Posted on 04/12/2009 3:52:08 PM PDT by Perdogg
U.S. Navy snipers opened fire and killed three pirates holding an American captain at gunpoint, delivering the skipper unharmed and ending a five-day high-seas hostage drama on Easter Sunday.
The pirates were pointing AK-47s at Capt. Richard Phillips and he was in "imminent danger" of being killed when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge made the split-second decision to order his men to shoot, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
NOW this I believe
Give him a break, he was chilling with Teddy K discussing a new pet.
Curiously, Ted gave them a Water Dog, rumored to be excellent swimmers.
We’re seeing the same kind of “hands tied behind our backs” jackassery that led to the Somalia fiasco.
Four pirates in the middle of the ocean threatening to kill an American hostage and Obama has to be asked TWICE if it is OK to shoot to KILL.
I wonder how long Obama had to think it over.....
I read on another thread that Obama approved deadly force two times. Your edit of the title leads to the conclusion that he withheld approval. Got source for that?
ping
Obuma had to get the OK from our European “allies”...then discuss it with the Whitey House Code Pink advisers...
Read the article, I quoted the source.
I don’t know how many times o was asked or how many times he replied but I do know its one F’d up system where he had to be asked at all.
What - don't they know that 0dumbo doesn't work weekends! He's got a pizza party and bowling and can't be bothered with some honky about to be killed by the "religion of peace".
/sarc
It should have been the standing order from the get go...instead it took BO 2 days to agree.
I’ll speculate that approval to go was given and the opportunity dissolved. Then they went back for a second “go” when conditions became favorable.
I thought I heard that on FOX—I guess I heard right.
I also heard Julie Banderas report that Obama said he was going to end this piracy problem once and for all (paraphrased) We are so lucky to have the oba-messiah leading our way through his universe.
This “”The Defense Department twice asked Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Phillips, most recently late Friday evening, U.S. officials said. On Saturday morning, Obama signed off on the Pentagon’s request, as he had a day earlier, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.”
The Admiral at the Pentagon news conference was very clear. (1) Obama signed nothing, made no calls. (2) the Navy acted on “existing authorities” to take out the pirates if the hostage was in imminent danger, The Navy said they interpreted the pointing of a gun at the hostage as “imminent danger.” (and they finally had clear shots.
I would not be a bit suprised...
Not a BIT suprised...
If the Captain gets court martialed for something in the near future.
I suspect that the order was more like ... take NO action unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. So the Captain found it absolutely necessary when the chance came ... had it gone wrong I’d bet the farm FUBO would say ... “ I never gave the order”
The Captain of a US warship shouldn’t have to wait for someone in DC to make a decision.
That’s why they are Captains, they are paid to make the tough decisions the hard decision the right decisions and ultimately the decisions that save the most lives.
If this pretend president wants to be in control of everything down to the man with the rifle, he is going to hamper the efforts and destroy the morale of our armed forces.
I posted this in another thread, but Obambi wants all the credit. He gave the authority for the use of force as recently as an hour after the captain was rescued.
Zer0 used weasel words. If this had gone bad, he could have said that he never authorized deadly force, just “keep the captain safe”
Thanks for the ping...so Obama is in the clear on this one to me....course there are some bigger decisions to be made...like what should be done to slow down this pirate activity...and dumping money on them is not an answer.
This actually sounds more believable- if he had given them authorization ONCE why did he need to give it AGAIN?
My guess is they had to ASK PERMISSION before they fired, and had to wait around for a reponse.
So they asked, it took too long, the missed the opportunity, and when another opportunity came they HAD TO ASK AGAIN
You're thinking of the Bush administration. This is 0's war so the captain will be praised for following 0's brilliant plan.
I’m not up on military protocol, but in a situation like this, wouldn’t you expect the President to initiate the order rather than sit around waiting to be asked? The Navy was pretty busy during this time, while he was sitting around eating pizza.
wonderfully libtard post on BBC:
“How dare you represent the problem of piracy with a numerical figure! It doesn’t matter how many millions have been extorted and does. Do these pirates (and they certainly didn’t label themselves pirates) really want to put their lives at risk and do this? Yes, but not because they are greedy, not because they are heartless. They have to do it, if it were your family living in Somalia which America chooses to bomb as and when it pleases, you too would have an entirely different perspective”
Thank the Lord for that Captain. I wonder what the o’s admin will do to him?
So what is this spin they are saying on TV -— that O gave them permission twice.
Did they HAVE to ask twice — or did he give permission the two times they asked?
I would think that if they were given permission once, then that is all they would need.
I hope O’s handlers keep him the he** off TV and trying to take any credit for this.
Yah. That chain of command is a pain in the azz.
| The US military says US President Barack Obama personally authorised the use of "appropriate force" against the pirates. |
| http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/13/2541376.htm?section=world |
Thanks. I choose to believe the Navy rather than media spin.
This is such a huge story around here. My sister and her family go to church with the Phillips’ and everyone is just so relieved that he will be coming home.
Thanks for all the pings on this story.
I guess that is one way to phrase it -- another way to describe it might be to call it micromanaging.
It sounds like Dumbo voted, “Present”.
Bainbridge ... permission to fire
FUBO ... take no action unless ABSOLUTELY necessary
One pirate on board the Bainbridge to negotiate 3 left on raft ... advantage
Bainbridge ... permission to fire
FUBO ... take no action unless ABSOLUTELY necessary
NOW ... in all in one or two seconds ...
Sniper Zone One on radio to other snipers ... target acquired
Sniper Zone Two on radio to other snipers ... target acquired
Sniper Zone Three on radio to other snipers ... target acquired
By pre-determined plan if the opportunity presented itself ...
BANG BANG BANG ... mission "ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY" complete
With one pirate off the raft the opportunity presented itself
They said that a pirate pointed his gun at the tied up captain who was in an enclosed boat and may not have been even visible ... as if in five days this was the first time a pirate had pointed a weapon at the captain ... right ...
Well, firing on the Somali pirates might have sparked an international incident with the nation of, uh, um, Somali pirates.
No. He has to consider whatever options are placed before him. You want THIS President plotting military stratgy? I assume not.
That God (and President Bush) for the high state of our military.
Thank God...
Jamac Habeb, a 30-year-old self-proclaimed pirate, told The Associated Press from one of Somalia's piracy hubs, Eyl, that, "our friends should have done more to kill the captain before they were killed. This will be a good lesson for us."
"From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them (the hostages)," he said. France and India have both taken deadly military action against pirates in recent months and seen no significant retaliation, however.
Where's your evidence that that happened?
.... and you want to know something? Wlord has it that he had to read the order from the Telepromptor. once again, he is the TOTUS.
What a freakin’ joke this A$$hole is.
The Defense Department twice asked President Barack Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Phillips, most recently late Friday evening, U.S. officials said. On Saturday morning, Obama signed off on the Pentagon's request, as he had a day earlier, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Is that not true? I don't understand your headline.
By tomorrow, it will be Obama BEGGED the Navy commanders to take out the bad guys but they just were not as courageous as the Big Zero.
o’s position is strategic, not tactical.
The caveat of course is he has no knowledge of either one.
Ask yourself why the second time would be required.
read your response again
In this case it certainly relied on the opportunity of targets, ROE in place.
Two of the three targets had their heads close together, out of the upper hatch getting fresh air. The third was keeping watch, when he distanced from the Captain, badda boom, badda bing. A relatively straight forward op.
Certainly, from now on the safest flagged vessels in the world will carry the stars and bars. As it should be.
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