Navy SEALs raid Somalia pirate compound, free hostages

Boston Herald via AP ^ | Wednesday, January 25, 2012 | AP

[GQuagmire]

MOGADISHU, Somalia — U.S. military forces flew into Somalia in a nighttime helicopter raid Wednesday, freed an American and a Danish hostage, and killed nine pirates in a mission President Barack Obama appeared to reference before his State of the Union speech, officials and a pirate source said.

[Travis McGee]

Good work by the SEALs and the USN. (The had a little help getting into position to launch the helos.)

[shadeaud]

‘’Humanitarian missions’’ Either those who want to engage in these missions sign an affidavit that states they realize the danger involved and on there own should they become captive and only the home base organization would be responsible for any aid or each member of the team get their own insurance for hostage situations.
This goes for extreme sport participants

[TADSLOS]

Clean op. Would love to know the eyes on the ground details that fed the intel on that one. Maybe someday, maybe not. Anyway, job well done.

[Travis McGee]

My next novel is going to involve islamic piracy, aka “sea jihad” from their own POV. I learned a lot by reading this book, “The Pirates of Somalia: Inside their hidden world” by Jay Bahadur. Fantastic book, picked it up at my local library. I think we had outstanding target information, from UAVs, spies, hostages who were ransomed earlier etc.

Can’t recommend that book enough. Bahadur spent months on the ground with the pirates. Reading the book increased my knowledge of modern jihad piracy 1,000%.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_22?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+pirates+of+somalia+inside+their+hidden+world&sprefix=the+pirates+of+somalia%2Cstripbooks%2C272

[TADSLOS]

Thanks. I’ll add it to my reading list.

[Travis McGee]

Recommended reading:

This thread prompted me to post an overdue review on Amazon, as follows:

Kudos to Jay Bahadur for having the guts and moxie to travel to Somalia and move among the pirates. This book should be on every Middle East policy maker's and intelligence officer's desk, heavily underlined and annotated. Increased my knowledge of modern "sea jihad" and kidnap for ransom a thousand percent. This book is required reading for anyone interested in Somali politics and regional conflicts. Cannot recommend it highly enough. Well done, Mr. Bahadur. I can't imagine what you will do to top this, without literally risking your neck. (Again.)

[Travis McGee]

Best of all, it is sitting on a shelf at your local library, waiting to be read.

[Daffynition]

Go SEALS! You make us proud!

[driftless2]

Somalia should use their piracy record and advertise:

"You need pirates fast? We got 'em. Call 1-800-Pirate for help. Or go to our website SomaliPirate.com for information and view our outstanding selection of pirates, murderers, and cutthroats. Have a nice day."

[Daffynition]

Revised title: P_resident Hussein Obama takes out Bile Hussein in surprise raid. :)

The raiders came in quickly, catching the guards as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening, a pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press by phone. Hussein said he was not present at the site but had spoken with other pirates who were, and that they told him nine pirates had been killed in the raid and three were “taken away.”

A U.S. official confirmed media reports that the SEALs parachuted into the area before moving on foot to the target. The official said SEAL Team Six carried out the mission, the same team that killed al-Qaida leader bin Laden in Pakistan last May. The raid happened near the Somali town of Adado.

[Daffynition]

I agree that Hussein gambled *fast and loose* with these brave Seals, for dubious motivations, except to make his metrosexual self look good. That infuriates me.

OTOH, the Seals risk it all and follow orders, and get the job done. In stark contrast, recently the Americans who were trapped on the sunken Costa Concordia ship, could not get a hold of anyone at the US embassy to help them with passports, etc., b/c the embassies were closed due to the MLK holiday. All other embassies sent reps to help their nationals.

[Poison Pill]

why are we providing military support to rescue humanitarians (idiots) who go to these shxt holes of the world?

It's not primarily a humanitarian mission. The U.S. Navy's job is to regulate sea traffic and guarantee safe passage. Pirates screw that up.

[BwanaNdege]

I am one of those “humanitarians (idiots) who go to these shxt holes of the world”.

I have worked in Somalia, Uganda and several other “Garden Spots” of the world. All of the missionary organizations with who I’m familiar have a Do Not Pay Ransom policy, knowing that paying ransom only encourages hostage taking.

All of us know the dangers.

We just have a hard time standing idly by while little kids die of starvation. I flew one kid off a mountain in Uganda who was about 4 years old. He weighed a little over 12 lbs. Thankfully, after our nurses feeding him formula round the clock, 6 times a day for two weeks, he lived and was able to go home.

As to the US military stepping in, we all need a little practice to keep our skills sharp. Back when I was part of Uncle Sams Misguided Children, some of the most enjoyable field exercises were hostage rescue training out in the Zambales mountains of western Luzon. We would have fought to get in on a real hostage rescue.

Evil, especially Islamic jihad & piracy, must be confronted and stopped. Also, the Mexican drug cartel abominations soon will be coming to a mall near you unless we begin to confront them in Mexico. Skirmishes and wars are better fought in some elses back yard, not in our living rooms.

[Doe Eyes]

If you think I'm going to risk 9 of my best for 2 jackasses being held by a street gang when it's a job for the local police, you're nuts.

Local police in Somalia? Are you kidding?

[maddog55]

Understand the pirate side but these “hostages” are working on land in a hostile country.. they chose to go there.

[maddog55]

You are well aware of the dangers as you stated and you volunteer to do this but it is not the US military’s job to bail you out if you’re taken hostage.

If the US government sends you in for whatever reason and you’re taken hostage then using the military to get you out is a completely different story.

As for humanitarian work.. why not help those in your own back yard?

[BwanaNdege]

“As for humanitarian work.. why not help those in your own back yard?”

The “poor” in my backyard are very wealthy in comparison to those we work with overseas.

Our first Christmas as a married couple we went to the welfare department in Chicago and got the names of three families needing help.

One woman & her son actually needed help, one family was doing OK and the third was far more wealthy than we. That family wanted us to buy bicycles for their kids. They told us this while we were standing in their living room with the huge beveled glass mirror over the fireplace and a large console color TV in the corner. This was 1971 when a large color TV cost $500-$600 (over $2600 in today’s dollars). All three families were classed as “poor” by the City of Chicago.

I was making $2.75/hr pumping gas at the time. Not too bad for 1971.

On the other issue, I never said that it was the military’s job to rescue me. It has been an established American mission to deal with piracy ever since Lt. Presley O’Bannon visited the “Shores of Tripoli” in 1805.

[Ax]

It has been my somewhat limited experience working in embassies (22 years) that if any organization within the embassy is worth its weight, it is the Consular Section. There is always a duty officer who will be called by the Marine at post one when alerted to the situation. Consular officers are usually the first Americans on the scene to help. Don't know why they were so slow to react. My first experience with them was in Paris in 1970. My father had a massive fatal heart attack on a bus. I'd never even been near an embassy before, but I called the embassy on a Saturday afternoon. The Marine put me through to a Consular Officer who told me to drive back to the base in England where I was stationed, and that they would see to everything. They waded through all the French bureaucratic red tape, contacted a funeral parlor who dealt with the police then enbalmed him and arranged for air transport to Miami. He arrived there on the morning of the funeral.

My boss and I were having a Christmas Eve drink at the hotel across from the embassy in Rome with the ConGen (Consul General). A young American couple came up to him and explained that they were indigent and had to get back to the US. He went back to the Consulate, withdrew enough cash for two airline tix back to the world, had them sign papers agreeing to repay the USG for the cost, wished them a Merry Christmas and sent them on their way. This guy was also first on the scene at the on-the-ground crash of two 747s at Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Consular personnel were the first on the scene at the Rev. Jim Jones mass murder in Jonestown, Guyana.

[Chode]

can't wait, pls keep me on your advanced sale list

[Chode]

thx, just put my order in to amazon...