Posted on 04/12/2009 3:52:08 PM PDT by Perdogg
U.S. Navy snipers opened fire and killed three pirates holding an American captain at gunpoint, delivering the skipper unharmed and ending a five-day high-seas hostage drama on Easter Sunday.
The pirates were pointing AK-47s at Capt. Richard Phillips and he was in "imminent danger" of being killed when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge made the split-second decision to order his men to shoot, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
NOW this I believe
Give him a break, he was chilling with Teddy K discussing a new pet.
Curiously, Ted gave them a Water Dog, rumored to be excellent swimmers.
We’re seeing the same kind of “hands tied behind our backs” jackassery that led to the Somalia fiasco.
Four pirates in the middle of the ocean threatening to kill an American hostage and Obama has to be asked TWICE if it is OK to shoot to KILL.
I wonder how long Obama had to think it over.....
I read on another thread that Obama approved deadly force two times. Your edit of the title leads to the conclusion that he withheld approval. Got source for that?
ping
Obuma had to get the OK from our European “allies”...then discuss it with the Whitey House Code Pink advisers...
Read the article, I quoted the source.
I don’t know how many times o was asked or how many times he replied but I do know its one F’d up system where he had to be asked at all.
What - don't they know that 0dumbo doesn't work weekends! He's got a pizza party and bowling and can't be bothered with some honky about to be killed by the "religion of peace".
/sarc
It should have been the standing order from the get go...instead it took BO 2 days to agree.
I’ll speculate that approval to go was given and the opportunity dissolved. Then they went back for a second “go” when conditions became favorable.
I thought I heard that on FOX—I guess I heard right.
I also heard Julie Banderas report that Obama said he was going to end this piracy problem once and for all (paraphrased) We are so lucky to have the oba-messiah leading our way through his universe.
This “”The Defense Department twice asked Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Phillips, most recently late Friday evening, U.S. officials said. On Saturday morning, Obama signed off on the Pentagon’s request, as he had a day earlier, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.”
The Admiral at the Pentagon news conference was very clear. (1) Obama signed nothing, made no calls. (2) the Navy acted on “existing authorities” to take out the pirates if the hostage was in imminent danger, The Navy said they interpreted the pointing of a gun at the hostage as “imminent danger.” (and they finally had clear shots.
I would not be a bit suprised...
Not a BIT suprised...
If the Captain gets court martialed for something in the near future.
I suspect that the order was more like ... take NO action unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. So the Captain found it absolutely necessary when the chance came ... had it gone wrong I’d bet the farm FUBO would say ... “ I never gave the order”
The Captain of a US warship shouldn’t have to wait for someone in DC to make a decision.
That’s why they are Captains, they are paid to make the tough decisions the hard decision the right decisions and ultimately the decisions that save the most lives.
If this pretend president wants to be in control of everything down to the man with the rifle, he is going to hamper the efforts and destroy the morale of our armed forces.
I posted this in another thread, but Obambi wants all the credit. He gave the authority for the use of force as recently as an hour after the captain was rescued.
Zer0 used weasel words. If this had gone bad, he could have said that he never authorized deadly force, just “keep the captain safe”
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