Thread: The Pirate Situation, Captain Richard Phillips, The Obama Administration

The captain of the Alabama, Richard Phillips, and American taken hostage off the coast of Somalia by 4 pirates in a 40 ft. lifeboat, made a brave attempt to escape and swim too a US Navy vessel a couple hundred yards away. Around midnight, he jumped in the ocean and started swimming toward the vessel. Moments later, a few shots were fired by the pirates, one jumped in after hm and he was brought back into the pirates boat. Heres my question: Why did the Navy ship not fire on the pirate boat the second the Captain Phillips jumped off the boat? Why were there no snipers with nightvision that attempted to take out the pirate who went after him. The answer is because President Obama wanted no loss of life. Does he value the life of these thugs more than the life of one of our own? The US military has the resources to have not allowed the situation to get to this point but because of some cronies in Washington are so worried about keeping international "peace", this hero didnt have the proper backing of the his government. We let him down. I pray he is released. The US had to send a message that we are not to be f@cked with and we failed to do so. 4 thugs on a small boat are up against the US military and are dictating the situation. That, Mr. Obama, is what damages how the world looks at us, and how other pirates and terrorists see us.

I'm still yearning for some payback from 93'.They really have to nip this in the bud and understand that precedences are being set for every hour this continues.Sorry,I just dont have a lot of mercy for these f!!!!krs commandeering and taking citizens hostage on a ship flying national colors...be it the U.S,Germany,England etc.One things for absolute certainy....they can not pay them a dime and they most assuredly can not allow them to take Phillips back onto land.

I cannot lay this at the feet of the President really,Dont know all of the details and what he knows.Its going to take some coordination and planning to get this resolved with the Hostage intact.I think the Destroyer will play a roll in that,but not with the firepower,more so what it offloads into the water on a moonless night maybe in conjunction with some single sighted scope delivery.They really have to get this shit under control and fast.And get some damn escorts on the ships on a regular basis.You have to be realistic and these 'Pirates' have clearly chosen to elevate the circumstances and aggression on all in the area.Lets not deprive them of a response.

My understanding is that SOCOM has had these guys pegged and been waiting for a green light to hit them where they sleep for some time. But yeah I too was wondering why they didn't attack the boat once he dove in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRrXrGg292w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii_c3B5AasI


How very brave this administration is, surely Bin Laden wouldn't mess with us now after this showing of force and decision making

And yet Democrats still wonder "Why do we get accused of being soft on National Defense?"....I'm sure Obama is going to appologize to the Somali pirates and everything will be ok after that, maybe they just want a photo-op with Barry, I mean the guy is a bona fide celebrity. Fucking ridiculous....but hey at least we look good to the rest of the world

Spicoli, the president is the commander in chief, yes we can lay it at his feet. He should have to answer on his failure to use military force when an oppotunity presented itself. He should have never put out a statement that he wanted the situation resolved with no loss of life. That tells me that he equates a Somali pirates life with an American heros.

The damage has already been done reguardless of the outcome as far as America showing weakness. The second the captain jumped, im sure he thought he would have reinforcement from his fellow countrymen. They should have unloaded on that boat. They should have lit it up. Pirates were never brave enough to even attempt hijacking a US ship, that is until our peacemaker, no violence president took office. I cant help but think that if it was Bush who was still in office it wouldnt have happened, and if it did those pirates would be at the bottom of the ocean right now. Its scary to think how a large scale terrorist attack would be dealt with by this administration of cowards.

While I do agree with the majority of your post, I do not agree with what you said about the Pirates not being brave enough to take one of our ships....I think those guys just pick and chose which ships they are going to take regardless of what country they are from.

I doubt very seriously that the Bush Administration as inept as people thought/think they were would have taken this long to act. That Captain is a hero, no doubt...and he needs to be brought home safely.

The French Navy just made a rescue of some French hostages that were being held by Somali Pirates and they lost only 1 hostage....but they did capture 3 pirates, who need to be hanged of course.

Originally Posted by BoomBoom

Spicoli, the president is the commander in chief, yes we can lay it at his feet. He should have to answer on his failure to use military force when an oppotunity presented itself. He should have never put out a statement that he wanted the situation resolved with no loss of life. That tells me that he equates a Somali pirates life with an American heros.

The damage has already been done reguardless of the outcome as far as America showing weakness. The second the captain jumped, im sure he thought he would have reinforcement from his fellow countrymen. They should have unloaded on that boat. They should have lit it up. Pirates were never brave enough to even attempt hijacking a US ship, that is until our peacemaker, no violence president took office. I cant help but think that if it was Bush who was still in office it wouldnt have happened, and if it did those pirates would be at the bottom of the ocean right now. Its scary to think how a large scale terrorist attack would be dealt with by this administration of cowards.

I hear you Boom but I'm not coming at this from a pro or con dem or republican...they can all get bent as far as I'm concerned.History is littered with Presidents and bureaucrats hampering and impeding the judgment of the boots on the ground and the ones dealing with it in actuality as opposed to politicos behind a desk,mugging for the camera.Clinton,and the congress for that matter when it came to Somalia in 93'.That was a farcical and total disgrace with the U.N playing lead,they should all hang there heads in shame.Bush administration &that mental midget Donald Rumsfield unwilling to take the gloves off in the very early stages in Afghanistan.Jimmy Carter and his stutter stepping with the Embassy hostages in Iran.Reaganand the Marine Barracks in Beirut.Unfortuanatly,poll numbers and public opinion often trump just cause.

Totally agree that these f!!!!kers should be feeding the fish right now but its just not that open and shut about striking when the Hostage jumped into the water.I am not sure about the communications but am sure the Captain did not have a chance to give the Destroyer a warning.We're talking a matter of yards between he and the pirates and a spontaneous attempt done in an instant.Even if its sighted,they could have just as easily blown the hostage to shite with the Phalanx or other systems.We dont need a dead hostage.The Military is so over regulated and hand cuffed,no crew in a hostage situation is on a fire at wiil status with heavy ordinace involved,ecspecially with the world watching.Is it right...hell no,it gets soldiers killed and lets the opposition pull the strings.Again...there is NO way they can let them reach shore,I think this will be done at close quarters,at night and quickly.Hope it all ends well with he and other hostages intact and this raggedy lot of thugs taking a permanent saltwater nap.

Its equally incumbent on all nations effected to ensure proper escorts to avoid some criminals in patched together rafts and AK's from bringing commerce and security to a screethcing halt.

They should enforce like a marshall law in somalian seas for atleast 1 year.

Got to say,sound like all involved got this one right from top to bottom ,especially the Navy personnel and the Hostage from jump off.They allowed themselves to be towed Unbelievable,the proverbial lesson in watching the left hand when your shaking the right.

Look,whatever your politics,personally I'm neither lol.Have voted Democrat and republican...State and National.The President did what he should have and for that matter any political leader should have.Stayed versed behind the scenes and shut up in public as not to make it about himself one way or the other,took the cuffs off of the Military officials on sight and like the rest of us waited.I'm not saying he is a superstar here,but on this one, there really is no fault to find Imo.The bigger issue comes down th Somalia,thats a whole nother bull in the china shop it seems.

I honestly dont follow the independent party or any of them and believe it or not im actually a registered democrat though i dont vote based on that. almost all the news figures on Fox News or CNN are pretty bias imo. Even with this whole pirate thing, the truth is we only know what they tell us.


Yeah Killa, I agree with you, these boats need escorts and more support. It has always been a tough task to apply certain laws to international waters. Its pretty crazy when you think about it most of the world is covered by lawless oceans.