Navy snipers on the fantail of a destroyer cut down three Somali pirates in a lifeboat and rescued an American sea captain in a surprise nighttime assault in choppy seas Easter Sunday, ending a five-day standoff between a team of rogue gunmen and the world’s most powerful military.
It was a stunning ending to an Indian Ocean odyssey that began when 53-year-old freighter Capt. Richard Phillips was taken hostage Wednesday by pirates who tried to hijack the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama. The Vermont native was held on a tiny lifeboat that began drifting precariously toward Somalia’s anarchic, gun-plagued shores.
[blockquote]The operation, personally approved by President Barack Obama, [/blockquote] Once again President Obama is micromanaging a situation best handled by subordinates.
[blockquote]Phillips was not hurt in several minutes of gunfire[/blockquote] I am less impressed if it took several minutes of gunfire at the range of 25-30 yards to kill the pirates by the Navy “Sharpshooters”. The initial reports said three simultaneous head shots at 100 yards. I hope the solution will not endanger further the lives of other captives but it is time to deal with piracy.
Dcn Dale, I am as ready as you to criticize Obama when I disagree with him, which is much of the time. However, according to [url=http://www.blackfive.net/main/2009/04/how-the-rescue-happened.html]this military blogger[/url], the President may not in fact have micromanaged the situation, and he did apparently also not forbid the Navy to take needed action if the captive’s life was endangered. I congratulate him for allowing the Navy to do its job, and I congratulate the Navy on a successful rescue. I agree also with Obama’s not grandstanding on this situation while it was underway.
The big question now is how to deal with the increasing piracy in the area. Shippers can either begin carrying armed guards on board, or ship around Africa rather than through the Suez Canal. (This ship was loaded with food aid and went from the Arabian peninsula to Mombasa, so they had no alternate route.) Obviously the increased Navy presence in the area is not sufficient to prevent hijackings, so the only other military option would be to attack the pirates at their home ports. On the whole, I favor armed guards and vigorous Navy response to pirate attacks if they occur.
From the reports I read from the AP, Obama was asked several times to sign an order allowing action to be taken by the Navy, he refused each request until Saturday morning, and then only if the life of the captain was in jeopardy.
IMO, he waited too long to sign the order, but I’m glad it turned out well for the captain and his family. The Navy has to have a broad scope of latitude of action in situations like this, without having to rely on executive orders each time. Again IMO.
Jim Elliott
North Florida
If they don’t want to arm the ships I have a new idea. It’s called a convoy in which merchant ships are formed up outside the combat zone and then escorted through the area by armed warships. Another idea would be to identify the mother ships and capure or sink them and capture the pirate’s land bases.
Obama seems to have played this just right.
I do think, libraryjim, that a policy review of piracy situations and a standing authorization to take action are called for, and I agree that piracy is a long-recognized international violation in which military action can be taken by any nation whose ship is attacked. If (and I don’t know one way or the other) Obama denied authority except for imminent threat of the captain’s murder then that is probably too narrow. Full details may be forthcoming.
2. Katherine
A SWAT team does not need the mayor to give them permission to take out someone in a hostage situation. This took place in international waters. The military should not need the President’s permission to do the same thing a SWAT team does routinely. Please also refer to post #3 where jim notes that Obama withheld permission until Saturday. The use of lethal force should have been an option from onset and put the captain’s life at risk unnecessarily in the early stages of his capture. Rest assured that his captives had pointed guns at him prior to the decision to shoot the pirates was OKed by Obama. My overall concern is the pattern of his management style. He essentially fired the president of GM. Why does he need to make decisions that are best made by those on the ground? This demonstrates an insecurity or lack of trust of subordinates. LBJ micromanaged the bombings of N. Vietnam personally selecting targets. Neither presidents had military experience and shows their lack of understanding of chain of command issues.
I had thought that the Barbary Corsairs – a similarly ruthless, Muslim and piratical state in North Africa – had been subdued by the United States in 1815, in one of its first demonstrations of global power. (An event commemorated in the Marines song reference to the shores of Tripoli.) I was surprised on looking it up to discover that even after that sharp lesson, the British had to bombard Algiers in 1818 and 1824 after more piracy, and it only ended with the colonization of Algeria by the French in 1830.
The appropriate standing order for dealing with pirates should be what it has historically been – engage them and destroy them whenever and wherever the Navy finds them.
The crime of piracy is addressed under international law as a breach of [i]jus cogens[/i] (a conventional peremptory international norm that states must uphold). Pirates are considered by sovereign states as enemies of humanity, [i]hostis humani generis[/i]. Our Constitution addresses piracy in Art. 1, Sec. 8. Cl. 10. The British had it right in the old days. Then pirates were subject to summary execution if captured in battle by the Royal navy. Sadly, not so today.
Behavior modification comes when the proscribed behavior is made too costly to continue. Piracy will be controlled only by effective behavior modification. Paying ransom is not, never has been, and will not ever be an effective response.
Right On Terry. It looks like the spirit od Stephen Decatur is still with us. In Korea we had a foreign aircraft get too close to the Task Force I was in. The aircraft bore the insignia of a non-active (?????) foreign power. We advised them that they were in a hostile war zone and they should exit FAST. This warning was repeated several time as the aircraft got closer and closer. The US pilot, staring through the gunsight targetting the plane asked the Task Force Admiral “..what shall I do. Final words from the Admiral – ” …shoot the s– o- a b—-h down…”
I think we need to reach out to the moderate pirate community.
I, in all seriousnes, like Micheal Savages idea of escorted convoys as in WWII. A few fast ships as an exscort. The pirates are exacting millions and millions of dollars in ransoms for ships, crews and cargos. I think that finnacially it would be a wash.
I fear that we will ‘reach out to the moderate pirate community’. We should ‘reach out’ to the pirate support infrastructure (both materiel and human) and take it down piece by piece, swiftly, thoroughly and violently with the intention of attaining permanence in that state. My previous comment regarding behavior modification pertains.
I guess it all depends on which source you choose to believe. Reports I’ve read state 3 shots fired in the dark, 3 hits to the head. Also the President had ordered a couple days ago that if the hostage was in imminent danger, lethal force was to be used. The commander on scene saw the opportunity and took it. Good call by him, incredible marksmanship by the SEALs. And IMO, should be done on a more regular basis. I also like the idea that if Somalia continues to refuse to do anything about these guys on land, then the US military should.
We’re going to have to continue to act against pirates, since the Somali government doesn’t control the country and has no effective ability to police pirates. I’m unsure, though, #13, about taking over the place militarily as opposed to simply using deadly force against pirates on the seas.
What I was saying is if the Somali gov’t doesn’t want to do anything about the problem, I think we should be willing to hit the pirates at their bases rather than just waiting for them to come out and cause problems. In no way did I suggest we should try to take over that #### hole.
From the Associated Press, emphasis added:
[blockquote]MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — U.S. Navy snipers opened fire and killed three pirates holding an American captain at gunpoint, delivering the skipper unharmed and ending a five-day high-seas hostage drama on Easter Sunday.
Capt. Richard Phillips was in “imminent danger” of being killed before snipers shot the pirates in an operation authorized by President Barack Obama, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said.
He said the pirates were armed with AK-47s and small-caliber pistols and were pointing the rifles at the captain when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge gave the order to open fire.
Gortney, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said the White House had given [b]”very clear guidance and authority” to take action [u]if[/u] Phillips’ life was in danger.[/b]
Phillips’ crew, who said they had escaped after he offered himself as a hostage, erupted in cheers aboard their ship docked in Mombasa, Kenya. Some waved an American flag and fired flares in celebration.
Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was not hurt in several minutes of gunfire and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet said he was resting comfortably on a U.S. warship after receiving a medical exam.
“I’m just the byline. The real heroes are the Navy, the Seals, those who have brought me home,” Phillips said by phone to Maersk Line Limited President and CEO John Reinhart, the company head told reporters. A photo released by the Navy showed Phillips unharmed and shaking hands with the commanding officer of the Bainbridge
Obama said Phillips had courage that was “a model for all Americans” and he was pleased about the rescue, adding that the United States needs help from other countries to deal with the threat of piracy and to hold pirates accountable.
[b]The Defense Department twice asked Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Phillips, most recently late Friday evening, U.S. officials said[/b]. On Saturday morning, Obama signed off on the Pentagon’s request, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.[/blockquote]
#13. Mike L.,
“Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was not hurt in several minutes of gunfire”
Does this sound like 3 head shots to you?
For a truly terrifying description of what chaos like in the heart of darkness (aka Mogadishu) I can recommend Linda Polman’s book We Did Nothing. A Dutch journalist, she examines UN peacekeeping in Somalia, Rwanda and Haiti. The subject matter may sound unpromising but the narrative is gripping and she leave us in no doubt that Somalia is in what Thomas Hobbes described as a state of nature: a place where life is short, nasty and brutish. Hard to see what the rest of the world could do with such a hideous place except blockade its ports with an enormous naval task force. Since they have succeeded in getting up the noses of(among others) the French, Chinese and Indians, such a task force seems perfectly plausible.
#18. Terry Tee,
Are the folks in Somalia and Mogadishu primarily Muslim or a mix?
#17 Dcn Dale, like I said, apparently it all depends on which new source you choose to believe. I could just as easily say in reference to the ones I’ve read (on both CNN & FOX) [b]”3 head shots”[/b]. Does this sound like several minutes of gunfire to you?
#20. Mike L
As usual, the media gives varying accounts. The distances of the shots vary also. We may never know what really happened but maybe it will be sorted out better as time goes on. Or not!
The reporting appears to be confused, and we should probably all wait to get a consistent straight story before drawing conclusions about who authorized what and when, and how many shots were fired.
#19, Dcn Dale, one of the pirate spokesmen quoted somewhere by Reuters is named Ahmed Mohamed somebody, which means he is Muslim. The area appears to be heavily Muslim, and of the extremist variety. Islamists are now in charge of vast areas which the nominal government cannot touch. Somalia is the homeland of many of the radical Muslims causing problems in Minneapolis, and Somalia is home to some of the worst excessive mutilations of women. Like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sudan, Somalia is a problem.
What concerns me is that there are still quite a few hostages. I hope there is no retaliation. I may have issued a warning to the pirates holding the other hostages to release them or suffer a similar fate and intend to follow up if necessary. They don’t pay me the big bucks so maybe this thinking is not diplomatic enough.
The other hostages are of non-American nationalities, I think. I agree it would be good for “the international community” to take a firm line on this piracy and make it stick. When has “the international community” done anything like that on any subject recently, alas?
Seems like a great deal of armchair SEAL commanding above. Personally, I assume the president of the United States had access to a lot more minutely detailed, moment-by-moment information than the military might’ve care to share with the Internet-surfing public.
Edit: “might’ve care[b]d[/b]”
In Lebanon during the ugly ’80’s, Hezbollah kidnapped and killed a KGB operative. Shortly thereafter a number of grieving Hezbollah widows received some significant bits and pieces of their erstwhile spouses who the KGB considered responsible for the Hezbollah indiscretion against the KGB. Need I note that Hezbollah steered very clear of the KGB for some goodly time thereafter?
Actions matter in that part of the world. ‘Civilized’ behavior on the part of Westerners is normally perceived by the locals of that neighborhood as nothing more than weak cowardice deserving of scorn and much worse. “When in Rome……”
So, #27—it’s Exodus 21:23-25 vs. Matthew 5:38-42?
#25 ember
So your point is that no one should second guess the president b/c he has access to more of the facts? We’ve heard that with every president prior to Obama too and all of them made some pretty foolish decisions with a lot of “facts” we had no access to. For example the non existent incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, the fake numbers General Westmoreland was feeding to LBJ as daily enemy fatalities. Bill Clinton’s destruction of an aspirin factory and The WMD. I trusted Eisenhower when he denied we had aerial surveillance over Russia until the Russians put Francis Gary Powers on TV. JFK initially attempted to deny involvement in the Bay of Pigs invasion. So, you see sometimes speculating may be closer to the truth and we are free to do that in this society since the press is less inclined to ask questions these days.
Well, if the right results happen, I’m going to take that as strong presumptive evidence that he made the right call.
He may have been screwing up, and someone else pulled it out of the fire at the last minute, but it’ll take evidence to overcome the clear evidence of success.
(and no, I don’t expect Obama to get t right – but the story is what it is)
30. Eric Sawyer,
I have no quarrel with calling this a victory but this is in the context of an ongoing conflict with terrorists who have killed men inside strong ships and helicopters and barracks, and who will never rest. So before we celebrate, let us remember this is a skirmish in an ongoing struggle. That is the message not “mission accomplished”.
#28, sadly, no. Wish it were that simple. More a ‘render unto Caesar – render unto God’ sort of thing. It’s just the way things are in that part of the world. Wishing it weren’t won’t make it so. Sorry.
Dale, apologies for late reply but I think I went to bed this side of the Atlantic while you were still up and busy on the West Coast. Somalia is virtually 100% Muslim and in a particularly conservative way, in which elements of tribal tradition (eg the worst kind of female circumcision) are mixed in with Islam. They are mostly Sunnis. Up near the border with Ethiopia there is a very small Christian element, and I suspect that most of those will have fled to Ethiopia since the latter invaded Somalia to stop an en more fundamentalist group taking power (not exactly forming a government, but taking power). The Ethiopian troops have since withdrawn.
More ships highjacked in the last 24 hours. You know, the world is so hypocritical. On the one hand there is resentment of US muscle and US interventionism. On the other hand here is everybody waiting impatiently for the US to take a lead and do something about it because unless the Americans show the way nobody else is capable of doing it. As they say in the US, go figure.
#33. Terry Tee,
Thanks for the background. Maybe this is where President Obama has enough “good will” capital to spend on dealing with the pirates in a multinational way. Bush One did this with Operation Desert Storm. I suppose their is a downside to every intervention but it’s hard to see even the Muslim extremists perceiving anti pirate activities as anti Muslim also.
Blessings,
Question:
In one of the first reports on the story I’d heard, it said the pirates were armed with Kalashnikov rifles (Russian). Then later the reports said “AK-47” rifles (American).
So which is it, I wonder? Does the AK-47 report make it a slight against the USA as the #1 arms supplier vs the Russians Arms supplies being so plentiful after the breakup of the Soviet Union? In other words, another chance to make America look like the bad guy?
Maybe I’m reading too much into it. I hope I am.
Wait — I’m not the most knowledgeable gun person, but I thought the AK-47 was Russian? Isn’t the M16 the American assault rifle?
you are of course right. The K in AK-47 stand s for Kalashnikov
All I know is that it was tremendously joyous news to receive on Easter afternoon. We had been praying for Capt. Phillips since the incident began. The relief added greatly to our Easter joy.
The reports have been all over the board. It was single sniper shots. It was an exchange of gunfire. At one point there was even a TV report that it had involved some sort of parachute operation.
What I’ve not seen is anything about the President rejecting the Navy’s force requests. If anyone has evidence of that please send it on. The Bainbridge didn’t even arrive on the scene until Thursday. My understanding is that the Navy asked permission Friday and got it, didn’t have an opportunity, asked for a renewal of permission on Saturday, got it, and got their opportunity that time. Which is to say that they asked twice and Obama approved it twice. The actual snap decision came from Com. Castellano on the scene (not what I would call White House micromanagement – and even if it was, Obama is now the Commander in Chief, like it or not).
The President made a choice, and it turned out. And thank God for that. It could easily have turned out otherwise. The real heroes here are Capt. Phillips (for sacrificing himself to save his crew) and the commander and crew of the Bainbridge.
Alta, see my post above (#16) from the Associated Press, no friend to conservatives.
And thanks for the correction re: AK-47. I’ve been listening to the MSM too much, some of whom are as confused as I, evidently, and who have linked the AK with American arms.
Oh, the thanks are to Ross and Eric for the correction.
And back to Alta, When I went back to the link on the AP story, they have since edited it to include:
On Saturday morning, Obama signed off on the Pentagon’s request, [b]as he had a day earlier[/b], said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The press either knows nothing about small arms or they lie. They could have had an AK-47/AKM (7.62X39mm) or AK-74s (5.56X39, the current Russian assault rifle which is an AK varient in .223 cal.) These would have been military select fire assault rifles, that is machine guns. AK varients avallable for sale in the US are not real AK-47s or AKMs (or AK-74s if those are even sold), rather they are semi-automatic only copies.