Posted on 04/24/2009 3:55:12 PM PDT by Starman417
Stung by the widely circulated SEAL pals account of what really happened in Somalia (discussed here last Friday), the Obama administration had National Security Advisor James L. Jones and a number of anonymous Pentagon sources give their side two days ago in a Washington Times exclusive. Their mission, according to reporter Bill Gertz, was:
... to dispel Internet reports that the military was delayed from taking action by indecision inside the White House.Clintonesque parsing of words is evident throughout the Jones-Pentagon account, amounting on more than one occasion to outright dishonesty. Yet the actual information they provide (as opposed to the lawyerly spin they try to put on it) actually confirms the most damning details in BooBooFans purported SEAL report.
Exhibit 1: The Rules Of Engagement.
BooBooFan states the ROE this way:
Once [SEAL teams] arrived, BHO imposed restrictions on their ROE that they couldn't do anything unless the hostage's life was in "imminent" danger.The Pentagons rebuttal states the ROE without any requirement that the danger be "imminent":
"It took awhile to get facts and then to get the military on scene," said one senior military official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of discussing special forces operations. "As the picture got more clear and commanders' requests went back down the chain, the guidance was: 'We would like a peaceful resolution. However, if Captain Phillips' life is in danger you can take appropriate action.'But we know from Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, speaking at the time of the incident, that the ROE did specify "imminent danger," and that this was interpreted literally:
Navy officers aboard the USS Bainbridge were in the midst of a drawn-out hostage negotiation when Navy snipers saw one of the pirates aim his AK-47 machine gun at Capt. Richard Phillips's back and concluded the American was in "imminent danger," said Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, commander of naval forces in the Middle East.Gertz report includes Gortneys earlier statement, but without any comment on its inconsistency with the current rebuttals. Intead, Gertz just relays the interpretation that is presented to him, where the Pentagon dismisses the imminent danger claim by denying that the ROE was in any way restrictive:
The posting also stated that rules of engagement imposed by the president prevented action unless the hostage's life was in imminent danger.The military official said the commander had authority to take action at all times because Mr. Phillips was being held at gunpoint.
Yes, but as soon as the pirates took their weapons OFF of Philips, our sailors were barred from taking action. This is exactly the opportunity they would have been waiting for in order TO take action. So the ROE was, you are free to take action, UNTIL you have an opportunity, then you can't, as actually occurred when Philips briefly escaped his captors.
Jones and the Pentagon spokesman try to cover this up, Jones by mis-stating the ROE, the Pentagon spokesman by pretending that the ROE did not really restrict anyone, but Vice Admiral Gortney's statement makes perfectly clear that the crazy ROE was followed to the letter. Instead of taking out the pirates at a moment of minimum risk to Captain Philips, they actually waited until Philips was in maximum peril. With all due credit to our soldiers for following orders, that is absolutely insane.
Exhibit 2: The passed-up rescue attempts
Here our anonymous Pentagon spokesman takes the lawyerly parsing of language to new heights, pulling off an amazing bait-and-switch.
BooBooFans claim is devastating if true:
The first time the hostage jumped, the SEALS had the raggies all sighted in, but could not fire due to ROE restriction.The Pentagon's reply seems to be equally devastating:
However, military officials at the Pentagon involved in the operation said Navy SEAL snipers had not arrived on board the Bainbridge at that time and therefore could not have fired on the pirates.Except BooBooFan never said it was the SEAL sniper team that had the Islamofascist pirates sighted in, and the Pentagons own account verifies that regular SEAL teams were already on site. In Gertz' paraphrase:
Mr. Obama first authorized a few Navy SEALs from a base in Africa to deploy to the Bainbridge and take necessary action. The team was flown by transport aircraft and parachuted to waters near the warship, officials said.The arrival of the first SEAL team gave the military an emergency capability if the pirates holding the ships captain became violent. Mr. Jones said the Pentagon requested a second, more complete SEAL team to be dispatched from the United States and Mr. Obama approved that request as well.
Once Captain Phillips leapt in the water, it did not require snipers to take out the pirates. As I put it in my own initial remarks on the subject:
WTF? No one was ready at the machine gun to waste the pirates when this guy got clear?According to BooBoo, a SEAL team WAS ready, and Jones' account confirms this detail. It is only some slippery use of language on the part of the Obama-defending military spokesmen that make this sound like a debunking, when it is actually a confirmation.
Exhibit 3: It was either Obama himself, or his immediate underlings, who devised the ROE
The administrations rebuttal effort takes pains to paint the controversial Rules of Engagement as coming from CENTCOM, not the president:
(Excerpt) Read more at Flopping Aces ...
for later
Ping
Is he not the dumbest POTUS?
How long before this freekin idiot gets someone killed???
BAWAHAHAHAHA
New title: “Obama caught lying about own savior status”
sadly, I’m not surprised...
Funny? Didn’t see this in the lib news...Seems their hero OBAMA is nothing but a coward. What a shock!!!!!!!!! NOT..
YEP...that’s an understatement...competely unqualified and misguided...
after the Navy Seal Team was in place, and
after the lifeboat was under tow and within 100 feet.
The mission was 100% successful. This is the first time I can remember so much Monday morning Quarterbacking after a win.
Down in a Banana Republic
waiting on the Chosen One
to save the lives of Americans
but he can’t be bothered when he’s having fun
We’re Down in a Banana Republic,
led by The Tropical Son...
a repatriated American,
at least he’s hoping to be seen as one.
Late at night you can find him,
on his blackberry to Soros in his car,
who’s watching the senoritas
as they dance beneath the stars.
The List, ping
Zero is too busy looking in the mirror at himself to give a rat’s ass.
Thanks for the ping....alerting others/.
Behind the Scenes at the Rescue Off Somalia
*******************************EXCERPT*******************************
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Papa B forwards this one.
Your "Real" story is not exactly the way I heard it, and probably has a few political twists thrown in to stir the pot. Rather than me trying to correct it, I'll just tell you what I found out from my contacts at NSWC Norfolk and at SOCOM Tampa.
First though, let me orient you to familiarize you with the "terrain."
In Africa from Djibouti at the southern end of the Red Sea eastward through the Gulf of Aden to round Cape Guardafui at the easternmost tip of Africa (also known as "The Horn of Africa") is about a 600 nm transit before you stand out into the Indian Ocean. That transit is comparable in distance to that from the mouth of the Mississippi at New Orleans to the tip of Florida at Key West-- except that 600 nm over there is infested with Somalia pirates.
Ships turning southward at the Horn of Africa transit the SLOC (Sea Lane of Commerce) along the east coast of Somalia because of the prevailing southerly currents there. It's about 1,500 nm on to Mombassa, which is just south of the equator in Kenya. Comparably, that's about the transit distance from Portland Maine down the east coast of the US to Miami Florida. In other words, the ocean area being patrolled by our naval forces off the coast of Somalia is comparable to that in the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River east to Miami then up the eastern seaboard to Maine.
Second, let me globally orient you from our Naval Operating Base in Norfolk, VA, east across the Atlantic to North Africa, thence across the Med to Suez in Egypt, thence southward down the Red Sea to Djibouti at the Gulf of Aden, thence eastward to round Cape Guardafui at the easternmost tip of Africa, and thence southerly some 300 miles down the east cost of Somali out into the high seas of the Indian Ocean to the position of MV ALABAMA is a little more than 7,000 nm, and plus-nine time-zones ahead of EST.
Hold that thought, in that, a C-17 transport averaging a little better than 400 kts (SOG) takes the best part of 18 hours to make that trip. In the evening darkness late Thursday night, a team of Navy SEALs from NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) Norfolk parachuted from such a C-17 into the black waters (no refraction of light) of the Indian Ocean-- close-aboard to our 40,000 ton amphibious assault ship, USS BOXER (LHD 4), the flagship of our ESG (Expeditionary Strike Group) in the AOR (Area Of Responsibility, the Gulf of Aden). They not only parachuted in with all of their "equipment," they had their own inflatable boats, RHIB's (Rigid Hull, Inflatable Boats) with them for over-water transport. They went into BOXER's landing dock, debarked, and staged for the rescue-- Thursday night.
And, let me comment on time-late: In that the SEAL's quick response-- departing ready-alert in less than 4 hours from Norfolk-- supposedly surprised POTUS's staff, whereas President Obama was miffed not to get his "cops" there before the Navy. He reportedly questioned his staff, "Will 'my' FBI people get there before the Navy does?" It took the FBI almost 12 hours to put together a team and get them packed-up-- for an "at sea" rescue. The FBI was trying to tell him that they are not practiced to do this-- Navy SEALs are. But, BHO wanted the FBI there "to help," that is, carry out the Attorney General's (his) orders to negotiate the release of Captain Phillips peacefully-- because apparently he doesn't trust GW's military to carry out his "political guidance."
The flight of the FBI's passenger jet took a little less than 14 hours at 500-some knots to get to Djibouti. BOXER'S helos picked them up and transported them out to the ship. The Navy SEALs were already there, staged, and ready to act by the time POTUS's FBI arrived on board latter that evening. Notably, the first request by the OSC (On Scene Commander) that early Friday morning to take them out and save Captain Phillips was denied, to wit: "No, wait until 'my' FBI people get there."
Third, please consider a candid assessment of ability that finds that the FBI snipers had never practiced shooting from a rolling, pitching, yawing, surging, swaying, heaving platform-- and, target-- such as a ship and a lifeboat on the high seas. Navies have been doing since Admiral Nelson who had trained "Marines" to shoot muskets from the ship's rigging-- ironically, he was killed at sea in HMS VICTORY at the Battle of Trafalgar by a French Marine rifleman that shot him from the rigging of the French ship that they were grappling alongside.
Notably, when I was first training at USNA in 1955, the Navy was doing it with a SATU, Small Arms Training Unit, based at our Little Creek amphib base. Now, Navy SEAL's, in particular SEAL Team SIX (The "DevGru") based at NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) at Little Creek do that training now, and hone their skills professionally-- daily. Shooting small arms from a ship is more of an accomplished "Art Form" than it is a practiced skill. When you are "in the bubble" and "in tune" with the harmonic motion you find, through practice, that you are "able to put three .308 slugs inside the head of a quarter at 100 meters, in day or night-- or, behind a camouflaged net or a thin enclosure, such as a superstructure bulkhead. Yes, we have the monocular scopes that can "see" heat-- and, draw a bead on it. SEALs are absolutely expert at it-- with the movie clips to prove it.
Okay, now try to imagine patrolling among the boats fishing everyday out on the Grand Banks off our New England coast, and then responding to a distress call from down around the waters between Florida and the Bahamas. Three points for you to consider here: (1) Time-Distance-Speed relationships for ships on the high seas, for instance, at a 25-knot SOA (Speed Of Advance) it takes 24 hours to make good 600 nm-- BAINBRIDGE did. (2) Fishermen work on the high seas, and (3) The best place to hide as a "fisherman" pirate is among other fishermen
Bookmark
See # 37 and the bit about the FBI .....flown to the ship....
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