Why Obama Doesn't Suck

[[AK]Nuts]

Just to be fair:


He authorized military to use deadly force to free a American being held by pirates of the coast of Somalia. This was a good call.

[[AK]Squidly]

Just to be fair:


He authorized military to use deadly force to free a American being held by pirates of the coast of Somalia. This was a good call.

From Instapundit:

"Four pirates can overwhelm a ship crewed by 20+, grab a hostage, and keep the US Navy and two thousand Marines tied up for days? How many such victories can we expect in the future?”

[[AK]Bribo]

Just to be fair:

He authorized military to use deadly force to free a American being held by pirates of the coast of Somalia. This was a good call.

I'd still like to hear the details of this operation but I'm willing to give Big O props on this one.

[[AK]Brorlis]

From what I understood he gave a standing call to use lethal force only if they feared the captains life was in danger.

They said the soldiers on the Bainbridge saw the pirates holding an AK to the guys back. I'm guessing much like they had been doing for days now, so the snipers unloaded.

not a valiant call by O in my opinion.He should have unleashed the snipers and or the Seals days ago.

[[AK]Nuts]

Not Jackson-esque but at least he didn't do what I expected which was sit back and do nothing.

CANCEL THIS WHOLE THREAD.

The On-Scene Commander made the decision to snipe based on Standard Rules of Engagement. THE POTUS DIDN'T DO SHIT.

[[AK]Camelwalk]

he did auth force though......I cant stand him still but I do feel somewhat better..........at least for now~! One thing I would have done diffrent is 4 dead, now the one pirate is going to live like a king, and about 4 days earlier.

[[AK]Brorlis]

he did auth force though......I cant stand him still but I do feel somewhat better....

Exactly what they want you to do.

[[AK]Nuts]

"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"

That's like authorizing a soldier to duck when being shot at. Soldiers don't need permission from the POTUS to defend the life of a American civilian. Obama really showed some cojones grande for issuing a common sense and irrelevant order.

[[AK]Squidly]

The On-Scene Commander made the decision to snipe based on Standard Rules of Engagement. THE POTUS DIDN'T DO SHIT.

Agree.

[[AK]Bojan]

My eyes bugged out of my head and I spit coffee all over my desk when I read the title to this thread. I couldnt believe such a thing to ever be posted in the AK forums... I checked out the windows to make sure there were no giant meteors falling to earth, tidal waves of lava rolling across the continent, as I braced myself for the mother of all earth quakes.

I scanned through its contents quickly and with a smirk I quickly sighed relief knowing all was well in the world.

[[AK]Clay]

As the details fill in, my impression of the President has wained a bit again. Basically the rules of engagement for this were to not harm anyone to end the scenario. The only option to using force was if the life of the hostage was in imminent danger.

Reading between the lines, it looks to me like the field commander made a tactical decision to end this damn thing. He made the call that the life of the hostage was in imminent danger because they were pointing a gun at him. My guess is they were pointing a gun at him pretty much daily already, and the commander got sick of it. Pretty sure the pirates knew damned well the only thing keeping them alive was the life of their hostage. The commander took real balls here, because if anything had gone wrong, you can bet your ass he would have been hung out to dry.

I'm not impressed with Obama afterall. The man continues to be an empty suit.

I'm dissappointed. But our armed forces did GREAT, despite the empty suit.

[[AK]Bojan]

Everyone acts like this guy was/is the only hostage. If that was the case I am sure the call would have been easy to make to send in the SEALS or take out the pirates with snipers as was done.

To make the call to save 1 person while endangering the lives of hundereds of other hostages, which although may not be US citizens, I am sure are apart of some allied country's.

How do you think it would have / will pan out if the pirates said alright you killed 3 of our men we will take 3 to how ever many of the hundreds we have and kill them. We will only kill those that belong to a country that is currently allied with the US.

It easy to sit here and be as macho as possible and talk about strong arming anyone who gets in our way and talk about a president who doesnt have the "balls" to make the call. But I think about this war in Iraq started by the good ol southern boy who if nothing else had balls, yet I didnt see us as a nation going in saying screw it and taking everyone out. As a matter of fact the only reason why we suffered "ANY" casualties is because we were / are being diplomatic about it.

[[AK]Nuts]

If by "good ol southern boy" you mean a UN Resolution and an act of Congress authorizing the use of force, then ya.

[[AK]Bojan]

then ya?

Not sure what your referring to be honest.

[[AK]Squidly]

How do you think it would have / will pan out if the pirates said alright you killed 3 of our men we will take 3 to how ever many of the hundreds we have and kill them. We will only kill those that belong to a country that is currently allied with the US.

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts what a wonderful Christmas that'd be.

I'd refuse to be paralyzed by criminal acts. After I got done sniping the batch of terrorists I was monitoring, I'd go kill the assholes who sympathetically killed innocents on your hypothetical "other boat".

Then I'd go looking for other chicken-shit "pirates" floating around in their crap-junkets. Then once I found some, I'd fill with them lead and sink the dingy.

It's time to raise the cost of their "doing business."