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Analysis: Pirates put Obama in 21st-century bind
AP ^ | April 9, 2009 | Anne Gearan

Posted on 04/09/2009 4:29:35 PM PDT by bergmeid

A ragtag band of pirates has put President Barack Obama in a bind: He commands overwhelming firepower in the form of a growing flotilla of U.S. warships, but he doesn't want to use it......

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: democrat; democrats; democratsincrisis; impeachobama; obama; piracy; pirates; somali; somalia; somalis
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1 posted on 04/09/2009 4:29:35 PM PDT by bergmeid
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To: bergmeid

As I understand it ,, these Somali pirates are all from one village , give them ransom for the captain and then let an AC130 visit their hometown ...


2 posted on 04/09/2009 4:34:23 PM PDT by Neidermeyer
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To: bergmeid

Why not kill the pirates, sink their vessels and destroy their bases on shore?

Isn’t that how it’s done?


3 posted on 04/09/2009 4:34:31 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin
"Isn’t that how it’s done?"

Not these days apparently. We need a more nuanced approach.

We could have H! cackle as she explains past US responses to Islamic Pirates.

4 posted on 04/09/2009 4:39:13 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Big Ears + Big Spending --> BigEarMarx, the man behind TOTUS)
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To: BenLurkin

Because Ozero is a muslim and he’s not going to hurt other muslims.


5 posted on 04/09/2009 4:43:05 PM PDT by bergmeid (How about another massive nationwide protest on July 4?)
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To: bergmeid
seems like an ideal situation for a SEAL team
6 posted on 04/09/2009 4:43:44 PM PDT by stylin19a (Obama - the ethically excepted asterisk administration)
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To: bergmeid

If Obama is calling the shots on this incident then he is a fool.


7 posted on 04/09/2009 4:43:44 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: bergmeid

“A ragtag band of pirates has put President Barack Obama in a bind”

#####

Absolutely incorrect.

Zeros complete lack of balls has put his skinny, lawyerly ass in a bind.


8 posted on 04/09/2009 4:45:34 PM PDT by EyeGuy
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To: bergmeid
"he dispatched aides to reassure the nation that their government was pressing to free Phillips."

More reassurance that we will continue to follow W's policy. Illegal activity by poor misguided youths.

9 posted on 04/09/2009 4:46:01 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Big Ears + Big Spending --> BigEarMarx, the man behind TOTUS)
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To: stylin19a
seems like an ideal situation for a SEAL team

My thoughts exactly. But I'm betting that Obowma nixed it as toooooo rrrrrrrisky.

10 posted on 04/09/2009 4:46:29 PM PDT by InterceptPoint
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To: Brilliant

“If Obama is calling the shots on this incident then he is a fool.”If 0be were calling the shots, the ship would not have been retaken.


11 posted on 04/09/2009 4:47:27 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Big Ears + Big Spending --> BigEarMarx, the man behind TOTUS)
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To: bergmeid

Its our own version a Sum of all Fears, a POTUS that has divided loyalties, afraid to make the break at the starting gate, a gun dog that flinches and cowers when it hears the hunter at his trade.


12 posted on 04/09/2009 4:49:22 PM PDT by Eye of Unk ("If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." T. Paine)
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To: InterceptPoint
Make that Obowma nixed it as toooooo rrrrrisky.
13 posted on 04/09/2009 4:49:28 PM PDT by InterceptPoint
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To: bergmeid
This is low hanging fruit.

For the low cost of the deaths of a few hundred pirates in Ethiopia, FUBO could establish himself as a “war leader” with little downside political risk.

The media would go crazy in adulation if he attacked the pirate's shore bases.

14 posted on 04/09/2009 4:50:09 PM PDT by Jacquerie (Truth to the Left is that which advances their goals. Factuality is irrelevant.)
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To: stylin19a
seems like an ideal situation for a SEAL team.

Hell, we have full night-vision capability. Why not just get a team of sharpshooters using infrared goggles?

15 posted on 04/09/2009 4:53:42 PM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (What's Black and White and Red all over?)
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To: bergmeid

“That modern-day response included more warships — a remnant of 20th-century U.S. exceptionalism — as well as high-tech surveillance planes buzzing above the crisis waters.”

Never thought I would hear the US Navy called a “remnant of 20th Century US exceptionalism”


16 posted on 04/09/2009 4:55:29 PM PDT by Stonewall1
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To: Brilliant
If Obama is calling the shots on this incident then he is a fool.

He calls the shots on everything -- it's all about control. And yes, he is a fool who thinks he knows everything and can do it all.

Listen to someone who knows him: Richard Epstein, Professor of Law at the University of Chicago since 1972.

Crisis & the Law

17 posted on 04/09/2009 4:56:22 PM PDT by browardchad
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To: bergmeid
"There is no point in having the capacity if you haven't got the will to use it."

-- Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

18 posted on 04/09/2009 5:00:48 PM PDT by Tenniel2 (Memo to politicians: Don't worry about "shovel-ready." Worry about "pitchfork-ready.")
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To: Tenniel2

I was wondering about that... some snipers on the destroyer could end this pretty quick..


19 posted on 04/09/2009 5:03:38 PM PDT by Mmogamer (<This space for lease>)
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To: Jacquerie
The media would go crazy in adulation if he attacked the pirate's shore bases.

The media? Hell, if he stuck it to them good, I'd raise my glass to him.

20 posted on 04/09/2009 5:04:24 PM PDT by Steel Wolf (Oh, well. Back to the drawing board....)
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