Loading ...MAERSK Alabama Ship Captain Richard Phillips Safe, Alive And Well On Easter Sunday After U.S. Navy Sends Three Pirates To Meet Their Maker With Love
Before I launch into a “bashfest”, allow me to extend a sincere and hearty “high-five” to the U.S. Navy, the captain, his family, his friends and to President Obama for giving the order to pound the Somali pirates into kitty litter if necessary to bring Captain Phillips home. GO NAVY!
It was just yesterday I was sitting at the bar of my favorite eatery, dining and blogging (thanks to whomever invented WiFi) while the happy hour patrons were going on and on amongst themselves, claiming President Ronald Reagan would have bombed the hell out of the lifeboat where the captain was being held for ransom just to make a point to the rest of the world of pirates. One even made the claim if President Reagan was still in office, there would be a bunch of dead pirates and a freed captain. Again, this was just yesterday — Saturday.
I just minded my own business as I usually do, finished dining and finished publishing our good friend, Attorney, Steve Houchin’s fine guest column on our 2nd Amendment Civil Right To Keep And Bear Arms as I thought to myself, “Self — what planet are THESE people living on? Do they really believe President Obama is unconcerned and uninvolved over this International incident?” But — I didn’t say it. I just kept my mouth shut.
Fast-forward to today and we learn the president had issued a presidential order to the military for them to take whatever necessary action they needed to in order to free Captain Phillips and apprehend these Somali pirates (CNN) — on FRIDAY. Not only that, he reminded them once again the very next day, most likely around the same time of the day the happy hour crowd in this little old “red state” of Alabama were flinging insults and accusations toward President Barack Hussein Obama. OOPS.
Oh well, the main thing is the main thing — what a damned great Easter gift to both the Captain Phillips clan and yep, those dead Somali pirates, too, who are hopefully, enjoying the afterlife they’ve craved and most surely deserve — a very long eternity with seventy-two whiny, snivelling, immature virgins, whom hopefully are destined to REMAIN virgins in eternity.
Mean? Politically incorrect? Fine; I’m A-Okay with that.
***
Well, I will say, good for Obama. I’m glad he approved military action. I will support him when he does things like this.
I will admit I was concerned he would take forever to do something, if ever. But, my biggest complaint was his failure to acknowledge the issue, even to pray for the safety of Captain Phillips.
However, I find it interesting that those to the left of you, who are all against any violence, are saying this is great. Hypocrisy! You know if Bush had ordered the SEALs in, he would have been skewered as a cowboy.
Almost all I have to say is yipee, yahoo. I really thought this guy was a goner and am thrilled the Navy did their job and are bringing him home.
Progressives like this: http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/what-international-media-isnt-telling
Maybe you should be glad that you aren’t being linked in to that crowd, GTL. You should try and start an “Old School Liberals” blogroll.
Perhaps next weekend I could do a post about why this was completely Constitutional, and not just “the right thing to do.”
Guns, with our SecState LAUGHING about it, I think a lot of us were thinking that The One (as many of his disciples here in the Golden State called him) was going to just blow it off. But, as it is, it looks like for once O-BOW-ma did something right. Actully, this makes twice. His stop in Iraq and not treating the troops like a week old pile of dead fish (look at some of his other visits to military installations) was good too.
The AP is reporting that President Obama gave the order to use military force to rescue the hostage, that is misleading.
WASHINGTON (AP)—Administration officials say President Barack Obama approved the military operation that rescued a U.S. captain held hostage by Somali pirates.
The officials say Obama ordered the Defense Department to use military resources to rescue Richard Phillips from a lifeboat off the Somali coast.
He confirmed the military’s authorization to use force if the captain’s life was in danger, but they already would have had that authorization as part of their standard rules of engagement. If there are innocents about to be slaughtered the same reasoning that authorizes self defense also covers an imminent execution unless the ROE specifically forbid it. The AP is making it sound like there was an active rescue ordered by the President. It was not, there was an imminent threat and the local commander gave the order to fire. Good on Obama for ensuring their authorization was clear, but let’s also be clear that he did not authorize or order an active rescue attempt, and get the AP to lay off the crack pipe for a while.
As long as we aze talking about the “good” things that Obama has done how about his stopping the free passage of Mexiczn trucking companies over our border and that Mexico is now threating a trade war over. Of course, come to think of it, I haven’t seen anything about the trucks since the original story except for the part about Mexico being pissed. So, Maybe, Obama backed down.
More recently in the news, though, has been about the protection of our border and decreasing the number of illegals crossing it. More DEA agents and Border agents have been sent to the hot spots and a even more controversial program of killing the greenery that allows hiding spots. After Obama announced these two items, he said that if this wasn’t enough to protect our border more would be done. I have seen nothing in the right wing blogs about this even though they were the ones crying that Obama would open our borders wide.
But all that aside, I am very happy for Phillips and his family. Phillips is a real hero, willing to give his life for his crew. I love the fact that he is still smiling even after five days of having a gun to his head and being shot at.
If this had happened under Bush’s watch I would have expected him to do the same that Obama did, give his military commanders the go. We cannot allow our ships to be pirated or our planes to be hi-jacked. A special thank you to the young men and women who volunteer for our special forces. Their’s are a job that very few could or would do and they so seldom get credit for their missions.
On a quick note, I actually think that the religion of these pirates is irrelevant. It’s common to believe that they are Muslim and therefore will be enjoying a plethora of virgins. What’s interesting, though, is that the Islamic people in Somalia hate the pirates because they take EVERYTHING. It doesn’t matter if you like Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, or whomever else, if you have a ship, they want it.
Now, on to more pressing matters…You’ve got to give it to President Obama. While I agree that it is within the rules of engagement, for a Democratic (we’re typically a bit more squeamish about conflict) to say “do what you have to do,” it means that he may have the guts to do what is absolutely necessary, no matter the costs. My Dad was saying just this morning that he hoped Obama would follow what Reagan would do and that’s not negotiate. I think that there always needs to be a level of negotiation. But hey…That’s just me.
Happy Easter goes out to his family and everyone who was affected by this.
Steve — anytime
William Tell, my friend — for the MOST part, my “Liberalism” blogroll IS pretty much filled with Pro-2a, independent Liberals (small “I” and large “L” on purpose). SOME exceptions but not many
Frankly, I’d say the same about the righties on my “Conservatism” blogroll — independent Conservatives (again, see small vs caps above) who are Conservative FIRST, and Republican second if even that at all
Obama has passed his first national security test in authorizing military force which was certainly justified. The right-wing nuts were proven wrong about Obama and the reaction of the loony left isn’t too surprising either.
Once again I believe the USA is headed down the path of fascism. The interesting ideal behind this is that the basic underlying belief is that fascism must inheriantly be a rightie thing because it tends to spout nationalistic views which have always been associated with war, military and the expansion of the state onto the political stage.
Fast forward to 911. The US government invading Afghanistan because we were attacked by 20 hijackers. Fast forward to 2003 and we invade Iraq because they might be boogie men.
Fast forward to 2004-2008 and Heir Bush is proclaimed the antichrist, will suspend the constitution and will become king.
The Left is livid with the Iraq thing. They embark upon the demoralization of the right wing and more specifically the GOP party in their attempts at taking back control of the government. They succeed. The people rally around their cause.
Fast forward to 2009. Barak Obama is put in office as the president of the USA> He decides to continue his own war on terrorism. Escalates the warfare in Afghanistan. His left supporters who proclaim their abhorrance for war are rallied in support of his actions and cheer on the blowing up of men, women and children which they had previously been livid with only months earlier when Bush was the Commander in Chief.
The left embarks upon a unified effort to tear down and destroy, smear and slander any opposition on the right claiming it is hateful, hurtful and vitrolic ignoring their own years of hateful, hurtful vitrolic rhetoric.
Summation. The march down fascism lane is not being taken by the weak and enemic Right. Its being taken by the Democratic left who is so actively engaged in destroying any political opposition that they have begun attacking private citizens because their is no longer any opposition to them. The GOP congress and representatives are afraid to speak out for fear of massive retaliation from an internet smear machine and an MSM that is in the pocket of Barak Obama.
The MSM and the democratic left have worked together in the form of state run news propoganda in distributing distortions of the truth as they work closely together to destroy the fabric of the 2 party system in America.
These same democratic smear merchants who are bent upon a path of Fascism as they work to illiminate any and all political opposition on their path to a police state do not even realize the path they are headed down as they continue to delude themselves into believing that America would be a better place with only one party in control and NO opposition.
Remember Fascism’s aim is a single party state who puts the needs of the nation (health care, Abortion, Gay rights, Gun control, Stem cell research)above the wants and needs of ordinary citizens.
I pray that the left come to their senses. I pray that the MSM comes to its senses. I pray that bloggers come to their senses and I pray most of all that America returns to fiscal sanity and the people themselves FINALLY say enough if enough.
Mr Teach and many of the righter of those here are no doubt sad because the captain was not killer, along with maybe a few US sailors or civilians so that your anti-Obama sentiments would be somehow validated.
You guys still can’t accept that your side lost the election – by a mere 9 million votes.
Get the fuck over it.
mark
Congratulations to our Navy for a job well done!
Teach-C&L provides good, honest, intelligent, and accurate information. Any successful long term attempt to deal with these pirates will have to involve cleaning up the mess in Somalia; that, and seriously blowing the fuc4 out of them when they mess with us.
Joe- Obama, and Dems in general, have consistently treated soldiers and vets better than most warmongering Repugs who talk the talk. but when it comes down to votes on funding have a hideous track record.
Fraidykat-Fascism isn’t linked to a party, and we’re already there. Fascism is, bydefinition, corporate rule. Technically it has nothing to do with violence. When companies are “Too big to fail” and we are forced to bail them out, that’s a key indicator.
I don’t know why you think the lefties support his increase of troops in Afghanistan; we don’t. We need to get the fuc4 out of there, just like in Iraq.
The right is consistantly more hateful and hurtful than the moderately hateful and hurtful left. The right has been wrong on so many issues that they were bound to collapse, but having a cadre of incompetent imbeciles at the helm certainly is making their implosion amusing to behold.
Anyone who thinks that the giant right wing corporations (read fascists) that own and control our media prefer the Dems is delusional. They lean slightly to the right, but because they compete for ad dollars from other giant corporations in our capitalist/fascist system, they have to be about as centrist as possible, and most honest research by either side has indicated that this is the case.
What the hell does fascism have to do with the stem cell research that the vast majority of Americans support.
Once again-GO NAVY!
GTL
Sounds to me like you had some doubt also. Why else post a congratulation for doing what ANY US President should do? Giving the Navy permission to shoot pirates is hardly a display of iron willed fortitude, rather more like a “no-brainer”.
As an aside, this was a use of taxpayer dollars that everyone should approve of.
Anyone who thinks that the giant right wing corporations (read fascists) that own and control our media prefer the Dems is delusional.
We must lead the people always; nationally, socially and economically. We must clear up the economic mess and right the glaring social injustices of to-day by the corporative organization but before everything we must give a national lead to our people…The first essential is national unity. We can only have that when the Corporative system is accepted. We shall put our National programme to the people, and it is a programme in which even the most advanced Nationalist can find nothing to disturb him.[61]
The fascist movement has at its roots an inheriant distrust of corporations, business and the overwhelming need to control business. They must tell them what to make, who can be in charge and what they will and will not do.
In our nation today the corporations are under seige. They are hated and their is a movement in this country to punish corporate America. That entity that provides most of the jobs.
The amazing thing is that the democrats do not even see the path to fascism they are trodding. They only see anger at GWB and their political opponents.
God help us all.
William, if he’d gone in guns a-blazin’ like the French, and the captain had been killed as a result, THEN you’d see me complain. Had he additionally decided to invade Kenya (which had nothing to do with the attack.), you’d see me complain. You’d also see a fair number of folks on the right giving him hell. Sometimes it’s really best to quietly wait for the right opportunity, and in this case, it paid off for our Navy and our Commander in Chief. The pirates were also given the chance to negotiate. They refused to the terms, and the snipers believed the captain’s life to be in danger. There was nothing wrong with the use of deadly force.
Honestly, there was no way that we were going to either pay a ransom or let these pirates go free. They merely had the option of making their situation slightly less unpleasant should they let the captain go free. That was the extent of the negotiations. The pirates refused, and therefore sealed their own fates.
I also find it amusing that folks are criticizing the president for both doing nothing (having a standing order) and doing something (reissuing that order) at the exact same time. I know very well that Obama has no personal military experience. The fact that he chose to handle the general order while letting his commanders handle the micromanagement was a good move, in my opinion. I think a lot of folks expected him to not be willing to use military force, and he proved them wrong. Diplomacy and strength are not mutually exclusive, and I think these pirates made the fatal mistake of not realizing that.
Katt, I have absolutely no qualms with us ever invading Afghanistan, even when it was done by Bush. For that matter, neither did the majority of the rest of the world. Iraq is where I and most people hold issue. Afghanistan was harboring criminals who’d attacked our country, and it could not be tolerated. We’d offered them every opportunity to deal with the issue themselves, and we’d offered to assist. We were pretty much met with a collective middle finger from the Taliban. Iraq took needed troops away from capturing the guy responsible for attacking us, and he got away. I wager that you will still find few people in the industrialized world opposed to bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. He isn’t just a threat to our country.
I know you can’t go cold turkey on right-wing crazy, but at least switch from Glenn Beck to Sean Hannity.
Girardia, I’d also like to see us go after cleaning up Somalia or at least aid them in doing it themselves if they are so willing. But the truth is that we just don’t have the resources at this time. Afghanistan is and should be our priority. There are enough other nations with big militaries who are affected by the situation in Somalia far more than we are. If they’re bothered by it, they should focus on that, but they don’t seem to be. They weren’t too concerned with fighting it back in the 1700s, either. One U.S. ship in 200 years doesn’t strike me as a huge threat to the U.S. at this time, so I think we have bigger fish to fry. If they decide to cause a ruckus, we can definitely oblige them.
Chuck — Re: Comment 14:
A little bit of doubt but not very much, my friend and you’re correct — it was his DUTY as our Commander-In-Chief (not “our” as in you and I, “our” as in I’m still technically IN until June 1st) to make the call and I’m glad he did it by the book. Nothing wrong with clapping B. Hussein Obama on the back for it either though — even Michael Savage was giving him the proper respect and proper due for making the right call. If Savage can do it, ANYBODY can do it