Posted on 04/11/2009 1:16:29 PM PDT by BarnacleCenturion
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pirates off the eastern coast of Africa fired on U.S. sailors Saturday as they tried to reach the lifeboat where an American captain is being held, a U.S. official familiar with the situation told CNN.
The gunfire forced the sailors, who did not return fire, to turn back, the official said.
The incident took place some 12 hours ago as the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge sent a small team toward the lifeboat, said the official.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Well stated. The reputation of snipers in the riggings are well based, but remember, those were shots taken generally on the same vessel as boarders came aboard and probably within 10-50 meters.
It’s tough enough to land a 105 or 5” shell within 50 ft of the vessel on standard swells, not to mention attempting to land a sniper rifle round even from a couple of a hundred yards out at sea.
Of course a nuclear sub might simply surface beneath her with some SEALS/FORECON performing a deck launch to gain control rapidly.
THE HELL WE WILL!
All probably true, but Obambi would NEVER give the order for snipers to take out these pirates even if they could situate themselves w/o being noticed as close as 50 feet. We all know that. Too bad that this specific circumstance already looks like it’s tailor-made for an Obambi excuse.
Seal mission?
Thank you (and President Roosevelt) for my new tagline!
That would be because most of them have their lips glued to the arse of O-bomb-us.
Get your point on 1 mile range. Distance was not a part of original post.
Still and all, its damn puzzling that the Navy would stand off 1 mile. Let the jb’s shot their AK’s at the ship its unlikely they have a great deal of ammo to begin with.
Were they 500 yards off, friendly or not, it would be a much easier shot. Unless the seas were exceptional a ship the size of Destroyer should not react excessively to mild seas and should be a suitable platform, would you think?
How you gonna get Bawney Fwank to do that?
We do now. (Perhaps if we got permission from King Abdullah first...)
good one
That just shows the professionalism of our troops. Except if they are being described by Murtha and the crew as a bunch of trigger happy killer and rapists.
Our country is screwed. We've got someone that put the f'ing FBI in a combat zone. You and I both know that this is directly a result of the current CIC.
Their mantra for the last 8 years has been that these types of actions are LEGAL actions and not MILITARY actions.
I will not or could not think of following the current douche bags that are in the civilian side of our military. My God, the TOFUS is more worried about putting carbon into the stratosphere to battle global warming and it's 66 degrees here in Texas in April. WTF?
You know, these ‘pirates’ are obviously clinging to hope and deriving strength from their proximity to the Somali coast and their ability to communicate with their comrades. The first thing we ought to consider is isolating these people...throw a line on that boat and haul it way the hell out of there into open water, and out of range of their phones/radios. Then the minute they open that door for fresh air, shoot some tear gas or other unbearable mixture in there until they come out. They’re not going to stay in there if they can’t breathe...once we see the captain in the water, blow that thing to kingdom come. Then they can release the captain...or stay in the water.
Actually, Zilch doesn’t work on weekends.
Better hurry up because the whole mess is just about to float onshore. They were 20 miles offshore three hours ago. Depending on the prevailing winds and tide there’s an Islamic mob waiting for that poor captain. CNN said earlier these people have ties to Al Qaeda.
Obama is about to have blood on his hands.
Are these the moderate pirates we’ve been looking for to negotiate with?
What in the hell is wrong with BHO!!!!
This Shi! should have been over and done with the second the Bainbridge arrived. We are all in big, big trouble!
“Hard to believe the POTUS is not calling the shots, or should I say, the non-shots.”
Chain of command. This POS is the CIC. We all know this could have been resolved long ago. But we have a muslim protecting and defending fellow muslims in the WH calling the shots. No, I am not buying he is a wussie like Carter. Rather, he’s a very agressive and assertive communist who also happens to adhere to the terroristic principles of Islam. These pirates are muslims. By definition, this makes them muslim terrorists. The media prefers to glamorize them by calling them pirates. But what they are in reality is muslim terrorists on the high seas.
That's it.
They have to be under orders from Obama to not harm his fellow Muslims.
By the way, his half brother (and Muslim) pictured above was just arrested in the UK.
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