

This action has thousands of sphincters puckering in ports along the Somali coast.

You are still focusing on the pirates and I am talking about Al Qaeda, The Taliban, Iran, North Korea, etc...

[dirtboy]

Do not compare the Iran hostage crisis to this in term of magnitude and difficulty.

The point is, so what if it took five days? We got the ideal outcome. We showed we have the military capacity to pull off a rather difficult tactical rescue, saved our citizen, killed three pirates and captured the fourth for questioning. Picture perfect.

Do not compare the Iran hostage crisis to this in term of magnitude and difficulty.

And I am saying that it is better to show you have the patience to let your military plan, stage and execute rather than respond to the impatient armchair generals. Bush did the same in Afghanistan - I remember a lot of freepers were ripping into Bush, acting like kids in the back seat asking every five minutes "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" When the hammer fell, it was devastating. So was this. From initial appearances, a picture-perfect tactical approach.

[kabar]

I agree with you. We are all pleased the Captain escaped unharmed, but the real message this almost five day ordeal sends is that the US is reluctant to use force even in defense of its own citizens and enforcement of international law. Obama elected to treat this like a domestic hostage holding exercise with the unprecedented use of the FBI to negotiate the release.

Our enemies have learned a great deal about Obama from this incident and none of it is good for us.