It’s more than TGIF today, it is Good Friday. Unfortunately it is not a Good Friday for Captain Phillips. As I fired up the laptop this morning, I’d hope to read a headline saying the Captain Phillips will be spending Easter with his family. Well that is simply not the case. The BBC reported that Captain Phillips tried to escape during the night but was quickly re-captured before American forces could react. REALLY!!!!
President Obama and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates are weakening America by allowing these pirates to continue to dictate terms. They are pirates, a band of gang thugs that have taken an American captive. Nothing that has been reported connects them to a larger terrorist network or gives light to extensive military training. Someone please explain to me why snipers have not been placed on the destroyer that shadows the lifeboat.
Had President Obama given the green light for this type of action, the second the Captain hit the water the pirates would have been eliminated. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is reported to have told reporters in Washington, “The safe return of the captain is the top priority.” I do not believe them. The weakening of the American image continues under the Obama administration.
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These pirates have been operating for years. The Bush Adminstration did little to nothing in preventing piracy in the Indian Ocean. Blaming Obama is just silly, he's been in office for 3 months. Oh by the way, negotiating with pirates took place during the Bush administration, so really blame him for encouraging this behavior by the "pirates".
ReplyDeleteAgreed the pirates have been operating for years. Their capture of Captain Phillips is the first such attack on a US-flagged ship in over 200 years. Please inform me, and the rest of the Obama administration, when this took place under Bush's watch.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama has not come out to address the issue. NOT ONCE. When asked about it, he dismissed the reporters and end the press conference. As for preventing piracy, American warships have been in the area for months now. President Obama is to busy campaigning and not leading by being Commander-in-Chief.
So what do you think about this post now? Do you think you or other bloggers, pundits or ideologues overreacted to this situation while the military was busy flying in snipers to take out the pirates?
ReplyDeleteAnd, do you think you would have reacted differently had Bush still been in charge?
Since this was a smaller, single event I'd like to find out your reaction.
No overreacting took place. The President refused to discuss the hostage taking and did not say anything formally until after the snipers did their job. My reaction to the delay in response does not matter who is in office. The pirates have said that the they will avenge the deaths and it will not deter them. If that is the case and no deterance is possible, it is time for President Obama to give the order to either have the Armed Forces deal with the situation or hire mercenaries (there is a fancier term for this that escapes me). Especially in light of the fact that Somaili pirates announced today that they will kill American sailors on site.
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