| Big Govt | Breitbart to AG Holder: Investigate ACORN or We’ll Release More Tapes Just Before 2010 Election |
0 |
| Politico | 0 | |
| Ras. Reports | 0 | |
| Patterico | L.A. Times Columnist Uncritically Quoted Star of Latest ACORN Video |
0 |
| ABC News | Major Hasan’s E-Mail: ‘I Can’t Wait to Join You’ in Afterlife |
0 |
Audacity of Truth
Media/lefty reax to Captain’s rescue
It’s interesting but not altogether surprising to see how the mainstream media is reporting on the heroic rescue of Captain Richard Phillips from the clutches of pirates in the Indian Ocean over the weekend by Navy Seals. The way they’re spinning it, you’d think that Obama himself had personally fired the three sniper shots that killed three of the four pirates holding Captain Phillips.
While I’m certainly willing to give credit where it is due to the CIC, a couple of things need to be kept in mind: First, the DOD had to ask for President Obama’s permission twice before they were given then go ahead to shoot only if the Captain’s life was in “imminent danger.” The Captain was held for close to a week – Obama gave his authorization Saturday. But even as Uncle Jimbo explains, Obama’s authorization was really a reaffirmation of the standard rules of engagement already in place for our military:
He did affirm 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.
In the short term, I’m ok with the media/left doing a little high-fiving about the rescue of Captain Phillips. After all, modern history has shown us that it’s not often that Democrat CIC’s have the intestinal fortitude to pursue any degree of military success. But they shouldn’t go overboard, either (no pun intended).
In the end, this crisis ended the way it should have. Much credit is due to the unarmed crew of the Maersk Alabama, who quickly took control back of the ship before the State Dept. could even formulate a coherent response (and no, that doesn’t include laughing about piracy), the Navy SEALS who brilliantly took out the pirates, the Maersk Captain for keeping his cool during the whole hostage stand-off, and to a lesser extent, Barack Obama for reaffirming the military’s authority to act on foreign soil in the event a US citizen’s life is in imminent danger.
But let’s hold off on the ticker tape parades and “medals ceremonies” for the President (the latter of which some goofballs at Daily Kos have suggested/implied). Where his mettle will really be tested will be in how he handles Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming years. I think I can safely speak for us all when I say that hopefully he will succeed in both Iraq and Afghanistan provided his plans for both revolve around winning both battles (in fact, Iraq is well on its way, no thanks to him) decisively rather than caving to his far left wing base and withdrawing prematurely from Iraq and treating Afghanistan as if it were a “hopeless cause.”
Related: A tribute to our Navy SEALS is in order.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Trackbacks
20 Responses to “Media/lefty reax to Captain’s rescue”
Comments
Blogads
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of ST's advertisers, nor do their opinions necessarily reflect ST's. Stats
The pirates were in the wrong, and they were punished. Did it mean they had to be killed?
Not saying that.
The punishment has to fit the crime. Luckily in the military that rule still holds true. Once the pirates made it look like they were going to kill the Captain, they were taken care of…
We talked to them, we played nice…and with some people that works, others it does not.
Now we already have people upset because we made the other pirates mad. Now they are going to kill Americans next time they capture them.
To the common liberal, now their behavior is our fault.
They don’t think about the fact the pirates are doing something wrong, that they are the ones killing innocent people or capturing ships.
Nope, blame the big bad USA.
Its a stark contrast between common sense and liberalism.
Same happens everywhere.
Liberal thought:
“We have to understand why terrorist hate us”
Lets see how the comments go the next few days.
Will liberals be happy the right thing is done, and call for the end of the pirate behavior all together, or will we get them being who they are: Blaming America first and want to know why the pirates do what they do. It doesn’t matter if what the pirates do is wrong, just that it is our fault.
Thank you for this article. Obama really had nothing to do with this rescue, and it is sinful for the media to spin the attention away from the true heros. God bless America and the Navy Seals!
I am. As Cicero put it, they are the “enemies of all mankind.” They are barbarians. They strike at civilization’s roots. Or, to paraphrase the First Rule of Texas Common Law: “They needed killin’.”
I’m willing to give PBO some credit here: while he did it belatedly, he did clarify the ROE and gave his on-scene commander freedom to act. He didn’t micromanage, unlike Carter during Iranian rescue mission. In the end, he did what the CiC is supposed to do.
Where I fault him is in wasting time by thinking negotiations with “clan elders” in Somalia would do any good. His only negotiation with the pirates should have been a simple statement: “Release Captain Phillips unharmed and surrender, and we’ll let you live.” Hopefully, this incident will free him a bit from the liberal-internationalist nonsense that all things can be settled by negotiation in good faith. Often, in the real world, they can’t.
….be under no illusion, people. If this operation had gone south, there would be any number of Navy flag officers (and JO’s) being cashiered by the BarryO administration.
At the risk of sounding trite, all’s well that ends well.
Sometimes I like to finish a sentence with “no pun intended” when there is no pun – just to mess with people.
Right you are, Tango. He is the CIC and it happened on his watch so he gets credit for it. Yet if it had gone south you can bet the media would have spun it as an unauthroized rescue attempt.
More than anything, I think the Navy captain saw an opportunity to end it and took it. I mean, think about it, are you telling me the hostage didn’t have a gun pointed at him for 4 days and then suddenly they pointed an AK-47 at him so they took them out? The captain saw an opportunity and took it. Good for him.
This was Obama’s way of voting “present” during a military crisis. Again, though, it happened on his watch so that counts.
Nice job by everybody all around!!
Obama is turning non violent pirates into Terrorists. Foolish Mistake.
Dennis, I think your idea of non-violent is a bit skewed. Would you consider an armed home invasion, where you were tied up with a gun held to your head non-violent?
I don’t like the fact that Barack Hussein Obama is our commander-in-chief, but he is, and he did his job. It’s difficult to argue with success. I give him credit for this one.
For those who believe that his orders were late in coming, I’d note that he gave the orders on Saturday, and they weren’t executed — pun intended — until Sunday evening; it is difficult to argue that his orders were not timely.
See below…
Hey Dennis, I don’t want to confuse you, but this is not Disneyland’s Pirates of the Carribean! These “non-violent”, Islamic-Facists pirates, who make a good living at terrorizing the high seas, are doing this, with what, empty AK-47’s? By definition, the pirates ARE already terrorists!
Obama is a cowboy. He should have asked the UN for sanctions against the pirates and a multilateral group of foreign ministers’ permission to act. Didn’t the world get enough of American unilateralism and cowboy tactics under Bush? /sarc
Tango & NC cop,
I beg to differ…I think you are purely speculating. The Prez took responsibility for the bonus fiasco as well as the botched vetting nominee process. His advisors have to proven to be a rational and middle of the road bunch…which leads me to believe one thing: if plans had not worked out, advisors would’ve realized the backlash if CIC is heard “passing the buck”. That’s my speculation, and you can’t convince me you speculation has any more truth than mine…so I suggest you stop digging a deeper hole for yourself.
DCRandy,
Perhaps you didn’t hear? This is America, and I am free to think whatever I like. If you disagree, that is certainly your right. Nor did I say that your speculation has any less truth than mine, did I? If I did, please show me where.
I am free to think and say whatever I like, for the time being, so perhaps you should stop digging your own hole. Thanks for playing.
This is what happens when you bring a knife to a gun fight. Somali teenagers with AK-47s and little knowledge of how to use them (just empty stomachs and nothing else to do) get themselves shot when they lock horns with Navy SEALS. Did they really think they were going home alive? This was a downpayment for payback for Mogadishu. “Kill ‘em all; let God sort ‘em out.” Amen.
A couple points of order:
- The “twice” bit was to give authority to act in case of “imminent danger” to assets on hand on Friday and again to those arriving Saturday.
- This was on the high seas, not on either foreign soil or territorial waters.
NC Cop says:
That much is true. Give credit where credit is due, but ONLY that much credit. And THAT is where the media is failing once again. They have no sense of perspective.
Consider: George W. Bush had the political courage to reshape Iraq, cripple the Taliban, and decimate al Qaeda. How much credit does the press give him? Nothing – that’s just “unilaterlaism” as in_awe points out so well.
But let Obama be in office when Navy snipers terminate three scruffy pirates, and suddenly BHO is the second coming of George Patton?? Who’s writing their stuff, Joe Biden?
Well said, GWR, and in a lot fewer words than me.
*thinks* I gotta learn how to do that sometime