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They had moved into position after the White House expanded the authority it had given the world's most powerful navy against a rag-tag foe holding an American hostage.

So this must have been the second request that we have been hearing about.

It's exactly what I thought. Obama gives the order but then rescinds it when the FBI comes in, even though the SEALs had clean shots. When negotiations break down he reauthorizes it but the SEALs almost didn't get the opportunity again.

The wording I heard... as to taking out the root cause in Somalia.... the shipman used ‘implore’ in his statement to 0.

Have a no-freep job, dammit, so I’m always way behind.

Words have meanings. ‘Implore’ is a very unusual way to state the request.

I just read Gates’ account in my paper this morning. It is pure spin. Point number 1: The Marxist Onada imposed himself on decision making early on. The military was not permitted to take any action without his approval. Point number 2: The ship’s captain was in the lifeboat for four or five days. Point number 3: Ship’s captain jumped out of boat leaving pirates without a shield and military took no action. Gates specifically talked about mitigating risk in his comments today. If that was the goal, then the least risky time to kill (gasp) the pirates would have been while the captain was in the water. But no, the pirates were permitted to recapture the captain. Point number 4: Why would permission to shoot require two separate approvals simply because different American military entities would be handling the job? Doesn’t make any sense except to brain dead demrat and RINO voters.

Gates would have been better off keeping his mouth shut. He does not lie very well.