Unfortunately, there cannot be an expectation that the U.S. military will risk their lives for any of our citizens in a foreign country, hostile or otherwise. If an American get kidnapped in Canada or Iraq, they should not have a built-in expectation that the U.S. military will attempt a rescue. The only thing that can be reasonably expected are diplomatic efforts.
The decision to let the Philippines forces attempt the rescue was correct strategically, diplomatically and politically.
OK, so I concede that perhaps I'm reacting more from the gut than intellectually. For that reason alone I know I would never make a good journalist.
Something about those two grabbed me from the very beginning. I tried to put myself in their situation and was horrified by my imagined feelings, let alone what they must have felt in reality.
I will keep both of them and their families in my prayers. I will also pray for the news media that gives us extensive coverage, ad nauseum, of Skakel the Kennedy clan member, the sins of the Catholic Church and the Enron scandal, but leaves the story of two brave and innocent American victims to gather dust on a shelf somewhere.