Couldn’t of said it any better then John Bolton on Obama’s reaction to the pirate saga being played out. Treating it like a law enforcement issue, ala Bill Clinton, is the same kind of reaction that emboldened al-Queda. The captain of the ship jumped overboard to swim to safety and the pirates were a clear target to our Navy for god’s sake and they didn’t take the shot…..pure and utter bull:
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I was hoping to wake up this morning and read that this situation had been resolved with one rescued American captain and four dead pirates. Instead, as the world hears Obama respond to the crisis with, “guys, we’re talking about housing right now,” the Strait of Hormuz is getting narrower.
When asked by a reporter about the Maersk Alabama during a White House event, President Obama responded to the question with:
“Guys, we’re talking about housing right now”
That answers the question:
What if Barack Obama had been POTUS on 9/11 ?
Answer:
“Guys, I’m reading fairy tales to kids right now”
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Oops, after I pushed send I wound up in Active discussions, new one, probably something I did. I’ll just repost, throw the other one away if it’s still hanging around.
All they would have had to do was blow the lifeboat out of the water and Obama’s housing photo op would have not been disturbed.
Yesterday Ralph Peters had the perfect Obama analogy. He said he is like the dog that caught the firetruck and now doesn’t know what to do with it.
Talk about the Blame Obama First crowd this really takes the cake!!!
First prize to Curt and Bolton.
Now how with (Obama not being on scene) was he responsible for a Navy captain not telling his men to fire?? How do we know how long the Hostage was in the water?? Do we know how far away the hostage actually got from the boat? Do we know if the Navy ship was close enough to command an order to fire?? Clue we don’t.
Give it a rest. geeeeeeeeeez
@Missy: I saw that interview with Ralph Peters with Glen Beck. It was great. I wish I could find it on You Tube.
He had a great column in the NY Post on Obama’s world apology tour also that I will excerpt later:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04082009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/os_amateur_hour_163368.htm
@Mike’s America:
Chris Wallace has mentioned hulu.com for viewers to check out segments of his program, it’s also been mentioned by a couple of other FOX hosts. Haven’t checked it out to see what it’s all about, just jotted it down the first time he said it and then promptly forgot about it til now.
@Real American Patriot:
More is known and has been reported than you obviously know. The hostage was in the water for a half hour, the Bainbridge was a few hundred yards away, close enough to be able to see when the hostage was back in the lifeboat, and safe.
Now, we have several other hijacked boats full of hostages moving in to rescue the pirates and take the Maerske hostage back to Somalia to hide him until they get a ransom, at this point, they are closer to the area than our ships that are moving in. Appears we are waiting for things to get more complicated, being as though the lifeboat was under constant surveillance, the pirates fired their weapons, the boat should have been blasted out of the water while the captain was out of it.
Also, the Maerske did not have weapons, they originally fought off the pirates with water cannons, it has left the scene and has already reached it’s original destination, no captain, no guns, no ship. Just the Bainbridge sitting out there, waiting.
Wonder what Sarkozy thinks of the US CIC? Interesting how this series of events was set up:
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http://www.kxmc.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=358680
What no one has really mentioned that we now have a test or a link to what the reaction will be when Muslims are the culprits and how this POS will give them more leeway in the world, especially when it comes to conflicts, armed or not…
@Missy:
Can you provide a link to this detailed account? The only thing I’ve seen has been along the lines of: “the American sea captain being held for ransom by Somali pirates briefly escaped their lifeboat by jumping overboard, a U.S. official said Friday, but was recaptured and brought back … Pentagon officials said they had heard, but could not confirm, that Phillips was pulled back into the lifeboat by one of the pirates who jumped into the water after him.” Suggesting that no one has a clear account of the incident, maybe my news is old, but you guys are coming off like a bunch of armchair generals to me.
This is not a global crisis, it is a minor hostage situation and should be handled like one. I, for one, would be furious if the president was micromanaging the situation – telling the Navy if/when to fire or how to approach the boat – as you suggest he should. The president’s job is to assess global implications and the safety of all American citizens, the Navy works out the logistics and makes the split second decisions because that is what they’re trained to do. In the French scenario, a hostage was killed, so this is clearly an unpredictable situation with not easy answers. Barring some incredible developments, the success of failure of this operation will lie with the Navy, and I’m sure they are doing all the can.
@ So What
Uh, Somalia is comprised almost entirely of Muslims. So, Muslims are the culprits here. The lamestream media will not call these people what they are- Muslim terrorists. This isn’t piracy. This is an act of international terrorism.
@trizzlor:
As a rule I post references, this time I forgot. What I could find is not the article I read from this morning.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25319446-663,00.html
What I read this morning made no mention of the pirates jumping in, only that they fired a weapon and the captain returned to the ship.
So I hear today that we are negotiating with these man caused disaster makers?
Is anyone keeping track how many days this thing has gone on for? Hopefully we don’t get anywhere near the 444 days our embassy personnel were held hostage by Iran but with another Carter in the White House it could very well happen.
@ trizzlor:
Mission accomplished. How’s that working so far? Actually, this is a global crisis, as demonstrated by the following information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_attacked_by_Somali_pirates#List_of_ships_captured_or_attacked_off_the_Somali_coast
Contributing to the global crisis is the U.N.’s typically girlyman response to conflict:
How’s that working so far? Good grief, even the French have demonstrated more balls than the U.S. so far! You and Real American Patriot have both placed responsibility for the success or failure of this mission with the U.S. Navy. Being an old Navy guy, I would normally agree with you. But, it’s clear that the assets shadowing the drifting life boat have been ordered (by whom?), at least to this point, to simply be a ferry service for FBI hostage negotiators. I don’t want to get ahead of the information curve, but there may be an al-Qa’ida influence with these pirates. If that is so, and this doesn’t turn out well, posted on their worldwide recruiting bulletin boards will be, “Yes We Can.”