Like so many news items, the truth is often not shown correctly in the first reports...

Date:   4/21/2009 3:59:12 PM ( 15 y ago)

 Well folks when I hear the truth; and find out there was some error in reporting or posting a happening; let me be the first to correct or otherwise make it right!  From a reliable source here is an update on the Navy Somolia pirates story from a couple of weeks back:

 You may want to know what really happened in the past week's story about the Navy rescue!

 Read the updated story at the end of this post!   (***)

This is the orig story from an email per retired Naval Officer?

1.  BHO (President Barack Husain Obama) did not authorize the DEVGRU/NSWC SEAL teams to the scene for 36 hours going against OSC (on scene commander) recommendation. 2.  Once they arrived, BHO imposed restrictions on their ROE that they couldn't do anything unless the hostage's life was in "imminent" danger 3.  The first time the hostage jumped, the SEALS had the raggies all sighted in, but could not fire due to ROE restriction 4.  When the navy RIB came under fire as it approached with supplies, no fire was returned due to ROE restrictions.  As the raggies were shooting at the RIB, they were exposed and the SEALS had them all dialed in. 5.  BHO specifically denied two rescue plans developed by the Bainbridge CPTN and SEAL teams 6.  Bainbridge CPN and SEAL team CDR finally decide they have the OpArea and OSC authority to solely determine risk to hostage.  4 hours later, 3 dead raggies 7.  BHO immediately claims credit for his "daring and decisive" behaviour.  As usual with him, it's BS.   So per our last email thread, I'm downgrading Obama's performace to D-.   Only reason it's not an F is that thank God; the hostage survived. The guidance from National Command Authority — the President of the United States, Barack Obama — had been clear: " a peaceful solution was the only acceptable outcome to this standoff unless the hostage’s life was in clear, extreme danger." After taking fire from the Somali kidnappers again Saturday night, the on scene commander decided he’d had enough. Keeping his authority to act in the case of a clear and present danger to the hostage’s life and having heard nothing from Washington since yet another request to mount a rescue operation had been denied the day before, the Navy officer — unnamed in all media reports to date — decided the AK47 one captor had leveled at Philips’ back was a threat to the hostage’s life and ordered the NSWC team to take their shots. Three rounds downrange later, all three brigands became enemy KIA and Philips was safe. Despite the Obama administration’s (and its sycophant's) attempt to spin yesterday’s success as a result of bold, decisive leadership by the inexperienced president, the reality is nothing of the sort.  What should have been a standoff lasting only hours — as long as it took the USS Bainbridge and its team of NSWC operators to steam to the location — became an embarrassing four day and counting standoff between a ragtag handful of criminals with rifles and a U.S. Navy warship.

  BTW: 

Navy rescue off east Africia « on: Today at 09:43:07  »

 Then the recent released Navy version:

***  Not one but two Navy SEAL teams were dispatched to the Somali coast this month by President Barack Obama to rescue U.S. merchant ship Capt. Richard Phillips, and the final authority on how to end the ordeal -- peacefully or with deadly force -- was left to the commander at the scene.

That's the word from National Security Adviser James L. Jones, who detailed to The Washington Times Obama's role in the ordeal. Obama, after authorizing the SEAL team deployments and the use of necessary force, backed off and let the Navy commander on the scene make the critical calls, Jones reportedly said.

The former Marine Corps commandant offered a glimpse into the White House response to the incident in response to an email making the rounds on the Internet that claims to have inside knowledge of what went on. The email alleges that Obama was reluctant to act, not authorizing the SEAL team deployment for 36 hours after learning of the crisis. The email, which refers to Obama as "BHO" -- apparently to emphasize his middle name, Hussein -- also claims that the SEALs’ rules of engagement required that they "couldn't do anything unless the hostage's life was in 'imminent' danger."

The email claims that Obama specifically denied two rescue plans drafted by the Bainbridge and SEAL team commanders, that the SEALs lost an early opportunity to rescue Phillips by shooting the pirates because of the rules of engagement, and that commanders there finally decided on their own to act, with Obama taking credit for the rescue afterwards.

The paper reported that Pentagon officials say the missed opportunity alleged in the email, which supposedly came when Phillips jumped out of the lifeboat in a failed escape attempt, could not have occurred because the SEAL snipers had not arrived on board the Bainbridge at that time.

A retired rear admiral who has been widely credited with authoring the email has said he did not write it, but received it and passed it along.

Jones, in his interview with The Washington Times, dismissed the description of events in the email.

"I can tell you from a White House and presidential standpoint, there was no conflict, no gnashing of teeth, or excessive influence in trying to manage this thing," he told the paper.

Jones told the paper that the Pentagon took over the operation on April 10 -- two days after pirates first seized the U.S.-flagged Maersk-Alabama -- once the Bainbridge reached the scene. By then, the pirates had fled the vessel in a lifeboat, taking Phillips with them as a hostage.

Once the Pentagon took control, Obama immediately authorized deployment of SEALs from an African base to the Bainbridge and take whatever action was necessary, according to the Times' story. An unidentified source quoted by the paper said that once the situation at the scene became more clear, commanders there sent requests "back down the chain" and received guidance that: "We would like a peaceful resolution. However, if Captain Phillips' life is in danger you can take appropriate action."

DoD then asked to have a second SEAL team sent to the scene and the president authorized that too, the paper reported. Jones told the Times it was "a textbook operation.

"There were two things [the president] was asked to approve and he did. And the military executed flawlessly," he said.

Phillips was freed on April 12 when the three pirates holding him exposed themselves long enough for SEAL snipers on the fantail of the Bainbridge to take them out. They acted on orders of Bainbridge skipper Capt. Frank Castellano after it appeared that Phillips’ life was in danger, the Navy said.

A fourth pirate, wounded in the hand when the Maersk-Alabama crew fought back and re-took their ship, had already gone aboard the Bainbridge, where he was in the process of negotiating Phillips’ release. Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse was placed under arrest and is now in New York, where he is to stand trial.

"I think everybody played their part well and there wasn't any overstepping on anybody's equities," Jones told the paper. "The right questions were asked and the right actions were taken."

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