Let us thank the Somali pirates

American Thinker ^ | April 11, 2009 | James Lewis

[neverdem]

Flashback: It's 1979, and President Jimmy Carter is facing a hostage crisis, with American diplomats being kidnapped by Islamist "students" in Tehran. Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew our Cold War ally, the Shah of Iran, with the tacit of the Carter Administration, because it thought of the murderous Ayatollah as "some kind of saint," in the words of former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young.

Jimmy and Zbig have been trying to explain their disastrous ignorance ever since; and because they are mentally stuck in appeasement thinking, they have infected the Obamanites with the same plague bacilli.

Flashforward to 2008, and an American merchant marine captain is being held hostage by Islamist pirates off the coast of Somalia. It's a repeat of 1979, and the world is watching to see if Obama is going to be any more effective than Jimmy Carter was.

Obama may think this is a "distraction". The rest of the world sees it as a test. And so, far Obama is flunking. The world will draw its own conclusions very quickly      

Thank heavens for the pirates! Why? Because we must know as soon as possible if the Obamanites are as incompetent and foolish as they proudly claim to be -- or whether they can summon up the guts to try to rescue the captain. We have plenty of special ops forces who are trained for hostage rescue. The West has forty years of experience in knocking over hostage takers, as Israelis did in Entebbe. But similar methods have been perfected by now, as shown most recently in Colombia, where US forces advised the Colombian government how to deal with another hostage situation.

It always comes with real risk, both to our own troops and to the hostages. And yes, Mr. Obama, we may have to knock some pirates' heads as well.

If Obama fails to take action, watch for Russia to make a move on the Ukraine. China will get more aggressive toward Taiwan. Iran will openly throw sandals at Obama effigies, and the rest of the world will realize --  uh-oh, no more cop on the international beat. North Korea will launch another missile over Japan -- pahdon me, another satellite launch will somehow go astray, heading toward Hawaii.

That means one of two things: either the aggressors start winning, or somebody else has to play the international cop -- the role the United States has carried for sixty years.

So who do you want to play the world's cop?

Russia will happily volunteer do it for Europe, since Europe won't do it for itself. China could squeeze concessions from Japan and South Korea to stop the Norks. And in the Middle East it will either be Israel -- which can protect the Arab countries from nuclear attack by Iran -- or it will be the mad mullahs of Qom. I would guess that the Israelis will bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, with the covert help of Arab Gulf states.

Welcome to the age of American weakness. The whole world, we were told in the last eight years, wanted to bring the US down a notch or two. Well, just be careful what you wish for.

Maybe we should thank the Somali pirates for testing Obama this early in the new administration.

[neverdem]

The link said his escape was witnessed by a UAV. We should have destroyed the lifeboat once he was off of it.

[Star Traveler]

You said — Maybe we should thank the Somali pirates for testing Obama this early in the new administration.

—

Talk about “testing” a President, take a look at the testing that Reagan went through on my list that I compiled today. It’s quite informative.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2226437/posts?page=43#43

I don’t think Obama will match up to Reagan and what he had to go through no matter how long Obama is in office.

[BAW]

With nothing concrete to base this on other than my gut . . . I don’t believe this was the test Biden spoke of during the campaign. What we are watching simply may be an extra.

[Balata]

I wonder is this is what Biden meant when he said Obama was going to be tested?

[antceecee]

I thought the same thing! Where are our highly trained experts? Perhaps they have been told to stand down and do NOTHING?????
What the hell are we doing... handing our enemies a hammer to pound us with?????

[gleeaikin]

I hear another group of pirates with Dutch hostages they have been holding for a while are rushing to join their friends.

[Star Traveler]

You said — I wonder is this is what Biden meant when he said Obama was going to be tested?

—

No way! at all...

You gotta look at that list I compiled and you would see this is no test at all...

See post #2

[antceecee]

This is the pre-test. Sort of like the practice test you take before you take the SAT’s.
Just putting it into the ONE’s realm of understanding.
Wonder if he failed that one and the SAT and got into Harvard based on race.

[Islaminaction]

Why don’t 4 snipers just fire at once and kill all the pirates? Maybe Obama does not want to hurt the poor Islamic terrorists.

[antceecee]

You really need to get the message....”We are not at war with Islam”.... I’m sure you just forgot... silly you!

[Star Traveler]

Hey, I did the PSAT... :-)

did pretty good actually... [that was long before all the scores started going downhill... ]

[neverdem]

Thanks for the link.

[antceecee]

; ~ )

[Islaminaction]

My bad, I never learn from those that know everything.

Obama, Pelosi, Reid and Hillary.

[AmericanArchConservative]

I’m not surprised at the policy underachievement by “team zer0bama” so far...not even disappointed - I knew to expect this kind of moronic appeasement and inaction.

I’m just terribly concerned for the future security of my Republic and my fellow (non-Obamanation) citizens. None of those in charge are competent to the task.

ner0bama is already fiddling, waiting for America to burn to the ground.

A.A.C.

[pillut48]

Flashforward to 2008

Say when??

[antceecee]

Of course the ONE is busy with affairs d'etat as well:

[Balata]

I said that with tongue-in-cheek. I don’t think Biden’s IQ is above room temperature.

[antceecee]

You are just an underserved constituent. Maybe you are eligible for a bailout!

[Star Traveler]

I “captioned” that one in another thread; let’s see if I can remember...

Obama says, “Why don’t we rent ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ to see if we can get some ideas about how to handle this crisis!”

LOL...

[Wil H]

Somali Pirates - African born black Muslims hell bent on redistribution of wealth by any means possible..

0bama - Same thing......

[Wissa]

The world will draw its own conclusions very quickly

It WILL be interesting seeing what happens next. I think that if they had made a rescue attempt already, Obama would have got a lot of credit from people for taking action, even if the hostage would have been killed in the attempt.

With the pirates introducing dozens more hostages into the equation, that all changes. Now a lot of innocent people could die in a rescue attempt and everybody would know that they wouldn't have died if action would have been taken immediately.

[Star Traveler]

Well, let’s hope that “they” don’t try to test Obama like Reagan... :-)

[Wil H]

Obama says, “Why don’t we rent ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ to see if we can get some ideas about how to handle this crisis!”

Dammit - gave the only copy to Gordon Brown!

[Star Traveler]

Oh yeah! :-)

[antceecee]

Sorry Obie... Disney doesn’t share their creative realty with ANYONE! Not even you sweetie.

[Islaminaction]

White male. That puts me at the bottom of the handout list.

[antceecee]

Poor baby....

Don't worry... you are in good company.

[Star Traveler]

Well, Obama’s gonna be lost then... :-)

[Cindy]

Additional Link:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2225190/posts

[antceecee]

Yeah... how can you make it without the Mouse????

LOL!

[neverdem]

"Flashforward to 2008"

Say when??

I asked the admin moderator if we can correct obvious errors like that, or if we can correct omissions like tacit (approval) in the 1st paragraph, without approval being in parentheses. No reply yet.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Lots of discusssion on another thread about those lifeboats....they are well put together...

[JimRed]

Why don’t 4 snipers just fire at once and kill all the pirates?

The lifeboat is fully enclosed, so there is no visual aiming point.

[Mark]

Black Hawk Down.

Thank you, Mrs. William Jefferson Blythe Clinton!!

[JohnBovenmyer]

As sheer Rambo style speculation I wonder whether one could design a small shaped charge that would pierce the top of the cabin with minimal damage therein and then rapidly release fentanyl like the Russians used in their Moscow hostage crisis. With SEALs pre-positioned for prompt boarding to save the only one who counts. The fentanyl did work well enough then; the problem was it worked too well. With just one to save and having the benefit of the Russian experience it might be workable IF the technical problems could be overcome. We might even be able to keep the details secret as there are no media on the scene, SEALs won’t talk, no terrorists need survive, and the rescued hostage doesn’t need to know the details. If only we could keep the WH out of the loop...

[JohnBovenmyer]

Black Hawk Down

Although the crew's self rescue removed most of the risk for our Dour Leader, at first this had the potential to become "Black Dove Down."

[pepsionice]

At some point, they’ll ask for food or water....just give them some ‘treated’ food...with lots of Ex-lax. Then stand around and wait for these guys to show problems a couple of hours later.

[neverdem]

Being stupid isn't cheap.

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[FreedomPoster]

I’d love to hear the scuttlebutt in the SEAL teams right now.

[ThreePuttinDude]

Ha Ha Ha, that reminds me of the Washington DC sniper.
The lefties suggested we call in the writers from
one of those cop shows that was shot in Miami. (CSI Miami?)

The reasoning was they had an hour show that had
a sniper picking off people, so they would be able
to figure out the plot line in DC..

Don't you just love to watch Libs scramble all over themselves
to look as foolish as they do?

[bikerman]

O’bozo will get hot on this thing as soon as he finishes his Pizza. He will write a really really nasty note in Red ink to show his disapproval of this whole mess, fear not.

[BuffaloJack]

Jeez, Peter Pan had more success dealing with pirates than Obama.

[AnalogReigns]

I heard Bortz say the same thing yesterday, and I agree, in principle....

HOWEVER, apparently, as I heard later:
a) It was at night
b) He was literally in the water for just a few seconds—and the pirates shot a machine gun at him (so he stopped swimming)
c) The Navy Captain is very likely under orders not to fire....UNLESS given an order to by the President...
(that would be the Carter-esque/Clinton-esque, democRat thing to do, right? Can’t trust those wacky military types in the field...)

[WEshelman]

Actually, maybe Obama’s holding-back because the Somali pirates really are sort of “community organizers,” and it’s professional courtesy. Just a thought....

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

My gut agrees.

---

Tin Foil / Conspiracy Nut / Black Helicopter Disclaimer:
However there is a small cynical voice that says maybe this was the test and odumba was going to show the world how he could talk the pirates down. The attempted escape by the Captain screwed up odumba’s plan.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

What if EVERYONE simply left. The pirates will not gain by killing the hostage. But never give them ransome money. Then the hostage has no value to them.

[The Great RJ]

I am reminded of the Mayagüez incident in 1975 when a US container ship was seized by the Cambodians. President Ford immediately sent in the Marines and other US forces and did not attempt negotiations.

[Mac from Cleveland]

Who the hell didn’t see this coming last year? I didn’t need proof.....

[Mac from Cleveland]

Who the hell didn’t see this coming last year? I didn’t need proof.....