Thread: American captain Richard Phillips taken hostage freed from Somali pirates

I for one am glad we have a President that was hands on and gave the authorization to take the shot when it was there. Not drastically make it worse with moronic statements like, "bring it on" or, "Wanted dead or alive".

Now with that said, any Captain that would give up his ship without some kind of resistance, imo, should not be celebrated.

Again,imo, when sailing in hostile waters and have the possibility of encountering teenagers with guns that are going to try and usurp my vessel, I would have said to my crew, arm yourselves and arm yourselves heavily!

Originally Posted by WillBrink

You honestly think it was Obama's idea personally? "Yes, I want you to send exactly 6 SEALs on that mission, all using m24 sniper rifles with NVGs. Oh, and make sure they are third gen NVGs."

Some how I get the feeling an uber liberal pres who does not know a thing about guns or military issues who never served, had exactly zero to do with any of the specifics there.

The response was of course all figured out many levels below him, and at best, his office gave it the OK.

Not his idea, it's obvious no President will have this knowledge and like other issues he will ask for advice from someone with knowledge . but he gave the OK to do so and luckily it worked.
Unlike Carter with Iran and Clinton in Africa. Both failed.

I thought it was a good call and the NRA, the GOP should at least say hey, he did good. Reagan would be proud.

I bet if he had the cure for AIDS you'll still see the same people find something negative about it.

Originally Posted by IronAddict

I for one am glad we have a President that was hands on and gave the authorization to take the shot when it was there. Not drastically make it worse with moronic statements like, "bring it on" or, "Wanted dead or alive".

Now with that said, any Captain that would give up his ship without some kind of resistance, imo, should not be celebrated.

Again,imo, when sailing in hostile waters and have the possibility of encountering teenagers with guns that are going to try and usurp my vessel, I would have said to my crew, arm yourselves and arm yourselves heavily!

Sorry but a tanker vs. a rocket propelled grenade launcher makes for a bad situation, and these pirates would care less if millions of gallons of crude or even palm oil were spilled in their coastal waters, cargo vessels are just as susceptible. It's not like these pirates are just riding up on these vessels with simple machine guns, they can easily attach a crude bomb by covering it in tar and then throwing it against the hull or even on the deck.

Have you seen the documentaries of the Eco-Warriors going up against the Japanese "Research"(aka whaling) vessels? One group is throwing stink bombs and the other is shooting flares, supposedly rubber bullets but sometimes it maybe real bulllets, those Japanese "research scientists" like to play dirty I guess...... Defense at sea is hard, your men not only have to be good at their normal everyday duties, but also be firefighters, damage control specialists and then be able to handle weapons......

Originally Posted by maniclion

Sorry but a tanker vs. a rocket propelled grenade launcher makes for a bad situation, and these pirates would care less if millions of gallons of crude or even palm oil were spilled in their coastal waters, cargo vessels are just as susceptible. It's not like these pirates are just riding up on these vessels with simple machine guns, they can easily attach a crude bomb by covering it in tar and then throwing it against the hull or even on the deck.

Have you seen the documentaries of the Eco-Warriors going up against the Japanese "Research"(aka whaling) vessels? One group is throwing stink bombs and the other is shooting flares, supposedly rubber bullets but sometimes it maybe real bulllets, those Japanese "research scientists" like to play dirty I guess...... Defense at sea is hard, your men not only have to be good at their normal everyday duties, but also be firefighters, damage control specialists and then be able to handle weapons......

Sorry, but I said arm yourselves heavily, Like a 50 cal or a m60 or even a
m203, or a tow maybe. And who says they can't have an rpg? Or a dozen?

Originally Posted by min0 lee

I thought it was a good call and the NRA, the GOP should at least say hey, he did good. Reagan would be proud.

I bet if he had the cure for AIDS you'll still see the same people find something negative about it.

i don't believe that for a second. sure i give props to obama for green lighting the operation, but i think these guys have a valid point in that it was really a no brainer. i think even the most passive president in history would have made that call. the real guys to applaud here are the ones who made the shots and the man on the deck who made the call because he had the information in front of him.

Originally Posted by bio-chem

i don't believe that for a second. sure i give props to obama for green lighting the operation, but i think these guys have a valid point in that it was really a no brainer. i think even the most passive president in history would have made that call. the real guys to applaud here are the ones who made the shots and the man on the deck who made the call because he had the information in front of him.

Yes, props to Obama which I gave, also kudos to the men who did the deed which I did also but for some reason no one gets it.

I would bet my arm that Bush would have fucked it up...he has no brains.
He would have blown up the boat with the hostage, or find it unimportant since there's no oil and ignore it like Korea.

Originally Posted by min0 lee

Yes, props to Obama which I gave, also kudos to the men who did the deed which I did also but for some reason no one gets it.

I would bet my arm that Bush would have fucked it up...he has no brains.
He would have blown up the boat with the hostage, or find it unimportant since there's no oil and ignore it like Korea.

and now you have been blinded by your hatred of bush. i really expect more from you. bush didn't do everything right, but to say he would have fucked this up is just plain emotional reactionary. i really wouldn't have expected to see you so reactionary . obama is not God. it kills me how so many are lining up to give obama a free pass. obama is like teflon. no matter what he does he is nothing is going to stick to him because he is not bush. how dumb.

Sometimes I think these Republicans and Democrats two extreme opposite party. We need one more party called
'Repmocrats,' that can meet expectations of both parties.

Originally Posted by chobby192

Sometimes I think these Republicans and Democrats two extreme opposite party. We need one more party called
'Repmocrats,' that can meet expectations of both parties.

I don't think you understand US politics very well

Originally Posted by bio-chem

and now you have been blinded by your hatred of bush. i really expect more from you. bush didn't do everything right, but to say he would have fucked this up is just plain emotional reactionary. i really wouldn't have expected to see you so reactionary . obama is not God. it kills me how so many are lining up to give obama a free pass. obama is like teflon. no matter what he does he is nothing is going to stick to him because he is not bush. how dumb.

Again....as I repeat myself. I never bashed Bush in his first term...in fact it wasn't until almost his 6th year.

The point I am really trying to make is that he's just got in here. He hasn't been perfect but I think he's been more active, it seems like he's working harder and he cares.

The guy made a good call yet no one gives him his props, be it a Repblican and there would be banners with Mission Accomplished. That's dumber.

Originally Posted by IronAddict

Sorry, but I said arm yourselves heavily, Like a 50 cal or a m60 or even a
m203, or a tow maybe. And who says they can't have an rpg? Or a dozen?

Still isn't going to protect their hull against that one RPG the pirates get off, then they lose the cargo. Most of these corporations would rather toss a few million to the pirates than see a few hundred million in cargo go bye-bye, these ship need armed escort vessels who can take a few hits and not have fear of losing any cargo......When I was in the Navy we'd spend a week or 2 just doing circles in the Persian Gulf, it would have been much more fun to be out in pirate waters keeping things safe......