The hostage situation is quickly devolving into the Obama administration's version of the Iran hostage crisis. While the magnitudes of the two events are apples versus oranges, the approach bears similarities, and if the President is not careful, this has the opportunity to blow up to an event that does substantive damage to his international reputation.
Errors have been made throughout this engagement. I can't understand the following:
- How is the Bainbridge (the US Destroyer on scene) still approximately a mile away? Why are we keeping our distance? We have a modern warship, and they have AK-47s.
- Why are there not more assets at the scene? It has been three days, and we only have two ships in place.
- Why are we accepting that other pirates in other hijacked ships are actively searching for the hostage lifeboat to offer reinforcements? These ships can and should be instantly disabled.
- How can the kidnapped captain make a break for it, and we don't have SEALs in the water to support him? How can we also not have eyes on the ship, recognize the hostage was out of harm's way (even if for a couple of seconds) and completely light it up with .50 fire?
Obama is off to a very poor start diplomatically. He was ostensibly snubbed in his European quest for additional assets for Afghanistan. Measured and passive rhetoric with Iran has resulted in their flaunting of additional uranium centrifuge assets. North Korea literally launches a shot across Japan's bow with their missile test, despite our demands that they don't, and subsequent failures in our discussions with the UN have given them a free pass on this activity. Finally, the Russians successfully test launched their Topol ICBM today, obviously taking a page from Kim Jong Il's book.
The momentum here is scary. Our enemies are emboldened, and their actions more and more provocative. It will be interesting to see if (and if so, where) the administration eventually decides to draw a successful line in the sand, or they truly make like Carter and suffer setback after setback.
Let's hope it is the former, and also hope that it occurs quickly before something really tragic occurs.
EASTER SUNDAY EDIT
Obama gives approval for an operation, and SEALs kill three, arrest one, and the captive is alive and well. I hand the Obama administration credit for its moxy, and extend my everlasting appreciation for the SEAL team in the work that they performed. They truly are the best of America, and have delivered a true Easter blessing for all of us. Well done - not sure it could have turned out better.
The next Somali pirate that thinks of taking a US flagged ship better remember that our leadership and our muscle mean business.
If bush was in office, that captain would still be out there or with the pirates or they'd just blown up the raft with the captain in it. His administration would've hammered it up like every other obstacle he tried to tackle! Love reading your rightwing propoganda! I promise you the antichrist/obama is on top of it!
ReplyDelete