Thank you, France. RIP, Captain.
Posted on 04/12/2009 12:00:21 AM PDT by Cincinna
In admission that will cast fresh doubts over the controversial decision to free Florent Lemacon and four other hostages by force, defence minister Herve Morin said he could not rule out the possibility that he had been hit by a French commando's bullet.
"There will be a judicial inquiry and therefore an autopsy," he told French radio. "One cannot exclude that during the exchange of fire between the pirates and commandos the shot was French,"
Mr Morin spoke out as the piracy crisis on the Indian Ocean escalated yet further, with yet more vessels attacked and no sign of an end to the standoff between a US navy destroyer and the boatload of pirates holding American captain Richard Phillips hostage.
The French navy also released dramatic footage of the hostage drama aboard the Tanit, the yacht on which Mr Lemacon was travelling with his wife Chloe, three year old son Colin, and another French couple.
The images, shot from a French military craft, show them sitting down in the yatch surrounded by Kalashnikov-wielding pirates on all sides. In one shot, a female hostage - looking visibly frightened - stared out to sea as a gunman pointed his assault rifle right at her head.
Other footage showed Friday's ill-fated rescue mission itself, with a boatful of black-clad French commandos speeding toward the stricken yacht and clambering aboard. Mr Lemacon is believed to have died in an exchange of fire as he tried to duck down the yacht's hatch. Two pirates also died in the operation, while another three were caught and are expected to be taken to France for trial.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
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Obama should pick up the phone and call Sarko for advice.
While the Captain of an American ship is being held hostage by Somali Pirates, His Barackness is creating commissions to investigate. Every day that passes proves even further just how weak and ineffectual Obama is in a crisis.
Sarkozy called in France’s Special Forces, and in a battle that lasted less than five minutes, the hostages, including a toddler, were freed. Sadly, the young father was killed.
May he rest in peace.
Well I know this, If I am captured and held by terrorists any and all badass American military Types have my permission to come in guns a blazing. Just make sure you get the bad guys 5 times in the head each, if you hit me by mistake I will understand, just so the asswipes that were holding me never suck in another breath I’ll call it good!
I agree, but if you are sailing your yacht up the coast of Somalia and get taken by pirates I’m not so sure the marines should risk their lives.
Merchant ships are another story but they should at least have a couple guns on board.
“Mr Lemacon, an engineer, and Mrs Lemaçon, a sales engineer, had given up their jobs to restore the 33-year-old Tanit before setting sail last year, saying that they wanted to flee “the consumer society and its routine”.
But as they sailed into the Indian Ocean, the dangers of the wilder, more lawless world they were entering into were spelled out to them in no uncertain terms. Last month, when they crossed paths with a French frigate participating in a European Union anti-piracy operation, they were “strongly advised” against continuing their intended voyage to Zanzibar. The couple carried on however. In a blog of their journey, they said that they had merely been told to keep away from commercial shipping routes - although they also indicated a laissez-faire attitude to the risk of being hijacked.
“The danger is there and has indeed become greater over the past months, but the ocean is vast,” they wrote. “The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream.” In the end, that was exactly what happened.”
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They were warned in no uncertain terms about the area but went traipsing along their merry way anyway. Just like those hippy-dippy types who sailed into Khmer Rouge waters in the seventies and died in Tuol Sleng.
I honestly believe the French Government rescued these clowns more for the pirate’s sake than theirs.
Oh, come on, don’t you dream of a Somali vacation? The excitement, the adventure, the dysentery and finally kidnapping.
I feel the same way about it that you do.... I’d rather die in a rescue attempt than let such scum make the US look cowardly.
Roger Dat!,,,
Hit My Yellow Smoke > . <
The world in general did not take that as a lesson to go soft on hostage takers.
CHANGE!
And oh! look! Puppy!
that's "At least one, possibly three hostages died by Israeli fire"
Thank you, France. RIP, Captain.
So: I guess if they were hit by firendly fire that means no government should go on recue missions against pirates?
By the way how many people have we lost in Florida waters after drug dealers seized their boats.
Friendly fire happens. It’s called “reality.” The alternative is paying infinite tribute for hostages.
That figures. Military men needlessly put at risk because of the cavalier attitude of some “free spirits” with more money than sense.
I’ll have to look for the blog in the future and see if she blames the pirates or the French military for her husband’s death.
I was gonna go there on September 19 for the annual “Talk Like A Pirate Day” cruise. Puffy shirt and all.
I don’t get it. One or two security guy’s with a 50 cal. and this goes away!
I hate to say this, but this couple got exactly what they asked for. The French government is not at fault for the guy's death, no matter how much the liberal hand-wringers want to tell it.
And if the can’t make it as pirates they come to the United States and become cab drivers in Minnesota or work in a meat packing company complaining about their right to two dozen prayer breaks per shift.
I remember an interview with Moishe Dyan (Sp?) at the time. In essence, he said that there was a basic difference between the attitude of Israel and the US in regard to hostage situations. Israel operated as if the hostages were as good as dead already. They (Israel) operated to stop future abductions. Remember the Mayaguez? Immediate use of force by President Ford, though costly, stopped the Khmer Rouge from trying that crap on US ships again.
It seems that the pirates do have a modest cheering section out there somewhere—maybe the Axelrod shop trying to cover for Obama—but on websites and blogs there appears to be someone making a rote argument asserting that Somalia’s unmanaged waters have been fished out by international trawlers and had toxic waste dumped in them, and that, while this doesn’t justify their acts of piracy, we should be more understanding...
No mention of Barry and the Pirates in the Sunday WaPo.
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