PrintWho gets credit for the rescue of Captain Phillips?
President Barack Obama (D), as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, is taking credit for the successful rescue of ship captain Richard Phillips, basking in the glow of an absolutely outstanding performance and raw courage of the ship's captain Richard Phillips, the ship's crew and the U.S. Navy under his skilled direction.
However military correspondent Jeff Emanuel at Pajama Media claims the reality is quite different; the inexperienced Obama and his equally inexperienced staff and advisers, committed to a peaceful resolution, needlessly dragged out an incident that, thanks to Phillips' bravery, could have been successfully resolved in a few hours with minimal loss of life.
Instead, because of Obama's dithering, it turned into a drawn out, dangerous confrontation that, ironically, caused the death of three of the Somali pirates, and almost cost Phillips his life.
However, instead of taking direct, decisive action against the rag-tag group of gunmen, the Obama administration dilly-dallied, dawdled, and eschewed any decisiveness whatsoever, even in the face of enemy fire, in hopes that the situation would somehow resolve itself without violence. Thus, the administration sent a clear message to all who would threaten U.S. interests abroad that the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has no idea how to respond to such situations — and no real willingness to use military force to resolve them.
As a result
What should have been a standoff lasting only hours — as long as it took the USS Bainbridge and its team of NSWC operators to steam to the location — became an embarrassing four-day-and-counting standoff between a rag-tag handful of criminals with rifles and a U.S. Navy warship.
Initially Phillips escaped his captors and bravely jumped into the water. The Navy commander could have fired on the pirates but Commander in Chief Obama, safely ensconced in the White House and still all warm and fuzzy from the cynical applause he received on his expensive--but futile--overseas trip, denied the Navy permission to mount a rescue operation because--oh dear!--the pirates might be injured. When the pirates pointed a gun at Phillips' back, and finally the Navy commander received permission to act because of the imminent danger to Phillips' life, the Navy Seals fired. The incident quickly ended.
Because of a deep scratch on his hand, one Somali pirate, said to be a young adolescent, had earlier surrendered and the Navy generously took him on board. And treated him! What will happen to him? Well, brave Attorney General Eric Holder wants to try him as a mere criminal, perhaps in the U.S. And then?
I agree with Emanuel that
My money is on a life of welfare checks, a plot of land (in a red state, naturally), and voting rights in Chicago, New York, and Seattle.
Let's all hold hands and sing Kumbayeh! That will stop piracy and make the pirates like us.
