Gunfighter

Hoff · Joined: 28 Jun 2007 Posts: 769 Location: Warrior Nirvana

I was anxious to see if the pirates would be sniped from the bow or Seals would rise from the current from underneath the boat and blast them with MP-5s...either way. The snipers were very effective. If they indeed used 50 cal...awesome! Good job guys. May the high seas be your turkey shoot.
Hoff

Hoff · Joined: 28 Jun 2007 Posts: 769 Location: Warrior Nirvana

Subject: What happened on the rescue of CAPT Phillips
Date: Monday, April 13, 2009, 8:21 PM

Story of a Successful Rescue (and the Obama Adminstration’s
Attempt to Claim Credit)

Despite efforts to spin the pirate tale as evidence of bold leadership

by an inexperienced president, the reality was clearly nothing of the sort.

Posted By Jeff Emanuel On April 13, 2009 @ 12:24 am In

After four days of floating at sea on a raft shared with four Somali gunmen, Richard Philips took
matters into his own hands for a second time. With the small inflatable lifeboat in which he was being
held captive being towed by the American missile destroyer USS Bainbridge, and Navy Special Warfare
(NSWC) snipers on the fantail in position to take their shots at his captors as soon as the command was
given, the captive captain of the M.V. MaerskAlabama took his second leap in three days into the
sharkinfested waters of the Indian Ocean.

This diversion gave the Navy Special Warfare operators all the opening they needed. Snipers
immediately took down the three Somali pirates still on board the life raft, SEAL operators hustled
down the tow line connecting the two craft to confirm the kills, and a Navy RIB plucked Philips from
the water and sped him to safety aboard the Bainbridge, thus ending the four day and counting
hostage situation.

Philips’ first leap into the warm, dark water of the Indian Ocean hadn’t worked out as well. With the
Bainbridge in range and a rescue by his country’s Navy possible, Philips threw himself off of his
lifeboat prison, enabling Navy shooters onboard the destroyer a clear shot at his captors — and none
was taken.

The guidance from National Command Authority — the president of the United States,
Barack Obama — had been clear: a peaceful solution was the only acceptable outcome to this standoff
unless the hostage’s life was in clear, extreme danger.

The next day, a small Navy boat approaching the floating raft was fired on by the Somali pirates — and
again no fire was returned and no pirates killed. This was again due to the cautious stance assumed by
Navy personnel thanks to the combination of a lack of clear guidance from Washington and a mandate
from the commander in chief’s staff not to act until Obama, a man with no background of dealing with
such issues and no track record of decisiveness, decided that any outcome other than a “peaceful
solution” would be acceptable.

After taking fire from the Somali kidnappers again Saturday night, the onscenecommander decided
he’d had enough.

Keeping his authority to act in the case of a clear and present danger to the hostage’s
life and having heard nothing from Washington since yet another request to mount a rescue operation
had been denied the day before, the Navy officer — unnamed in all media reports to date — decided
the AK47 one captor had leveled at Philips’ back was a threat to the hostage’s life and ordered the
NSWC team to take their shots.

Three rounds downrange later, all three brigands became enemy KIA and Philips was safe.

There is upside, downside, and spinside to the series of events over the last week that culminated in
yesterday’s dramatic rescue of an American hostage.

Almost immediately following word of the rescue, the Obama administration and its supporters claimed
victory against pirates in the Indian Ocean and [1] declared that the dramatic end to the standoff put
paid to questions of the inexperienced president’s toughness and decisiveness.

Despite the Obama administration’s (and its sycophants’) attempt to spin yesterday’s success as a result
of bold, decisive leadership by the inexperienced president, the reality is nothing of the sort.
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 ragtag handful of criminals with rifles and a U.S. Navy warship.

On Friday, April 9, as the standoff reached the end of its third day, I called on President Obama to take
action to free the American hostage from his Somali captors. I [2] outlined three possible operational
tactics that could be used to do so;

number 1 was the following:
(1) 2 helos, 2 snipers each: pop the [pirates] in their heads, then drop a rescue swimmer to
escort the hostage up to one of the choppers. This works best if the hostage is aware of what
is happening and can help without getting in the way — say, by hopping overboard as the
gunships near, to divert attention and get out of the line of fire.
(This was written before the USS Bainbridge tethered the life raft to its stern, an action which
eliminated the need for helicopters.)

However, instead of taking direct, decisive action against the ragtag group of gunmen, the Obama
administration dillydallied, 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. Any who think they weren’t watching every minute of this are guilty — at best — of greatly
underestimating our enemies.

Like the crew of the Alabama, which took swift and decisive action to take back their own ship rather
than wait for help from Washington that they knew could not be counted on, Captain Philips took
matters into his own hands for the second time in three days, leaping into the water to create a diversion
and allowing the NSWC team to eliminate his captors. The result, of course, was the best that could
possibly be expected: three pirates dead, the captain unharmed, and a fourth Somali man who had
surrendered late Saturday night in custody.

One thing that will bear watching will be what the Obama DOJ attempts to do with the captive pirate.
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.

In all seriousness, though, who knows? Obama could decide to get tough on the last surviving
participant in the first pirating of an American ship since Thomas Jefferson sent the U.S. Marine Corps
to root out and destroy the Barbary pirates.However, given the administration’s track record to date, I won’t be holding my breath on that one.

Article printed from Pajamas Media: http://pajamasmedia.com
URL to article: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/thestoryofasuccessfulrescueandobamasattempttoclaimcredit

Sniper Mike · Joined: 18 Apr 2009 Posts: 1

Now that's what I'm talking about. I have ZERO problems with our tax
> dollars spent to train such highly skilled soldiers.money well spent
> for once! That picture just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy
> inside.lol. All of us REAL American Citizens should have a .50
> BMG.love those things!

wichaka · Joined: 27 Jul 2007 Posts: 111 Location: Washington State

Gives new meaning to Easter Seals!

DEMON · Joined: 13 Jul 2007 Posts: 266 Location: Houston,Texas

That is HILARIOUS Wichaka!!! I am going to have to use that...but I will give you FULL credit for it!!! Twisted Evil