"Since I plan to surrender to Somalia fairly soon, I wanted to make sure we'll get the best possible terms."
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 ...
And don’t forget Zero’s grandmother was going to be baptised yesterday, but her Muslim family told her not to. See World Net Daily article: President Barack Obama’s Kenyan Muslim grandmother came within hours of converting to Christianity yesterday but changed her mind after her son prevailed on her not to attend a large evangelistic crusade at a sports stadium where she was to be baptized.
Mama Sarah Obama had dressed and was waiting for a vehicle, hired by members of the Nyang’oma Seventh Day Adventist Church, to take her the 60 miles to the baptisimal service being held at the Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground in Kisumu, the Nairobi Daily Nation reported.
When Pastor Tom Obuya arrived at Mama Sarah’s Nyang’oma Kogello home, he was told she would not be accomplanying him to the Christian service.
“Mama Sarah had assured us that she was converting, and we were ready to baptize her today, but it seems the family has prevailed upon her,” said Pastor Obuya....
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=95456
Rios was interviewed by Geraldo and talked about how the military just sat there...Geraldo did not ask why would the military just sit there? It’s all out there, if we read between the lines.
The fact he brought in the FBI was the sign he was making a big mistake by letting his liberal instincts guide him. The US military couldn’t deal with this? Absolutely insanity.
Ralph Peters is the man. Good guy and also writes columns for NY Post (last I checked).
It is going to be very difficult to get people to go on the record. This is frustrating to me. It first appeared that he acted pretty smart. But now, with all that is known about this creep, I am inclined to believe this report even though it is not totally verifiable.
But belief is not near as good as having some verifiable quotes.
The White House media will never ask the tough questions about obummers part in this heroic rescue. Never. We have already been taken over in large part. This is largely an information controlled country. The leftwing owns most of the propaganda machine in this country.
I believe that we will have new crises upon crises and they will be plenty of evidence in time of why liberals can’t be trusted in important matters. Just look at all the thuggish moves since Obama took over, all over the globe. The world’s tyrants and savaes are rejoicing at this weakling whose first respnse is to apologize for the US.
I hope it is a true account.
It sure makes sense.
"Since I plan to surrender to Somalia fairly soon, I wanted to make sure we'll get the best possible terms."
Good idea. Might not need it in the future though.
I'm sure the WH geniuses are coming up with more airtight ROE so a commander's hands will be tied with no wiggle room to do the right thing.
“Surely, something of this nature was suspected. Phillips thanked a whole lot of folks for his rescue but never once mentioned POTUS”
I keep seeing the word POTUS used to refence Zero. I get most of the initials, but what in the world does the TU stand for? Totally Useless? ;^)
Saw the same thing in my email on Friday.
I don’t get that at all. Naturally we don’t want free-for-all shooting sprees, but it seems to me that the posture of the U.S. Dept of Defense is that lethal force is automatically authorized in a situation where an American, civilian or military, is being held hostage and threatened with death by hostile forces of our nation. Of course the president should be advised of any hostage situation, but why would he even bother to control the details? The Secretary of Defense is even too high an authority here (has there been a peep from that weasel?). Seems to me the appropriate commanders for the regions and types of ships, etc, should have strategized and charged out and been entrusted to execute the plan based on their greater knowledge of the situation at hand, and their deeper military experience. Which ultimately is what did happen, thank God.
If this was the 3:00 am phone call, I think Obama failed the test, and he is incredibly lucky the Navy guys saved face for him. If this Captain would have been killed, or even died from overexposure to the elements and dehydration, as the CIC who said hold your fire, Obama would have his blood on his hands. Any president’s immediate response should have been to SecDef, “Do whatever you have to do to save that American, I give you carte blanche. The next news I want to hear is all Americans are safe. Go to it!”
I'll take Door Number Two: SCARED.
But what he's scared of, is that he won't be The ONE that is adulated throughout the world.
He's scared he will loose his "cool".
It was very, very evident that he had NO thanks geared toward obama! I was so very pleased that he gave all the glory to the military, especially the Seals!
This is the report I received on 4/17/09.
It sounds a lot closer to the truth than anything I’ve seen so far. All that follows was in the email.
From a cousin of mine (retired military with two sons in the military)....Name Redacted
(The ancroyms are tricky but doable...)
Subject: Fw: The real story of Obama’s Decision Making with the hostages.
Interesting...
Having spoken to some SEAL pals here in Virginia Beach yesterday and asking why this thing dragged out for 4 days, I got the following:
1. BHO wouldn’t authorize the DEVGRU/NSWC SEAL teams to the scene for 36 hours going against OSC (on scene commander) recommendation.
2. Once they arrived, BHO imposed restrictions on their ROE that they couldn’t do anything unless the hostage’s life was in “imminent” danger
3. The first time the hostage jumped, the SEALS had the raggies all sighted in, but could not fire due to ROE restriction
4. When the navy RIB came under fire as it approached with supplies, no fire was returned due to ROE restrictions. As the raggies were shooting at the RIB, they were exposed and the SEALS had them all dialed in.
5. BHO specifically denied two rescue plans developed by the Bainbridge CPN and SEAL teams
6. Bainbridge CPN and SEAL team CDR finally decide they have the OpArea and OSC authority to solely determine risk to hostage. 4 hours later, 3 dead raggies
7. BHO immediately claims credit for his “daring and decisive” behaviour. As usual with him, it’s BS.
So per our last email thread, I’m downgrading Oohbaby’s performace to D-. Only reason it’s not an F is that the hostage survived.
Read the following accurate account.
Philips’ first leap into the warm, dark water of the Indian Ocean hadn’t worked out as well. With the Bainbridge in range and a rescue by his country’s Navy possible, Philips threw himself off of his lifeboat prison, enabling Navy shooters onboard the destroyer a clear shot at his captors — and none was taken.
The guidance from National Command Authority — the president of the United States,
Barack Obama — had been clear: a peaceful solution was the only acceptable outcome to this standoff unless the hostage’s life was in clear, extreme danger.
The next day, a small Navy boat approaching the20floating raft was fired on by the Somali pirates — and again no fire was returned and no pirates killed. This was again due to the cautious stance assumed by Navy personnel thanks to the combination of a lack of clear guidance from Washington and a mandate from the commander in chief’s staff not to act until Obama, a man with no background of dealing with such issues and no track record of decisiveness, decided that any outcome other than a “peaceful
solution” would be acceptable.
After taking fire from the Somali kidnappers again Saturday night, the on scene commander decided he’d had enough.
Keeping his authority to act in the case of a clear and present danger to the hostage’s
life and having heard nothing from Washington since yet another request to mount a rescue operation had been denied the day before, the Navy officer — unnamed in all media reports to date — decided the AK47 one captor had leveled at Philips’ back was a threat to the hostage’s life and ordered the NSWC team to take their shots.
Three rounds downrange later, all three brigands became enemy KIA and Philips was safe.
There is upside, downside, and spinside to the series of events over the last week that culminated in yesterday’s dramatic rescue of an American hostage.
Almost immediately following word of the rescue, the Obama administration and its supporters claimed victory against pirates in the Indian Ocean and [1] declared that the dramatic end to the standoff put paid to questions of the inexperienced president’s toughness and decisiveness.
Despite the Obama administration’s (and its sycophants’) attempt to spin yesterday’s success as a result of bold, decisive leadership by the inexperienced president, the reality is nothing of the sort. What should have been a standoff lasting only hours — as long as it took the USS Bainbridge and its team of NSWC operators to steam to the location — became an embarrassing four day and counting standoff between a ragtag handful of criminals with rifles and a U.S. Navy warship.
Obama was as much a hero as Sherlock Moose was..
Obama - Coward in Chief.
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