Posted on 01/18/2013 2:08:23 PM PST by Kaslin
National Review columnist Mark Steyn wants the United States to be more aggressive in its efforts to rescue to Islamist-held hostages in Algeria.
As of Friday, at least one American had died in a hostage standoff near the Algerian border with Libyan border amid growing speculation that the United States may attempt a rescue operation. And according to National Review columnist Mark Steyn, it’s time the United States got more aggressive in its efforts.
On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show on Thursday night, Steyn, the author of “After America: Get Ready for Armageddon,” scoffed at the idea of Algerian forces conducting the rescue and said that only a handful of nations would be capable of handling such an operation.
“I mean, ‘Algerian special forces’ is something of a contradiction in terms,” Steyn said. “I think when these things happen somewhere on the other side of the world, you hope that the highly trained elite forces will come to the rescue. And that belongs to a very select group of nations. I mean, if you remember that Russian theater siege for example, where the Russians went in and killed a bunch of people — I mean, even the Russians aren’t any good at that. There’s maybe half-a-dozen nations in the world capable of rescuing those guys without leaving a lot of blood on the floor.”
“It does call into question — I mean I would have thought that the first thing that would happen is that the nationals, the government of the nationals being held hostage would have conferred as to who had people, who could get there and screw Algeria’s sovereignty,” he continued. “We got into a lot of trouble in Libya from over-respecting the sovereignty of nations that cannot enforce their own sovereignty. And that’s what we should have done in Algeria, too. We should take as saying we’re not going to fuss about visas from the Algerians.”
But Steyn speculated that the press would continue to give U.S. officials a pass, and said that inaction spoke to what missions the United States is willing to conduct on its own behalf.
“I think they know the press are not going to make a big deal about it on their watch,” he said. “I mean we had two guys die on a rooftop in Benghazi after hour-by-hour contacting Washington, demanding to know whether help was on the way. And they died — they saved a lot of people’s lives, but they died waiting on the cavalry that never came.”
“At some point, Americans have to ask themselves — they’re responsible for 43 percent of the world’s military spending,” Steyn said. “Why can’t they do a raid on Entebbe? Why on earth does that have to be outsourced to Algerian special forces? Is this just another job Americans won’t do? At some point, Americans have to get serious about these questions.”
One of which is apparently Peru.
BTW, hostage rescue is not a given for any organization. In most training scenarios, the hostages wind up dead.
Has anyone seen nobama today? Why..I bet he has put on his cammos (probably the same ones he wore when he offed osama) and is aboard a helo enroute to Algeria. nobama saves all!!!! All praise the nobama.
Not our problem. By the way, he’s on extremely shaky ground with not respecting the sovereignty of nations who can’t enforce their own sovereignty. The U.S. has a rather well known inability to enforce immigration laws. And what is he talking about with Libya, anyway?
DUH! Because they're called 'sovereign nations' for a reason you putz!
The REAL question Americans have to ask themselves is WHY they’re responsible for 43 percent of the world’s military spending IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Oh, that's right...it's because the political elite are elbow-deep in the cash from all those gub'mint contracts.
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Sorry, but IMHO, you go into a foriegn nation, you've placed your bet, so you takes your chances.
We don’t rescue our Ambassadors, why do we think we’ll rescue everyday Americans? I notice the terrorists wanted to trade the hostages for the blind bomber mastermind. Could that have been the same plan with the Ambassador in Benghazi before the Seals got involved? Was there a plan to trade the Ambassador for the blind Sheik, in cooperation at the highest levels? It seems odd that a live feed, viewed by so many, of the Benghazi massacre, using our most valuable assets, is so easily dismissed.
Steyn ping!
He’s pointing out that Obama let Americans die in Libya because he wanted to respect Libyan “sovereignty.” It’s not America’s job to enforce the sovereignty of other nations. We’re not unable to enforce our immigration laws, Obama just refuses to do so.
Mark Steyn ping.
Freepmail me, if you want on or off the Mark Steyn ping list.
Thanks for the ping Slings and Arrows.
But that’s obviously not true. Embassies are considered U.S. soil, and we’d have every right to come to its aid, even if that meant violating airspace. More importantly, Obama had no scruples ignoring Pakistan’s sovereignty with the Bin Laden assassination.
Truth is we have no idea why we didn’t come to the rescue in Libya. Could have been gross incompetence. Maybe they were hiding a gun running operation to Syria as some have suggested.
I don't think so. I think it is Pakistan's job to defend their own sovereignty and it is our job to violate it.
I get real tired of Americans telling me that we should have to follow some kind of "international law" and never violate the "sovereignty" of foreign countries. No, we should only defend our own sovereignty and not anyone else's. Part of being a sovereign nation is that we don't ask anybody's permission before we violate the sovereignty of others.
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