captain phillips

[lamboguy]

he is a brave man, he was willing to take the ultimate sacrifice for his crew.

god bless him, his family, and the navy seals that brought capt. phillips home.

[Tom]

Amen to that.
That guy is a genuine hero.
What HELL his family had to endure.

[ArlJim78]

i couldn't agree more, this guy is a real inspiration and presents us all with a perfect teaching moment regarding character.

[boomman]

Here Here!!!! And I'm proud of the Navy executing what appears by all accounts to have been a PERFECT rescue operation!:) (certainly had fantastic results!):ThmbUp:

Boomer

[OTM Al]

Thing is that the whole world knows where these guys are basing out of and that they have become an ever increasing problem to trade in the last few years. Its high time the world got together and puts a major dent into this operation. It won't be as clean as this as evidently they are right now holding up to 200 sailors for ransom, but it needs to be done before that number grows.

[boxcar]

Thing is that the whole world knows where these guys are basing out of and that they have become an ever increasing problem to trade in the last few years. Its high time the world got together and puts a major dent into this operation. It won't be as clean as this as evidently they are right now holding up to 200 sailors for ransom, but it needs to be done before that number grows.

Err...the "whole world" is too busy, Al, trying to figure its way out of a recession. Try again in a four years or so...maybe.

Boxcar

[Rookies]

Thing is that the whole world knows where these guys are basing out of and that they have become an ever increasing problem to trade in the last few years. Its high time the world got together and puts a major dent into this operation.

OR, as I suggested a couple of days ago, turn this into a "Pay Duty" operation for the U.S. Charge the world the going rate to keep sufficient firepower in the area until that scum is destroyed. It wouldn't take too long...

[boxcar]

OR, as I suggested a couple of days ago, turn this into a "Pay Duty" operation for the U.S. Charge the world the going rate to keep sufficient firepower in the area until that scum is destroyed. It wouldn't take too long...

You need to go listen to BO's YouTube Saturday speech -- the day before he ordered the hit on those poor, misunderstood pirates. In it, he once again called for the world community to come together to tackle these kinds of problems. I don't think turning the U.S. military into the world's paid mercenaries is what he had in mind. (Although, I could wrong because with BO his words have a very, very short shelf life, so perhaps texting him with your idea might be a good idea.)

Boxcar

[Rookies]

You need to go listen to BO's YouTube Saturday speech -- the day before he ordered the hit on those poor, misunderstood pirates. In it, he once again called for the world community to come together to tackle these kinds of problems. I don't think turning the U.S. military into the world's paid mercenaries is what he had in mind. (Although, I could wrong because with BO his words have a very, very short shelf life, so perhaps texting him with your idea might be a good idea.)

Boxcar

As you know, there are short, medium & long term goals in int'l politics & diplomacy. Obama's generic strategy, long term strategy appears to be to push many nations, allies to share the load, enemies to begun discussions on deep rooted problems, so that America can eleviate being the sole defender of various issues on the planet.

This is an area that would take a lot of disusiion, but many countries, involved in commerce, might choose this is as a stop gap approach. This would crush these pirates, but then, the longer term goal of stabilizing a rogue, out of control country should be taken up by the international community.

[Tom]

If we don't do it, it won't get done.
If the international community were willing to take care of business, why do WE have to talk them into it?
The international community is content to let us do it all and then whine about it afterward.

[Rookies]

If we don't do it, it won't get done.
If the international community were willing to take care of business, why do WE have to talk them into it?
The international community is content to let us do it all and then whine about it afterward.

Tom, you already know the answers to those questions. The world is a very complex place full of good, bad, semi-good, semi- bad & neutral nations. Just the very fact that democracy is a significant minority of guessing 125 nations of the planet, does not predispose that you will have significant support.

Also, any one action of any nation can be seen by many to be as indicative of its general philosophy of nations. Persuasion and diplomacy are ALWAYS essential elements to, if not convince those opposed, at least hold your allies on side.

THIS is one of the few situations where any country can do almost anything in response, beacuse there is an absence of rule of law. With the military superiority of the U.S. ,killing individual pirates is appropriate, wiping out their entire country would be over the top. These things need to be SEEN as well as done to be balanced and appropriate.

Only an asshole nation would whine about what happened yesterday. But, the general absence of control and appropriate future responses should be pushed by Obama immediately.

[ddog]

You need to go listen to BO's YouTube Saturday speech -- the day before he ordered the hit on those poor, misunderstood pirates. In it, he once again called for the world community to come together to tackle these kinds of problems. I don't think turning the U.S. military into the world's paid mercenaries is what he had in mind. (Although, I could wrong because with BO his words have a very, very short shelf life, so perhaps texting him with your idea might be a good idea.)

Boxcar



WE HAVE BEEN the world's paid mercenaries for decades!

We provide "some" basic order in parts of the world, THEY loan us the money to keep us in flat screens.

[riskman]

Err...the "whole world" is too busy, Al, trying to figure its way out of a recession. Try again in a four years or so...maybe.

Boxcar

You are forgetting that Bambi is an expert at "multitasking"

[Tom]

An appropriate response would be the UN getting off its lazy worthless ass and doing something. It will not.

Of the 125 or so nations(?), the majority of them are just as useless. Stand up or get out of the way. For some stupid reason, Obama thinks he needs approval of any 3rd rate country that is smaller than many of our states to get the job done. This is why he is an idiot. We know where they live, we go get them. Anything else is unacceptable. Idon't care who does it, it needs to be done now. Talk is cheap. Actions are all that count.

N Korea is a great example - OBama shoots of his mouth and gets zero response. Now we look weak and that is not good. He should have shot it down. Instead, the next day, he talks about getting rid of our nukes! Amazing!

"OK, Kim Dung Il.......if you do that again....we will be froced to surrender. And I mean it." :faint:

[chickenhead]

It's an interesting situation.

I read after this rescue, a Philippino related to some other captive the pirates are holding ask. "What about us?".

But the Philippinos probably don't have anyone that can do anything. I do remember awhile back, they grabbed some frenchmen...and the French did send in some commandos -- killed some pirates, I think most of the hostages died also.

Two questions come to mind:

A.) Why should we pay for it by ourselves?
B.) Do these other countries, the ones without the means to do anything about it, ask us for help?

It's a natural reaction for me at least to think -- they've got 200 hostages -- regardless of where they're from, lets go get them. But if I put the shoe on a different foot -- imagine if an American was held hostage, and the Phillipines, on their own, decided to send in their "swat team" to rescue him -- and promptly got our hostage killed -- that wouldn't go over so well. There is some sort or request for help required, or at least coordination required, I would think, before interjecting oneself directly into something that may end up with the deaths of other nations citizens. Other nations who may believe they are handling things in the best manner possible, already, to get their people out alive.

Or at least depending on where you sit, you could very very easily think there is.

it's a bit of a touchy situation.

[BlueShoe]

Why is everyone wringing their hands and saying that we must use "patience",and that the situation is "complicated"?Malarkey.The President only did what he should have ordered days ago.The pirates should be issued an order to release all hostages and ships;else they will be killed and their homes and property destroyed.If they then refuse,launch cruise missiles or bombing strikes at limited but critical targets.The thugs will quickly get the message.Not complicated at all,really quite simple.

[chickenhead]

Bravado is easy when you have absolutely no skin in the game.

Our military is as good as they are, in large part, because they are smart -- because they recognize "complications" and look for solutions.

[ddog]

Bravado is easy when you have absolutely no skin in the game.

Our military is as good as they are, in large part, because they are smart -- because they recognize "complications" and look for solutions.


I would dare say that any major corp in the world would LOVE to have ANY of our top military brass running their corp.

You are correct and we are blessed that those types are willing to serve this country.

They are so far removed from the common blow hards that populate the internetts and the lamestream.