Well, it’s gone. 2009 is finally freaking GONE
The year started with my wife outta work, no family income (I just get beer money for my books), two sick kids, the neighbor’s trampoline had just taken flight into the back of our car-almost totaling it.
The year continued… Read the rest of this entry »
United Nations officials say Somalia has not been in such perilous shape since the central government collapsed in 1991 and is in desperate need of help.
But right now that help is being delayed, they say, at least partly because the American government is worried that its aid is going to feed terrorists.
American officials are concerned that United Nations contractors may be funneling American donations to the Shabab, a Somali terrorist group with growing ties to Al Qaeda.
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As I pointed out in two posts recently – (Bubble to burst on high seas thuggery and Pirates seek revenge on French and Americans) – the US confrontation with Somali pirates during the rescue of Capt. Phillips has forever changed the piracy game plan, and the US’s ability to sit on the sidelines. It was, IMHO, only a matter of time before the US designated terror group, al-Shabab and their AQ allies jumped on the bandwagon, racing to the Somali pirates’ aide. They, like Rahm Emmanuel, see no reason to let a crisis go to waste.
Thus far, all the talking heads have been assuring the world that the pirates pure motivation was economic, and not ideology. I, however, has said over and over that fisherman don’t buy their weaponry and maritime equipment from the local bait shop. They would turn to local contacts, most especially for illegal arms. And who is better equipped with those contacts than their backyard jihadists, al Shabab?
Back on April 2nd, J. Peter Pham, writing for the World Defense Review, agreed with my belief of heightened risks in the wake of the rescue, pointing out that not only were the Somali sea thugs not deterred by the US military, the possibility of a terrorist attack in the name of piracy has been growing.
For those that thought the Somali pirates would avoid another run in with the US Naval forces… even for awhile… wrong.
The Liberty Sun sustained damaged from rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons when Somali pirates attempted to seize her. The ship is carrying food aid for CARE and the World Food Programme, and headed for Mombassa.
There were no injuries and the families of the crew members have been notified.
The USS Bainbridge, which had rescued the Maersk Alabama, was on site within hours, although the pirates had already left by the time the warship got there.
Nor have they been deterred, seizing two Egyptian fishing vessels, the Greek freighter M.V. Irene and a Togo-flagged freighter named the Sea Horse. They also attacked a Liberian freighter, the Safmarine Asia, with the same method as the Liberty Sun…. and lost another fish there.
In response to the recent hijacking attempt of an American vessel President Obama couldn’t even read his own teleprompter
“And I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of privacy in that region.”
Even George Bush was better than this.
What did Senator Obama do about piracy when he was a Senator and Democrats controlled Congress? Nothing. He didn’t even go to the committee hearings on it.
* July 11, 2006 – Somalia: U.S. Government Policy and Challenges
* July 17, 2007 – Democratic Developments in Sub-Saharan Africa – Moving Forwards or Backwards
* August 1, 2007 – Exploring the U.S. Africa Command and a New Strategic Relationship with Africa
* September 27, 2007 – The United Nation’s Convention on the Law of the Sea
* March 11, 2008 – Evaluating U.S. Policy Options on the Horn of Africa
But Obama’s been consistent. He’s always claimed that he’s not just about words. He’s about action, and “words mean something.” What exactly his pledge to stop privacy off the coast of Somalia means I don’t know, but it didn’t stop the Somali pirates who seized 3 more ships since he made his remarks.
It seems like the best defense against Somali pirates anymore isn’t the USN (recall that the American crew had to rescue themselves from the pirates), but rather mother nature’s armada of dolphins.
The White House said Monday that President Obama’s loud silence during last week’s standoff with Somali pirates who hijacked a U.S. cargo ship and held the captain hostage was necessary in such a tense situation.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president, who came under fire over the weekend for staying mum on the drama, did not want to make the situation “even potentially more dangerous by putting the president out there for the captives to see.”
C’mon, the pirates were 150′ away from one of the most sophisticated naval ships ever built, and we’re supposed to believe they had an uninterruptable live- video link to CNN…one that couldn’t be jammed by a BILLION dollar warship literally a stone’s throw away?
The reality is that Obama
1) was clueless
2) was indecisive
3) was too busy picking out a puppy (decisions are tough things)
90 days into his Administration, let’s take a look at President Obama’s accomplishments and challenges.
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I mentioned in my yesterday post that the Somali hostage event was bringing the piracy situation to a new head.
UPDATE: At the time of my posting, the Congressman was int he air, and his DC offices were not sure of his destination. Per an All Africa news story, Congressman Payne’s plane diverted and has landed safely in Nairobi.
Breaking news this AM… Congressman Donald Payne felt the need to fly down to Mogadishu to “talk” about Somali piracy… only to be forced to turn around after Somali terrorists… er, “overseas contingency operations”… fired mortars at the plane.
Acting on Presidential authority to kill Somali pirates only if Capt. Richard Phillips were in “imminent danger”**, a US commander made that very call, and snipers simultaneously nailed three of the four pirates on the lifeboat.
**UPDATE APRIL 13th: Blackfive has the skinny from yesterday on how the rescue went down. What was also of interest is that Blackfive also states that the reporting that POTUS Obama, giving the order to use military force for the rescue is misleading.
The officials say Obama ordered the Defense Department to use military resources to rescue Richard Phillips from a lifeboat off the Somali coast.
He did affirm the military’s authorization to use force if the captain’s life was in danger, but they already would have had that authorization as part of their standard rules of engagement. If there are innocents about to be slaughtered the same reasoning that authorizes self defense also covers an imminent execution unless the ROE specifically forbid it.The AP is making it sound like there was an active rescue ordered by the President. It was not, there was an imminent threat and the local commander gave the order to fire. Good on Obama for ensuring their authorization was clear, but let’s also be clear that he did not authorize or order an active rescue attempt.
Certainly if this ability to use force to save innocents in “imminent danger” is already the norm for ROE, then the POTUS is to be congratulated for not giving a specific order countermanding that policy – or asking the military to stand down. In which case, his blessing for a rescue may have been a moot point in the scheme of things, as it was the expected path of procedures. I’m personally not up on this military protocol, so I’ll leave any further commentary to the experts genuinely in the know. END UPDATE
According to a FOX news report I just heard, one sniper had a clear head shot of one pirate thru the lifeboat window, and the other two were catching some air thru the opening.
The captain of the Maersk Alabama was freed Sunday after being held captive since Wednesday by pirates off the coast of Somalia, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told CNN.
The official said Capt. Richard Phillips is uninjured and in good condition, and that three of the four pirates were killed. The fourth pirate is in custody. Phillips was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge, a nearby naval warship.
Earlier Sunday afternoon Maersk Line Limited, owner of the Maersk Alabama, said the U.S. Navy informed the company that it had sighted Phillips in a lifeboat where pirates are holding him.
Phillips was spotted another time earlier in the day, the Navy said.
A man who answered the door at Phillips home in Underhill, Vermont, told CNN’s Stephanie Elam that the family has known the news for hours. He said details would have to come from Virginia, apparently referring to the home base of Maersk Line Limited, based in Norfolk, which owns the ship.
On Saturday, the FBI launched a criminal investigation into the hijacking of the U.S.-flagged cargo ship by Somali pirates, two law enforcement officials told CNN. The probe will be led by the FBI’s New York field office, which is responsible for looking into cases involving U.S. citizens in the African region, the officials said.
The Maersk Alabama reached port in Mombasa, Kenya, on Saturday. Crew members aboard the freed cargo ship described how some of their colleagues attempted to “jump” their pirate captors.
A scuffle ensued and one of the sailors stabbed a pirate in the hand in the battle to retake the container ship, one of the sailors told CNN.
Apparently the Captain jumped overboard again but this time there were Navy SEALS in the water who then took the pirates out. Good job Navy!
Floppingaces has been reporting on the problem of Somali Piracy for well over a year now. Most of those reports have originated from Bill Roggio’s The Long War Journal. Finally, the mainstream media can no longer ignore the problem, and it’s “suddenly” in the news…well, it ain’t news to our readers. They’ve seen this problem go unaddressed for a long time.
They’ve seen Somali pirates seize ships carrying hazardous materials-materials so toxic that entire villages were wiped out and the UN suspected WMD! Our readers have read about ships carrying a dozen Soviet-built main battle tanks seized by Somali pirates. They’ve even read about a supertanker being taken. Now the pirates have attacked an American-flagged vessel. The crew fought back (like Americans on Flight 93 fought back). The Captain was taken by the 4 surviving pirates, and they left in a lifeboat.
Luckily, we have President Obama in the White House. His “talks without preconditions” foreign policy can’t possibly fail (oops, the boat carrying a negotiator was fired on and driven back by the 4 pirates). His reputation as a man of conviction, courage, and fearlessness no doubt will scare the pirates into letting go of the heroic American Captain (oops, the 4 pirates in the lifeboat said their not afraid). Surely the 4 pirates will hand over their hostage any time now, right?
How strong is the Obama Admin foreign policy?
It’s so strong that 4 twits from a village in Somalia, armed with 4 rifles can prove the entire Administration’s foreign policy (based on “Smart Diplomacy”) to shame, invalidation, and impotence.
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Couldn’t of said it any better then John Bolton on Obama’s reaction to the pirate saga being played out. Treating it like a law enforcement issue, ala Bill Clinton, is the same kind of reaction that emboldened al-Queda. The captain of the ship jumped overboard to swim to safety and the pirates were a clear target to our Navy for god’s sake and they didn’t take the shot…..pure and utter bull:
The Somali pirates – which is more akin to mercenary kidnappings to me – had become somewhat the norm in the int’l news. But it’s never burst onto the US scene en masse until it happened to a ship flying US colors, and manned by US crewman.
Yet this was on the radar for quite some time as inevitable. As I noted in my Dec 19th post, even John Kerry was advocating “cautious” hot pursuit on the heels of the UN Security Council giving it’s blessing for any and every willing and able country to wage war on the sea thugs… at sea, in the air, and with boots on Somali ground.
At the time of my December posting, I wondered what then Pres-elect Obama had planned for Somali pirates. Perhaps he put it to the back of his mind, hoping it would happen to anyone other than Americans, and focusing on other issues. But the US POTUS has no luxury to ignore such events… and now the time has run out to turn the cheek on the unchecked piracy.
Unlike previous seizures of ship, the unfolding of this particular event differs in ways beyond it’s American connections. The series of events have created a standoff like no other, and brought the piracy issue to what may be the breaking point.
ExUrban League scoops Obama’s coming speech on the pirate hostage standoff!
After maintaining his silence for two days, President Obama will soon make his first public statement about the pirate attack upon an U.S.-flagged vessel off the Horn of Africa. After several inquiries and a few well-placed bribes, Exurban League has received an early transcript of the President’s remarks:
OBAMA: Good evening. As you know, early yesterday, Somali-based pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama, a freighter carrying relief supplies to Kenya. While we do not yet know all the details, the Alabama’s crew re-took control of the vessel and forced the pirates off the ship.
Since the pirates are still holding the captain, I have sent FBI negotiators to facilitate his safe and speedy release. I assure his friends and family that I will not stop until this man-made disaster is resolved in a peaceful, tolerant and ecologically-sound manner.
Obviously, this incident has raised many concerns among Americans. There have been calls for justice and even violence against the misguided perpetrators. But such an emotional reaction has led to the disparagement of entire groups with which we are unfamiliar. We have seen this throughout history.
For too long, America has been too dismissive of the proud culture and invaluable contributions of the Pirate Community. Whether it is their pioneering work with prosthetics, husbandry of tropical birds or fanciful fashion sense, America owes a deep debt to Pirates.
The past eight years have shown a failure to appreciate the historic role of these noble seafarers. Instead of celebrating their entreprenuerial spirit and seeking to partner with them to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.
Some of us wonder if our current Overseas Contingency Operation would even be needed had the last administration not been so quick to label Pirates as “thieves,” “terrorists” and worse. Such swashbucklaphobia can lead to tragic results, as we have seen this week.
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