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Captain freed — 47 Comments

1. Yay!

2. Talking with villains gets you nowhere. Rough men and women who will visit violence on them is and always has been necessary.

3. I kept saying to friend of mine that I didn’t understand why the seals weren’t going in under the cover of darkness and taking these guys out. Apparently they were ready this time and when the captain jumped out again (I wonder if any kind of signal was given) they were in the area and ready.

   I wonder who will get apologized to – will anyone suggest the pirates families be paid reparations? After all they were only trying to make a living.

4. I’m guessing Special Ops (SEALS is a good bet, dane), under cover of darkness. Quit making it worth their while and they’ll find another line of work.

   This may be why the President was silent on the subject. He authorizes this kind of stuff. If the case, I offer up my congrats and apologies for dissing the Pres on this. Besides, there is still plenty to dis him on.

5. Fox News is confirming a SEALS operation.

6. After 8 years of constant fighting, the SEALS (and the US other Spec Ops units) are at their best.

   This is great, great news!

7. Ohhh Yeeaaaaa…I’m guessing frogmen with night vision capability and a firefight from 6 feet away as soon as the captain hit the water. Maybe i’ve watched too much James Bond though.

8. As I mentioned elsewhere:

   EASTER SEALS!

9. There are still heroes out there, of whom we hear little until they are really needed.

10. If Obama allowed the use of force to free the hostage, then good for him. I will give him due credit for having a spine in this case. And I will always give him credit for doing something I think is right or a policy I agree with. And you all know that I do not like him, his career, his voting record, or his ideological preferences. Today it does not mean I am won over, but it does mean that fairness means giving credit where some is due.

    Way to go Navy Seals.

11. It looks like Obama is maintaining a lot more of Bush’s policies than anyone expected him to. Especially the left wing, who have been freaking out about the fact that their savior is keeping Guantonomo open and even expanding it into Baghram now. And the press is no longer Code Pink’s fast friend, but now shilling for the US and covering up the “war crimes” that they were bravely exposing just six months ago.

    Let’s just hope he doesn’t keep going with his bailout/nationalization plans.

12. I’m delighted that Phillips is free. And I’m proud of the performance of the SEALS. But that’s where the praise ends.

    This has been a trivial military incident with all the bargaining advantages stacked against the pirates (they only had ONE hostage, and the pirates did NOT want to die). The USN command were absolute sissies and totally (well, almost totally) botched this rescue up, instead of ruthlessly solving it within 30 mins of arriving on the scene. I don’t for one moment believe that Phillip’s life was “suddenly” in imminent danger as now claimed by gung-ho rescuers. This is just after-the-event BS to polish a good story for the journalists. The pirates were pointing an AK-47 at his head? Of course they would! That’s what a good hostage-taker will do ALL THE TIME anyway. But actually kill him? Not these guys. They expressly said they wanted to live. They knew perfectly well that if Phillips died or was harmed, their own lives ended right that instant too. Although they would have to publicly claim otherwise, their posture was in truth total BS.

    I think calling this operation a “success” on the part of the USN is dangerously wrong-headed – because it prevents some SERIOUS lessons from being learnt.

    It appears that Phillips HIMSELF is responsible for the initiative of his rescue by managing to jump free of his captors into the water a SECOND time. The FIRST time this happened the USN crew were fast asleep on their watch and totally inept in their response. They should have shot up the lifeboat THEN.

    But the most worrying part, is the shear indecisiveness and lack of quick and ruthless command by the Navy command structure. It was almost as though they were trying to give the initiative to the pirates (they sure couldn’t have tried harder!). That they were even allowing the lifeboat to drift to the shore is incomprehensible, when the SEALS could easily have put tow rope around the propeller at first night-fall, and then the destroyer could have towed the boat into deep ocean.

    Anybody who thinks the USN has taught potential US adversaries a lesson is delusional. The Chinese, Iranians and Venezuelans must be laughing their heads off at the indecision, lack-of-initiative, and lack-of-adroitness in the US command and control structure (from Pres Obama down through his desk-bound admirals). After Iran so easily hijacked the Royal Navy, Iran (along with China) must be thinking how easy it will be emasculate the USN at such little cost and effort. The US now appear to be total wankers who can get paralyzed by the most trivial of incidents!

13. jonno: I agree that this was a relatively easy hostage situation to deal with compared to so many others, as I wrote in my post. On the other hand, if the recent French operation was any guide, it could have gone a lot worse. I think that future hostage-takers got at least a middle-of-the-road message: neither an especially tough one nor an especially lenient one.

    It will be interesting to see what sentence the remaining pirate gets when he is tried. I think it should be very harsh.

14. The initial reports that Capt. Phillips jumped into the water again are not true.

    Much as I do not like Obonga, what is truly tying people’s hands on the high seas is the new Law of the Sea Treaty that the U.N. is pushing and our policy elites are trying to slowly boil the frog with. They started this under President Bush’s watch and are now ratcheting up the pressure even more under a much more receptive president. The new rules are written in such a way as to create gray areas and gaps that pirates and terrorists can exploit. One of them is that you cannot fire on boarding parties or approaching boats if there is not clear evidence that they are pirates intent on seizing your vessel. The U.N. and EU seem to want to micromanage this thing in a way that will tie the hands of ship captains and navies.

    I have no idea as to why it took so long for this op to be wrapped up. Since I am not in possession of all the facts, I will suspend judgment until such time as I know more. I have no idea why they were not able to get an assault team there and in the enemy’s face sooner. The Bainbridge may not have had a SEAL team as part of the crew. Earlier reports suggested that the ship was at least 200 yards off the lifeboat. In the open Indian Ocean off Somalia the waters are intensely shark-infested. A night raid of a SEAL team in the dark from under the water may have been a dicey thing. We don’t know.

    As for the Bainbridge’s commander, we don’t know what the ROE are. In fact, this whole conflict with the Somali Muslim pirates is not covered with very penetrating or revealing reportage. And the MSM is not exactly going to present the situation in a way that is critical of Obonga.

15. Pingback:Captain Phillips Escaped Again! | Little Miss Attila

16. The Commander of the 5th Flt/Commander USN Forces Centcom had a telephone news conference. He did not have a lot of detail.

    He did say that the fact that the lifeboat was covered, and there was only one hatch, which he implied was dogged down a good part of the time complicated rescue attempts.

    He did indicate that some of the various Navies patrolling the area the pirates have been operating in were in the process of relocating from the Gulf of Aden, which had been the hot-spot to the Somali basin which was heating up. Bainbridge was the closest ship and was about 300 miles away. He also said that one pirate was exposed and pointing an Ak-47 at Phillips; two others only had their heads and shoulders exposed when the snipers took them. At the time the Bainbridge was towing the life-boat and the snipers were on the stern of the Bainbridge at a distance of about 25 meters. He did not think that Phillips had jumped into the water on this occasion.

    It was implied but never stated that the snipers were Seals. One reporter asked if the Seals had come from those stationed in Africa and the Admiral only said that he would not discuss where Spec Ops forces were deployed.

    The Navy had been using Rigid inflatables to provide water, food and medical assistance to Phillips and the pirates.

    Admiral also said the Navy had asked permission twice to take immediate action if Phillips appeared to be in immediate danger. Permission was given. It appears that O was reactive rather than pro-active.

17. Obama is reported to have authorized the military to use force to rescue the hostage. Good.

    For the nation, this is a wise demonstration of making a good decision, at least when the rubber means the road … McCain would have done the same.

18. I”m not sure what was holding things up. I don’t think I would fault the Navy from the get-go. I think from the time this happened they were taking orders from up the line and not allowed to act on their own.

    I think the truth of the matter will be discerned when we see if the Obama surrogates start spinning this. If they lean toward the “the president was in constant contact and assessing the situation, blah, blah, blah” we can pretty much figure he was the hold-up and the rescue was precipitated buy unexpected action.

    If we get, “The president told the military to do their job and keep him informed” then I will credit Obama with doing the right thing and showing some smarts.

19. The delay seems to have been the lack of special ops people on the scene. It is reported that they parachuted from a C130 and then made their way to the Navy ship.

20. “he pirates were pointing an AK-47 at his head? Of course they would! That’s what a good hostage-taker will do ALL THE TIME anyway.”

    Sounds like someone has some experience with pointing guns at the heads of hostages…

    Be nice to estranged ex-wives, Jonno!

21. In regards to the life boat, it was enclosed with very little observable inside. See this FAQ on gCaptain

    From the reports it appears that Obama approved the standing orders that any decent SWAT/hostage rescue team would operate under, i.e., deadly force authorized to prevent imminent threat to hostage. It is of note that he Whitehouse didn’t try to pull a Carter and micro-manage this operation, at least as far as using force to protect life is concerned.

22. The bad news is (a) that one of the pirates is still alive and will probably not pay with his life (what do muslims think of burial at sea, by the way?) and (b) we will not go after their bases and villages. After the Napoleonic wars were over and the US had shown the way in the second Barbary War (after Jefferson wussed out on the first one), England sent a fleet to deal with the Barbary states. They spent a day excercising their excellent gunnery and reduced a number of cities to rubble. That pretty much ended the menace. The modern equivalent would be a few Fuel-Air explosives over the pirates’ home villages. Don’t start about civilians; if you don’t want to pay the price of piracy, don’t live with them.

23. In his interview the Admiral made it clear that their focus was to resolve the situation without bloodshed. I presume those directions came from the Political Leadership.

    He stated that they had asked for, and received, authority to take action if it was determined that Phillip’s life was in IMMINENT danger. He affirmed that the On-scene Commander had made that determination before action commenced. He was pressed to reveal how it was determined, but either would not or could not provide that answer.

    He was speaking from Bahrain, so his information was not from at least second-hand.

24. I agree that collective punishment needs to be brought down on Somali towns and villages that are known pirate havens. Bomb the shit out of them, starting with the mosques first. Bomb their harbors and fleets. Get after the “mother ships” at sea and storm them. Will some hostages die? Probably. But at this point if we do not escalate, they will.

    Meanwhile, use our intel and technology sources to find the men overseas who are financing this and who are reaping the 20%. Locate them, and then kill them with extreme prejudice.

25. It is sounding like the Navy Seals did an incredible job! The captain is safe. Also sounds like the pirate on board the Bainbridge had come aboard supposedly to negotiate – but had made it clear once on board he was giving himself up. Sounds like he may have played a part in getting the pirate life boat to allowing itself to be tethered to the Bainbridge, which allowed Seals to act quickly and aggressively to save the captain with sniper fire. It has been reported the other pirates brought Phillips to the deck of the boat, bound and tied with a gun to his back. Reports are indicating the three pirates – two of whom only had their heads out of the hatch, were picked of in seconds by 3 sniper shots – three sniper shots and three direct hits! Wow…Seals the slide down the tow between the two vessels and rescued the captain. Sounds like Obama kept his head and ordered appropriate responses. Also sounds like he was smart enough to let the military do their thing without micro-managing the situation….hmmmm

26. Certainly, this is the first time in his political career, and life, that Obama had to make a decision that would lead to killing.

    I credit Obama for doing the right thing. Well played all around!

27. nyomythus @ April 12th, 2009 at 7:59 pm

    ARE YOU KIDDING?! McCain would have nuked Somalia for this.

28. Now, now, Deniz. He actually wouldn’t have.

29. Take a breath and think it through.

30. “The delay seems to have been the lack of special ops people on the scene. It is reported that they parachuted from a C130 and then made their way to the Navy ship.”

    Any one telling you this is full of crap (or rather a stronger word there). Five days – we have special operation teams within 24 hour access of *everywhere* on the planet (heck we have *civilian* access to any place on the planet on commercial airlines within 24 hours). Not that I do not expect this to be said by a number of people – but it is still crap.

    That being said I do not fault what went on. I think that the only president since WWII that would not have taken this long was Reagan – we would have most likely woken up to a report of the hostage and went to bed with some special operations team rescued him (or all died in the attempt). Indeed, I fear that Bush the Second in his last two years would have taken longer (though in his first three or so would have squashed them).

    It was a reasonable amount of time to use negotiations and thus negotiations were reasonable, we held to reasonable requirements, and when it was clear they were not going to work we did what had to be done. Indeed – the next time they screw up and kidnap a US captain they will either make the mistake (or rather it will hopefully be a mistake) of killing him before negotiations or just give up instead of death.

    I do not mind the negotiations even though I figured this will have to end with either bloodshed or Iran Hostage Redux.

    This gives me *some* hope that when pushed Obama will will respond to foreign enemies as he should, that he can note when negotiations break and time for lethal force is needed. We are still not sure how communications occurred or at what level this was OK’d (it still may have been a true tactical SEAL Team based decision based on the Captain forcing the issue by jumping) – yet I will strongly cling to this hope.

31. Certainly, this is the first time in his political career, and life, that Obama had to make a decision that would lead to killing.

    I thought he already ordered strikes in Afghanistan, or maybe Pakistan? (Pakistan more likely as it probably requires some higher approval to carry out a predator missle attack or whatever)

32. I am so happy that this has been resolved decisively. Thank you US Navy.
    If W were still president, would this have even happened? No, because it did not happen previously on his watch. This was a test for Obama. I am not impressed with his overall performance, but perhaps he is learning the importance of the military. Sometime, I hope that he will learn the importance of not resorting to the “present” mode.

33. It seems common sense for merchant crews to have arms aboard – shotguns with 00 buckshot and AR’s and for crew members who don’t have experience with firearms, it would take but a few hours of training for them to have the basics down.
    Simply disperse the weapons in several different, key locations on board with certain crew members having keys to the lockers. Good work on the part of the SEAL snipers – guess Obama’s offer of free therapy for the pirates was declined, huh? I really thought there would be a secret pay-off via some 3rd party, like Saudi Arabia.

34. I just got done heaving after reading the AP story on the rescue. Talk about damning with faint praise. Somehow the reporter’s talked to a “pirate” from Somalia who promised retribution. Talk is cheap, especially when you are prattling to an AP employee whose mission in life is to put down the US at every turn. I recall the great line from “The Fugitive” after Marshal Girard shoots a criminal holding one of his men hostage. The terrified captive asks his boss what would have happened if he had missed. Gerard says” I. Don’t. Negotiate.”

35. Ruth

    This was a test for Obama. I am not impressed with his overall performance, but perhaps he is learning the importance of the military.

    Obama, has the capacity to grow, he needs to work on his timing a bit now. It’s a good quality to accept the need to continuous learn and strive for excellence.

36. Reports this morning on the lamestream media indicate the following:

    – Navy SEAL’s were acting as snipers, something they’ve become very good at via extensive practice over the past several years.

    – The shots were all fired simultaneously, which indicates the SEALs really were planning to do this already – and I have no qualms about this action at all and believe the pirates recieved their just rewards.

    – The lifeboat is an enclosed type with a couple of hatch openings, making the view the snipers had extremely limited. They would not be able to shoot until they had all 3 pirates in view at the same time.

    – The lifeboat was tethered to the US ship with a 25 meter line. That’s about 80 feet. US civilian marksmen will typically sight their rifles in at 100 yards, and I would expect the military to do something very similar. As such, the snipers didn’t even have to account for much of a bullet drop!

    – I would expect a sniper rifle to be capable of at least 1 minute of angle (MOA) accuracy. That means all bullets hit a target within a 1 inch circle at 100 yards. As I said, the targets were only a little over 80 feet away this time. Ducks in a barrel….

    – Both ships would have been bobbing in the water, making it more difficult.

    – All in all, kudos are in order to the excellent SEAL sniper teams that pulled this off. Ranges were very short – but you had a limited target area, had to have verified targets (can’t be shooting the hostage, ya know!), had to fire simultaneously, probably went for head shots, all while bobbing on the end of the US ship while the lifeboat likewise bobbled on the end of the line like a cork.

    NICE SHOOTING BOYS!

37. Well, we on the conservative side of the ‘sphere expected a complete hash from Obama, and we didn’t get that, so there’s one plus right there.

    It will be interesting to note how readily people accept the judgement that “negotiations had broken down.” I’m sure they did, and I’m glad that was recognised. Under Bush, his political opponents – some of them, anyway – would have continued to insist on principle that there must have been something else he could do.

    This is our single advantage with a progressive as CiC, and I hope Obama uses it maximally. The left will believe him, where they reflexively disbelieved his predecessor.

38. Assistant.
    Good point. It’s been said before that if a dem were president, the WOT would be going better because the left would not be obstructing it.

39. …and the One was pleased.
    …and it was good.

    Seems to me the SEALS, being at their battle hardened best, together with a courageous captain have made O look good this time. Maybe this will clue him in that a decimated military is not in the country’s, or his, best interest.

40. I am sure that the MSM will fawn over the O’s courage and steadfastness. Surprisingly, that was not the headline in the Washington Post this morning.

    However, as I reported, the Admiral stated that the Navy twice sought permission to fire if Phillip’s life appeared to be in IMMINENT danger. How could the O have said anything other than “yes” under those circumstances? I guess one could give him credit for not insisting that they describe the circumstance constituting imminent danger in some detail before making the shot. But, that would have required that he sit by the telephone for an extended time in case they called, and I don’t think his attention span is that long. He had other large decisions to make–what kind of dog to get; and what to name it.

    Besides the WH must have been distracted by the breaking news that his brother had been denied entry into the UK in January because of a sexual assault allegation against him. Now that could be a serious situation if the story were not controlled.

41. Richard Aubrey – And it would have been even better under Hillary. She could have bombed the crap out of the coastline and gotten a pass because it would be seen as testing her toughness because she’s a woman. Not that no one would have complained, of course, but the objections would be more muted. It could have been the perfect incident to set the tone with difficult nations for her entire term. Ah well.

42. Assistant Village Idiot Says:

    “Richard Aubrey – And it would have been even better under Hillary. She could have bombed the crap out of the coastline”

    I’m still holding out HOPE that we do before the Navy leaves.

43. A transcript from the Friday night conversation with the president may reveal why it took until Saturday morning to get authorization for taking out the kidnappers–

    “Hello? White House. Chosen One speaking. Make it quick, will you, my double cheese and pepperoni is just about to come out of the oven. What’s that you say? Should we take the Pirates? Hold on a second.

    “Hey Gibbsy! Someone on the line has a baseball pool going. Of course I’m interested, I just aced that March Madness bracket, didn’t I? So how does Pittsburgh look this year? Not much offense, eh? Okay, just a minute.

    “No, no, I don’t want to take the Pirates, I’m concerned about their firepower. You’ll have to come up with a better idea than that. What about the Mariners? Oh, hold on a minute.

    “Rahm, Rahm , Rahm. Didn’t I just tell you I didn’t want any anchovies on mine? You’ve really got a thing for them dead fishies, haven’t you? Hey Gibbsy, what about Seattle’s chances this year? Griffey’s back? OK, great. Hold on a second.

    “I’m all for supporting the Mariners. By the way, how safe are the Yanks? Ransom? Wait, hold on a second.

    “Hey Gibbsy! What do you think about Cody Ransom? .232 lifetime batting average? OK, thanks, I’ll see if Longori’s available.

    “No, no, Ransom is completely out of the question. I won’t accept it. Listen, I really don’t have time for this. Geithner and Holder are fighting over the last slice of Italian sausage, and I’d better step in. Goodbye.”

44. Here in Denver, Bob Newman is a local talk show host ( although at 50,000 watts, he broadcasts to 38 states, Canada, Mexico and a small moon ). He’s a retired Marine gunnery sergeant who owns a counter-terrorism consulting firm. Anything he says about security you can take to the bank.
    He recently created “The Order of Obama Medal” and the first recipient is Keith Olberman.

    Cap’n Phillips is to be congratulated for keeping his wits. A real hero. The Navy also for a difficult job.

    And Logern, it’s one thing to order others to die when you know no one’s life you are directly responsible for is in harm’s way. While you are correct this is not the first time Obama has ordered killing, it is the first time he did so when he may have to answer to the public for it if things had turned out differently.

45. Here’s an instance where I would love to be able to edit my original comment.

    I have since found out that not only did the SEAL snipers do all that I described – they did it in the dark at night!

    Bada$$es indeed!

46. Nyom said, “Obama, has the capacity to grow, he needs to work on his timing a bit now. It’s a good quality to accept the need to continuous learn and strive for excellence”

    Yep. He had less executive experience than Sarah Palin, and has pretty well showed that he does NOT WANT to learn macro-economics, yet nyom thinks he has good qualities accepting the need to learn.

    This country NEEDS Obama to learn.

    So far I see he refuses…….

47. Nice shooting, SEALS! I heard some idiot on the radio trying to say the SEALS’ shots were not particularly difficult. Such ignorance can only be called breathtaking.

    Now if only they could continue the good work they’ve started. No matter the race, color or creed,d the only good pirate is a dead pirate.

    FredJjr is correct, the Law of the Sea Treaty is an abomination. Olderandwheezier: Thanks for your transcript!

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