:rotflmao:

give the pirates the ransom, get the hostage off the boat and then destroy the boat, money and pirates on a primetime world wide broadcast. Could probably make the money back selling advertisements for the show.

I think if this had a high chance of success they would have done it already. The handoff might be pretty tricky, it rarely works in the movies.

Sounds like more Navy ships are heading to the area and will block the boat from the wind pushing it ashore if necessary.

I can't believe Obama on this one. We're not running out of time and the Captain is still alive.

-spence

Johhny Depp should have been consulted.

I love that character. Nothing says Disney better than a boozing zombie with an eye for women.

-spence

A few thugs in a life boat hold the smartest and brightest President speachless. After sending in the entire US navy maybe there is a lesson in preemptive measures. It's amature hour. Look out when he gets tested by a real power.

Pray for this guy please. If this captain dies, then we are set up for a National embaressment

I couldn't agree more. Bush would have just killed the Captain and the pirates, snickered at the explosion, and moved on to bigger issues.

The only way we can read Obama's position on this is simply fear, he's totally frozen. Thank goodness a real Republican (Gates) is there to order the Navy into action.

I mean, this is a very simple situation. Pirates = bad. Obama is proabably caught up in all that nuance about why the pirates are bad, what kind of therapy would help them etc...

-spence

Nice, now you're just projecting your own disdain for Obama onto the situation. When anti-war Liberals did this about Iraq they were accused by the Right of secretly hoping our troops would fail.

Sounds like you're doing exactly the same thing.

-spence

I forgot about his super powers... thats why I voted for him :lama:

uh..you missed the "Pray for this guy" part.

In Obama's defence. he's had alot on his plate....

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/wa...e_house_debut/

I'm sure you want the Captain to live, but do you want Obama to fail? You seem quite eager to define failure.

-spence

I think if he does die, then yes, we failed him.
IMO, I think the failure was letting it happen to begin with. Sorry to rain on your Obama parade.

How in the hell can over a million square miles of ocean be effectively protected?

It's like trying to say the Police are failure because a house in town was broken into and they didn't prevent it from happening.

Oh...so now it's our fault.

You ok this morning?

-spence

Wow, so now you're going after his kids and their puppy? And on Easter Sunday to boot...

-spence

Good news!
 

It looks like the Captain has been freed and is on a US Navy ship. Not much news but it's sounding like the special forces had their opportunity to lay some smack down and pulled it off cleanly. That's got to feel good.

Obama should give the Capt. a Presidential Medal of Freedom for his actions to save his crew.

What a story.

-spence

they got him and he is ok. killed 3 out of 4 pirates

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa...tes/index.html

didn't see your last post there Spence

Awesome :kewl:

:agree: great ending on a great day

FYI JD, a US flagged ship is only in one spot at a time.

Captain free, prayers answered, Seals had their way. :)

Look forward to the details.

Its amazing what can be accomplished with Patience and a Plan.

1 Live Captain, 3 Dead Dumb-ass Pirates, 1 Captured Pirate who is supposedly the Brains (and i use the term loosely) of the group.

Job well done by all....

So are you saying you want our tax dollars to be used to provide escorts for ships owned by private sector shipping companies......yeah like you guys wouldn't get fired up over in the political forum over that. :rolleyes:

Fiscal yr 2008 US aid to Somalia was $319 million. Cancel those checks right now and put it towards the naval efforts. I do not want a single boot on Somali soil. Got to shut down the entire economy that supports the pirate industry. Much of it is businesses, like restaurants, set up by the pirates with their booty, to support the pirate operation.

Excellent work by all parties in the rescue. (now if the press would stop publishing the minute details.... for the pirates to review and prepare for next time...) But you gotta like the odds of a Marine sniper with a 35yd. shot.

From one of the retired generals on CNN;

Fixing Somalia is a 10-15 year project. Fixing the piracy problem is something that can be done in the near term....

Yup.:nailem::nailem::nailem: "appropriate force"

Thank you. He's the first person to bitch about tax dollars being wasted, but he wants Navy escorts for every US Flagged ship near Somalia?

I'm glad they killed 3 of the pirates. Make an example out of them. This is exactly what I wanted to happen.

According to all the whiners, Obama was going to chat with the pirates and see how he can redistribute the wealthy's money so the pirates could stop with their pirating. However, the order to send in the Seals would have to have been approved by Obama.

Also, I believe my suggestion that the Navy act in this way was shot down:
Looks like my suggestions were right in line with what needed to happen.

Glad to hear the good news on the outcome of this.
:btu: thumbs up to the navy seals

Peace thru strength...not ransoms

You don't have to police the worlds oceans, you simply protect yourself...ie. kill those that appear to be coming aboard to do harm... ask questions afterwards.

CHECK!!!

I'm willing to bet the rescue was not done on the cheap. And yes. I want our defense $$$ spent on protecting AMERICAN interests abroad. I won't bitch a peep.

im on top of the world today. these are the things that separate Americans from the rest of the world, this captains courage should send a message to the world, minutes from being rescued he looked calm and collected as if it was only a matter of time until he was free. Very proud of my country today

Yes, we should be psyched to know that pirates now know that its not worth taking Americans hostage, just shoot them.

Egypt and Yemen make insane amounts of money from ships transiting the region, where are they? Why aren't they patrolling? Why are we ONCE AGAIN expected to fix everyone else's problems?

yeah, waa, waa, waa
How come a bunch of guys in sailing vessels and 9 iron cannons were able to wipe out pirates 300 hundred years ago and now it ssuddenly the biggest issue for the most technologically advanced nation in the world?

We can do this, we can stop it.
from what I saw on the news, a bunch of journalists are walking around talking to the pirtates, they know what ports they launch from. I think we need a little deterrent like this......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqoF-Xu4gIw

I agree with you 100% on this......I was very psyched when they got him out safely.

Ya, Italy is looking for our help with their piracy problems too.

Where are their ground troops helping us in Iraq and Afganistan??????

One way street.

Except for England, Ausrtralia, Poland and a few others we get nada, nothing
in support of our interests.

Let's not forget that the pirates still hold 100 hostages from previous raids.

It is annoying to me that the US is seen (by our politicians) as required to police the world. We should only be protecting our interests.

It would be significantly cheaper and more effective to place an armed security force on US flagged ships than to have battleships aimlessly patrolling over a million square miles of ocean.

I would like to see those pirates with their AK-47s and 15' tin attack boat try and board a vessel that has 2 sharpshooters and 2 other security personnel.