Posted on 04/13/2009 6:07:49 PM PDT by tobyhill
Reporting from Washington -- Before ending a pirate standoff with three fatally precise shots, U.S. Navy SEAL snipers had passed on multiple opportunities to fire.
They had moved into position after the White House expanded the authority it had given the world's most powerful navy against a rag-tag foe holding an American hostage.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
If you want to take out the pirates killing several lackeys won't do it. They will have to hit the bases hard and that will be only a deterrent. You can't eradicate a low tech activity like piracy Somali style. You can make it a scarier thing to try. Let's see if Obama does that.
I support the killing of the pirates, but it seems highly unlikely they were about to kill the captain. Anything is possible but it makes no sense and I doubt two pirates would go for fresh air as part of the execution. Seems to me the Navy captain took his shot when the opportunity arose. Pointing of a gun at the captain can be taken as an imminent threat but it seems unlikely. Did the captain stretch his orders a bity to get this done? I think that’s why the Obama admin is nervous about what to do with the 4th pirate. Being good liberals, I suspect they are embarrassed over the killing of the pirates.
Well, a couple of things to keep in mind here, is that I believe that negotiations may have had a two-fold (or more) effect. One would be to take off pressure and make the pirates think something might happen. Secondly, it allows for one to assess the situation better. And thirdly, I see two positive results from the negotiations, one result being that they gained the pirates trust enough to put a tow rope on the lifeboat (at the ridiculously close distance of a mere 25 yards, more or less), and the second result, being that they were able to get one pirate *off* the lifeboat (making the odds better when they did have to shoot the pirates).
So, when you buy time, make assessments and gather intel and put the enemy at ease and set up the situation to make your “move” all the more successful — that has all the makings of a successful operation...
did anyone really doubt this was not the case??
The SEALs arrived Saturday night, which changed the options positively. But IMO Obama should not have had any kind of leash on the SEAL teams, other than to put the life of the captain as the paramount directive. I could care less if Somali pirates become fish food.
I don't have a problem with dragging the matter out in order to wear down the pirates, get a SEAL team in place and to improve the tactical situation. I do have a major problem with not allowing the SEAL team to end it at the first and best opportunity.
Unlike America, in the middle east and Africa, the war againnst the infidel is not strictoly a religious war, it is also economic. Economically based warfare against the infidel is advcated by the Koran. THe stretch of coast North of Mombassa has many resorts owned and opertaed by the Jews and the infidels. The Somali pirate task is to unseat the infidel from Kenya. That is also Odoingas job, together with the orange party of Obama's cousin Rial Odinga.
Obama was forced by our military to save an American, and put down the pirates he had indirectly supported in 2006 and 2007 by campaigning for neo fascist Odinga.I find that incredibly sweet.
As long as we have a patriotic US military, the pirates of Somalia won;t be takinng any US ships or US citizens without their direct action. Obama tried to traduce the military in this hostage situation by bringing in the FBI.Thankfully that did not work.
Now Holder is doing the pro Muslim backpeddle spin, by treating the remaining pirate as a juvenile who is rahabilable under US law, and to minimize the damage done by this action against the pirates to the relationship Zero is trying to establish with Zeros's Muslim international friends, who support and condone both piracy and terror aganst the infidel ( us among others)
Zeros FBI ploy did not work this time and Capt. Phillips was saved by the military who decided to act rather than allow the pro Muslim/Pirate attitude to prevail. Zero played both sides of the fence. He should only have been playing our side, that of patriotic Americans.
We were lucky to have patriotic men of the Navy who did their duty by insisting on the authority to end the situation through force if needed. Getting that Naval authority from Obama took three days, when it should have taken only 2 hours.
If the Navy had turned everything over to the FBI, it is very likely that Capt. Phillips would be dead now, and we would have 4 pirate prisoners who would be given every benefit of the doubt by the Zero administration, maybe even eventually released,like the mastermind behind the USS Cole bombing was released.
With a nationalist socialist pretend president we have now, blood is indeed thicker than water, but the Navy stood in Zero's way.Hint: follow the future career of the Captain of the USS Bainbridge.
if the captain had died, rest assured, it would have been “Bush’s Fault”
We know there are many who feel the same.
The implications are disquieting.
Hardly shocking. You know that if you look up liberal in a thesaurus one of the words you’ll find is coward.
One of the things that I’ve been reading about in hostage situations, and it covers a wide range of hostage events (not just pirates in Somalia), is that it was found out that chances are greatly improved for the hostages lives, if time is taken to have someone talking and negotiating with the hostage takers even if you are going to storm them at a later time.
Apparently, this is something that the authorities have learned, over time, and so now, “patience” is the key element to these things — unless — there are clear moves to kill hostages, and then you move quickly...
So, from what I’ve read (in other situations, other than this one...), it appears that this situation was carried out in the same manner
It appears to have been a successful resolution and one done according to long-time experience and with the elements of negotiation and patience and trying to improve your odds for success.
Actually, I think that's basically what happened here. People were getting restless wondering why the hell the world's superpower with a lethal warship on scene couldn't deal with four amateur pirates on a dinghy. Throw into the mix a scenario where the pirates get pissed at FBI delay hostage negotiation tactics and kill the Captain, and poll numbers for national security start heading south fast.
Now, Zero's crew is grabbing credit for a tactic they never wanted to use. Pond Scum.
I really hope he doesn't push us to the point of finding out if the military is in actuality loyal to the constitution or the president. But, I also suspect that he may be in for a surprise in that case as well.
I don’t have a problem with the core approach. I do have a problem with not allowing the SEALs to take the first opportunity they had to end it.
It didn’t appear to be that way to me, it appeared to be standard operating procedure...
Yes it's called the Stockholm Syndrome, and is a basic class for anyone that works in law enforcement, corrections or the military.....I'm not sure where you are trying to go here Star...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome
Wanting the enemy to live is a good way to get Americans killed.
I really don't care about SOP. I care about taking the first real opportunity to save the life of a brave American. The tactics had been textbook up until the SEAL team arrived Saturday night, as there really was not a viable tactical option other than to stall. But the SEALs should have been allowed to kill the pirates at the first viable opportunity. Instead, waiting until they were threatening the captain left the SEALs with much more difficult shots and put the captain in more danger than necessary.
Well..., not going anywhere in particular other than to say that the military seems to have been following standard operating procedures of patience, negotiating and gaining the pirates trust in order to set up a good operation..., which they did.
And that’s why we had a successful outcome...
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