Let's hear it for the SEALs - and 'Oprah'!

Details are hard to come by but the end result is crystal clear - three dead pirates, one captured and one American hostage released.  It sounds like a bit of a turkey shoot, but hell, it was still damned fine shootin'.  In my army days I would have had trouble hitting a barn - even if I was inside it!  So, well done the SEALs and, let it be said loud and clear, well done 'Oprah'.  He is the CinC and if it had all gone wrong, if for example they had had the equivalent of 'Dead-eye Duff' on board they would have been forced to bury the hostage at sea because he would have been so full of lead.  So, the fact that it all went well earns 'Oprah' a whole-hearted hurrah from me. 

Also, and here it grates even as I write it, well done the Hungarian dwarf for rescuing the French hostages, even if one of them collected a bullet in the process.  Thank God there aren't any British prisoners because whilst I have every faith in the abilities of the Special Boat Service I have none what so ever in their political and military masters who would probably prefer to send in a squad of one-legged, lesbian, out-reach, social workers to try and get the Somali pirates in touch with their feminine side!

Comments

[North Northwester]

I agree; well done SEALS and Big 0.

And yet, and yet...

He's going to give away the Middle East, Taiwan, Africa and Europe given half a chance - that's what he does.

[JK]

Europe has done a fine damn job of giving itself away. No need for "Oprah" to contribute there. I for one rather think no one, including anyone who ever held hands with King "What's His Name" in Saudi Arabia thought for a moment that region wasn't already "given away." Taiwan is "dicey" I admit, but I don't actually think the problem need be as big as some make it out to be. Could turn out to be another Hong Kong or, it could be, everyone ignores it.

(Except perhaps for defense industries needing the equivalent of "bank bailouts" for increasingly razzle dazzle weapons systems.) Noteworthy perhaps is the fact that (probably) simple bolt-action rifles solved this latest.

As to Africa? Well "Oprah" does have kinfolk there and recent history suggests it was probably "Abandon Ship!" as far back as '93. And things didn't improve much until Task Force 151 was set on course days before Oprah swore in.

"Huzzah for the US Navy SEALs!" is all I care to proclaim at this point.

[JK]

http://haloscan.com/tb/galrahn/2378134059747239731

[JK]

Link doesn't work David. I sent you an email.

[Hank]

So four yoyo's tried to commit suicide by attacking a US ship, why else would they do something that stupid? Well we managed to save one of them, pretty good work I'd say.

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I have a new computer and cann now comment. Now if I can recover the data off my old computer.

[JK]

Well Hank, it's easier to commit suicide by staying on land in Somalia. All one need do is cross neighborhoods.

Just guessing on my part here. But if I had the assets of the USS Bainbridge handy, which is essentially "a big IT shop" and I knew the pirates HAD to communicate by Sat-Link phones, AND I wanted to find out the coordinates of communication (GPS coordinates - which incidentally the occasional missile is targeted to) I'd try extending it out as long as it seemed prudent and useful - "talk" the smart pirate aboard - then do the "take down."

Usually only the negotiator knows who he talks to, the "goons" are only goons. Goony enough to want to look at "how neat it is the US tows a lifeboat using a DDG" (big boat to a teenage Somali) and so expose themselves to sniper fire.

The goons are of NO use, only the "negotiator." Goons have "civil liberties" lawyers beating on the cell walls, and probably get the DOJ involved - maybe write letters to the UN. The "negotiator" who "agrees to go aboard the 'enemy vessel'" on the other hand has no interest in crossing streets in his former hometown. And Quantico is probably (even in custody) preferable to living in Mogadishu, anyway I'd bet the "negotiator" weighed his options pretty carefully - once aboard the Bainbridge.

After all it was a guy who stormed Tripoli that the Bainbridge is named after.

Just guessing here, I've no details. But still, I proclaim nothing, all I do is yell, "Huzzah to the US Navy SEALs!"

[David Duff]

The link 'JK' was offering reads as follows and is a masterly example of concise commentary:

Three rounds of ammunition: $0.30

One day's pay for three SEAL snipers: about $400

The value to the taxpayers of a "swiss army knife" warship for one day: $91,000.

The look on the last Somali pirate's face when he learned his compatriots were dead, his hostage was free and he was still aboard BAINBRIDGE: priceless.

Nice shootin', Sailors.

[David Duff]

"Now if I can recover the data off my old computer."

Hank, I've just been there, done that and bought the T-shirt - oh, and I feel your pain!