Posted on 04/19/2009 8:50:32 AM PDT by NorwegianViking
WASHINGTON While Barack Obama is basking in praise for his "decisive" handling of the Somali pirate attack on a merchant ship in the India Ocean, reliable military sources close to the scene are painting a much different picture of the incident accusing the president of employing restrictive rules of engagement that actually hampered the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips and extended the drama at sea for days. Multiple opportunities to free the captain of the Maersk Alabama from three young pirates were missed, these sources say all because a Navy SEAL team was not immediately ordered to the scene and then forced to operate under strict, non-lethal rules of engagement. They say the response duty office at the Pentagon was initially unwilling to grant an order to use lethal force to rescue Phillips. They also report the White House refused to authorize deployment of a Navy SEAL team to the location for 36 hours, despite the recommendation of the on-scene commander. The White House also turned down two rescue plans offered up by the Seal commander on the scene and the captain of the USS Bainbridge. The SEAL team operated under rules of engagement that required them to do nothing unless the hostage's life was in "imminent' danger... Hours later, frustrated by the missed opportunities to resolve the standoff, the commander of the Bainbridge and the captain of the Navy SEAL team determined they had operational authority to evaluate the risk to the hostage, and took out the pirates at the first opportunity finally freeing Phillips.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Only the capon media and fools thought Obama was decisive in this action. Anyone watching could see otherwise - especially America’s enemies.
This should be headline news! Sadly, it will only get coverage on Fox News!
will the media look into this , this they report this?
Nah didn’t think so and then the loony left hates facts anyway.
The first time when the capt jumped overboard the seals could have got he pirates but instead everyone just sat there watching because this idiot in the white house didn’t want to use violence instead he wanted so much to prove that talking is much better than shooting
well phony your view and talking never worked and yet I still wait for the president(ARF) to denounce these terrorists.
I await for the tough talking and action against them
Surely, something of this nature was suspected. Phillips thanked a whole lot of folks for his rescue but never once mentioned POTUS
Suddenly, Jonas Hodges doesn’t seem so crazy :-)
I wonder . . .
Haven’t read the WND article. Is this a factual report, or is it based upon the viral e-mail making the rounds? Need to have quotes and factual sources, not presumption and conjecture (even if very believable, and probably factual).
God bless the Capt of the Bainbridge and the leader of the Seal team for having big cajones! Obama’s are sucked up somewhere around his adenoids.
the media is really pissing me off.
they covered for him in the elections,
it was the media what got him elected
and now they are still in blackout mode for him.
There has been loads and loads of people who I have talked to in the last year who have never heard of many of obama’s connections, deals, views and agendas.
I will look for the media and give them my view like that lady did in Chicago or another woman did in the elections.
As Rahm Emanuel would say, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” The longer the drama played out, the more Obama was in the spotlight and the more drama was injected into the situation. Had it been over and done in hours, Obama would simply be an afterthought.
did you notice the white house flew the crew in right after the tea parties
then the white house I am sure has debriefed the capt and said in so many words no to question to why we didn’t get the pirates when you jumped overboard or anything else as a matter of security
I know I would say to the media that I was wondering when the seals would shoot or the navy would do something and even when I risked my life jumping overboard I was shocked to find that everyone was just watching instead of shooting them
That's the bottom line. If they didn't know it before, they know it now. Iran said today that we are weak and they'd cut off any offered hand. The captain came out of it ok, but I doubt the US will.
Obama is either ANGRY or SCARED.
It's apparent the military acted independently...with lethal force...when they were supposed to be on a leash.
If the rescue did not go perfectly, you can bet some uniformed low level officer would have been fired and or court marshaled.
“Only the capon media and fools thought Obama was decisive in this action.”
Oh, I think he was decisive.....just imagine the benefit to omomma and his handlers to a long drawn-out Philips held in an unknown location onshore in Somalia.....an incredible high profile distraction to the dozens of their other activities to tear down America.........never let a crisis go to waste, ya know?
We can thank Klinton and Les Aspin for the status quo in Somalia, btw.
The Captain of the Bainbridge is the hero in my book for not allowing any more time to elapse before taking action.
Never get in a fight with your hairdresser when they have scissors in one hand and your hair in the other. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.