Posted on 04/12/2009 3:37:39 PM PDT by fiodora
Congratulations all around to the daring warriors who rescued Captain Richard Phillips and captured one of his captors alive.
I am delighted that President Obama's team did not endlessly equivocate. I credit them with bringing the incident to a close. If they needed time to position assets and plan, I am glad they waited.
Update: Reports are that Captain Phillips jumped overboard again. Fragmentary reports suggest sharpshooters may have opened fire allowing him the escape. It is still unclear if there was an actual rescue operation launched
Further update: The head of Maersk just had a news conference ion Norfolk, and stated that a rescue operation approced by President Obama was involved. This is a very encouraging sign, if true.
Further update: Admiral Gortney, speaking from Bahrein to reporters at the Pentagon, just stated that there were standing orders allowing the Captain of the Bainbridge to take action if he saw that Captain Phillips' life was in imminent danger. When one or more AK 47s were pointed at Capt. Phillips, the Bainbridge acted. The Admiral stated that the sharpshooters were on board the Bainbridge when they fired. The Bainbridge was 25-35 meters away from the lifeboat at the time. The Admiral just confirmed that Capt. Phillips was tied up at the time.
It seems clear that the Obama administration deserves some credit for allowing the Bainbridge captain to take action if Capt. Phillips' life was in danger. It would have been hard to justify a ban on such action.
It also seems clear that the personnel on the spot, especially the sharpshooters on the fantail of the Bainbridge and her captain too, deserve our deep gratitude. American Special Forces are simply superb human beings, superbly trained. American military doctrine generally allows the commander on the spot considerable discretion, and it is clear that in this case, the wisdom of that approach was confirmed.
I remain concerned that the captured terrorist will be treated as a criminal defendant, with all the rights of discovery and other secret-busting apparatus that make criminal action inappropriate for terror groups. We know that he will not be subjected to any interrogation techniques that make him seriously uncomfortable.
I also suppose he will be provided a Koran, halaal meals, and (naturally) access to both left wing lawyers and Islamic clergy, whose conversations with him will be held beyond the reach of the good guys.
Phil Aver in an email raises the question of whether or not the captured Somali had his Miranda Rights read to him in a language he understands. If not, he probably walks.
Nope... just can't see it
Plank hell. The punk should be keelhauled and ground for chum.
“The one on the Bainbridge was the youngster, merely a child”
So what, they should have offed him!
One of my best friends was killed in Korea by a 10 year old girl with a knife in a paper bag asking for candy, his buddy killed her but not in time!
Bottomline ... FUBO did NOT give the order ... if anything he got in the way
“Bleep! - Why didn’t he allow them to act on the first day? - Over-all, this operation stank badly!”
Three dead pirates, one alive Captain, not one penny tribute. All’s well.
Just prepping for the libtard spin coming up . . .
The kid will end up being the darling of the Manhattan useless idiiots by the time this is over.
I figured the Recon team embarked in the Boxer would have a dustup with the SEAL team olatoon to see who got to do the shootin’.
“The AP is reporting that President Obama gave the order to use military force to rescue the hostage, that is misleading.”
The woman employed by Maersk gave the official statement from the family today. I noticed that, although there was quite a list of those the family thanked, Hussein was not one of them. Now I understand why.
The fourth pirate needs to be hung from the neck until he’s dead.
I would prefer to see him walk the plank with his hands tied, and Shark chum in the water below.
"they wanted to be towed to calmer waters" LOL
is Obama going to say he “inherited” this military the same way he is constantly saying he “inherited” the bad ecconomy?
it depends on wht they put on the teleprompter...
based on that analysis,
the only Presidential order given by Obama was an executive CYA. (or CMA aka “cover MY *ss and that’s an oder”)
Had Bush been president he would have called the family with a promise to do all he could and he would have been thanked........betcha obama NEVER attempted to reassure the family as he had no intention of a rescue attempt either.
per CNN, they had a cnn former fbi negotiator who said they had invited one of the four over as a negotiation ploy. Give him safe passage back and forth to create good rapport. But I believe this was before the rescue so this former negotiator was talking from negotions are always best spin.
gave order twice OOOORRR had to be asked twice?
Obama does CYA not CnC.
Above his pay grade ;)
Good shooting Seals.
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