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.
I think the military does things in a calculated manner and with good training. And from the results of their operation, it appears that they did it just right...
The lifeboat was originally 200-300+ yards away. Sounds pretty difficult to hit them. The Seals and the Navy did right. They waited until they had a better shot.
The Seals are elite and the best in the world but they are still human and can make mistakes. They are trained to wait until the best oppurtunity presents itself. That is exactly what happened here.