Obama twice approved force to rescue hostage

**d.mcc** · April-12-09, 08:12 PM

So much for BO not having what it takes eh?

WASHINGTON â€” President Barack Obama twice authorized the military to rescue a U.S. captain held by Somali pirates and whose life appeared to be at risk, administration official said hours after todayâ€™s rescue.

The Defense Department twice asked Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips from a lifeboat off the Somali coast, most recently late Friday evening. On Saturday morning, Obama signed off on the Pentagonâ€™s request, as he had a day earlier, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Somali pirates last week took the Maersk Alabama off the Horn of Africa. The crew fought back the pirates and reclaimed the ship, but Phillips was taken hostage aboard a lifeboat. Navy ships soon were on their way to the area.

full article here: http://freep.com/article/20090412/NE...rescue+hostage

ccbatson · April-12-09, 08:15 PM

For once, I commend him on a job well done. Never negotiate with, or pay ransom unless the objective is to propagate the incidence of this type of crime.

**Sstashmoo** · April-12-09, 11:00 PM

Bravo President Obama.

Quote: â€œWe remain resolved to halt the rise of piracy in this region. "

Well if I may offer a suggestion to him, how about balancing the trade and stop relying in goods shipped from the other side of the world? When we have people right here out of work that are quite capable of producing them.

ccbatson · April-12-09, 11:09 PM

Running away with tail tucked is not a good suggestion Sstashmoo.

**firstandten** · April-12-09, 11:39 PM

Originally Posted by Sstashmoo

Bravo President Obama.

Quote: â€œWe remain resolved to halt the rise of piracy in this region. "

Well if I may offer a suggestion to him, how about balancing the trade and stop relying in goods shipped from the other side of the world? When we have people right here out of work that are quite capable of producing them.

How about having European counties and companies stop illegally fishing in their waters and dumping toxic waste off their shores because its cheaper to do that than to do it legally.

These Somailies are thugs but there's a reason why they are like this and those reasons will need to be addressed because this has been going on since the nineties.

ccbatson · April-12-09, 11:43 PM

The Somali pirates keep doing this because?? They succeed by virtue of idiots paying them ransom money for committing crimes.

**Gistok** · April-12-09, 11:56 PM

Originally Posted by ccbatson

The Somali pirates keep doing this because?? They succeed by virtue of idiots paying them ransom money for committing crimes.

Gotta agree with you Cc... the more they ransom, the more money they get... the more money they get... the more boats and weapons they buy... the more boats and weapons they buy... the more brazen they become....

Funny how no one [[except for us and maybe the French) learned from the 200 year old lesson of Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary Coast pirates...

If they continue we should bomb some coastal villages/fleets that house these thugs. Villagers that house these now rich warlords are starting to get worried that we'll do just that. Since our military has become relatively good at surgical strikes, perhaps collateral damage [[loss of innocent life) can be kept to a minimum.

Patrolling an area 1/3 the size of the continental US in the Indian Ocean is logistically prohibive...so we need to be proactive, rather than reactive.

**d.mcc** · April-13-09, 12:04 AM

Originally Posted by ccbatson

The Somali pirates keep doing this because?? They succeed by virtue of idiots paying them ransom money for committing crimes.

Sounds kind of free-marketish to me...

**rajdet** · April-13-09, 07:31 AM

Nice article oldredfordette, thanks for posting it. You are right Firstandten, there is always at least two sides to every story.

Originally Posted by firstandten

How about having European counties and companies stop illegally fishing in their waters and dumping toxic waste off their shores because its cheaper to do that than to do it legally.

These Somailies are thugs but there's a reason why they are like this and those reasons will need to be addressed because this has been going on since the nineties.

4real · April-13-09, 11:42 AM

obama did everything, he is solving all the worlds problems so quickly i can't believe it.

now he can take on the afghan's since we won in iraq.

i just hope the somali terrorists don't get to angry and want to blow us up whenever they can

**d.mcc** · April-13-09, 12:03 PM

I have to say that after the jump it seems as though the quality of the posters has actually decreased...

Stosh · April-13-09, 12:26 PM

I was just wondering why, in this day and age, that merchant ships aren't allowed some sort of defensive capabilities for these occasions. I'm not sure that just anyone can be allowed to carry the weaponry needed to destroy small ships, but maybe some regulatory body can grant defensive weaponry based on need.

**Jimaz** · April-13-09, 01:02 PM

I heard one of the techniques used against pirates is to surround the deck with barbed wire. It would be difficult to cut the wire while being blasted with high-pressure fire hoses.

I'm sure they have other tricks up their sleeve that they don't want to reveal.

**Johnlodge** · April-13-09, 01:09 PM

I thought we were sending Batson over there to toast these pirates?

Stosh · April-13-09, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by Speramus Meliora

These guys are merchant marine, not soldiers. A better idea would be to put soldiers on board a few ships or to have decoy ships that are actually armed to the teeth. An even better idea would be to develop a comprehensive plan to deal with Somalia.

I think that the decoy idea is a great one. Particularily if it is from another nation other than ours or France. Soldiers are also one option. I still think that, merchant marine or not, that they would be able to be taught the use of a machine gun or a RPG.

4real · April-13-09, 01:39 PM

why did they have to ask twice and why did he have to authorize twice?
wasn't once good enough?

So Obama is a hard nosed hawk all of a sudden I guess, good news.

4real · April-15-09, 11:33 AM

What would be shocking is if he didn't allow the military to take action.

At the prompting of two lawyers for him to okay it he said yes, big deal

He takes credit for what the Navy Seals did,.. not a leader at all.

**Islandman** · April-15-09, 12:14 PM

What a joke.

**firstandten** · April-15-09, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by 4real

What would be shocking is if he didn't allow the military to take action.

At the prompting of two lawyers for him to okay it he said yes, big deal

He takes credit for what the Navy Seals did,.. not a leader at all.

If the plot had failed and the captain was killed you would have blamed Obama for bad decision making. Your trying to have it both ways. He is the commander-in-chief all military decisions good and bad will fall under him. Give him credit for this success because you sure will hammer him if a military operation goes bad.

ccbatson · April-15-09, 04:50 PM

Rb...see my post 307.....Apology accepted.

ccbatson · April-15-09, 04:51 PM

Oops, make that #4 on this thread.

**rb336** · April-16-09, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by ccbatson

Rb...see my post 307.....Apology accepted.

whatever post - yep, sorry, i did not catch it

ccbatson · April-16-09, 10:20 PM

A first for Rb!!!! An open admission of being wrong.

**Detroitej72** · April-15-09, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by Speramus Meliora

Yeah, that is funny. A few days ago, they were saying that Obama didn't have the balls to go after the pirates. As soon as he does and the mission is a stunning success, then he suddenly had nothing to do with it at all.

Obama made the call. The Navy Seals would have had to sit there and watch had he not.

Maybe the righties here would have liked it better if Obama flew in on an air force jet with a "Mission Acomplished" banner hanging nearby.