NAIROBI, Kenya – Navy snipers on the fantail of a destroyer cut down three Somali pirates in a lifeboat and rescued an American sea captain in a surprise nighttime assault in choppy seas Easter Sunday, ending a five-day standoff between a team of rogue gunmen and the world's most powerful military.
It was a stunning ending to an Indian Ocean odyssey that began when 53-year-old freighter Capt. Richard Phillips was taken hostage Wednesday by pirates who tried to hijack the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama. The Vermont native was held on a tiny lifeboat that began drifting precariously toward Somalia's anarchic, gun-plagued shores.
The operation, personally approved by President Barack Obama, quashed fears the saga could drag on for months and marked a victory for the U.S., which for days seemed powerless to resolve the crisis despite massing helicopter-equipped warships at the scene.
Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding the Greek ship anchored in the Somali town of Gaan, said: "Every country will be treated the way it treats us. In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying," he told The Associated Press. "We will retaliate (for) the killings of our men."
Jamac Habeb, a 30-year-old self-proclaimed pirate, told the AP from one of Somalia's piracy hubs, Eyl, that: "From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them (the hostages)."
"Now they became our number one enemy," Habeb said of U.S. forces.
I wish you could see me right now, because I'm giving my "concerned" face over these threats. It looks a lot like this.
In a related situation, I watched about 5 minutes of a show this AM on CNN where some chump was prattling on about how the pirates were "bringing the most powerful navy in the world to its knees" and how they were "winning" because we hadn't done anything yet. I about puked. At roughly the same time this idiot was talking, apparently, bullets were flying and we were rescuing the hostage.
knapplc wrote:I wish you could see me right now, because I'm giving my "concerned" face over these threats. It looks a lot like this.
You're concerned face may look a little different if you were one of the couple hundred sailors currently being held captive off the coast of Somalia, or if you were a crew member on an unarmed merchant ship going through the Gulf of Aden.
Excellent work by these Navy snipers. The skills that some of these guys have never cease to amaze me.
knapplc wrote:I wish you could see me right now, because I'm giving my "concerned" face over these threats. It looks a lot like this.
You're concerned face may look a little different if you were one of the couple hundred sailors currently being held captive off the coast of Somalia, or if you were a crew member on an unarmed merchant ship going through the Gulf of Aden.
And if uncle Bob was a girl he'd be my aunt. What's your point?
knapplc wrote:I wish you could see me right now, because I'm giving my "concerned" face over these threats. It looks a lot like this.
You're concerned face may look a little different if you were one of the couple hundred sailors currently being held captive off the coast of Somalia, or if you were a crew member on an unarmed merchant ship going through the Gulf of Aden.
And if uncle Bob was a girl he'd be my aunt. What's your point?
That it's silly to pretend that these guys aren't a threat.
Whatever, Art. You're making way more out of that statement than necessary. If you want to perceive that you're the one person with the appropriate world view, knock yourself out.
Amazing job by the snipers to take out all 3 targets simultaneuosly with no no harm to the captain. I know the U.S. has done a lot already to combat Somali piracy, but it will be nice to see them and other nations step up measures to wipe out these threats to international shipping.
Be nice to see these in the air taking out any Somali craft that stray too far from shore or too near the shipping lanes:
Fantasy Football: "Luck is where preparation meets opportunity"
knapplc wrote:Whatever, Art. You're making way more out of that statement than necessary. If you want to perceive that you're the one person with the appropriate world view, knock yourself out.
I didn't realize that unless you agree with someone fully, you were questioning their world view and implying that your own is the One True Way.
Whatever though, clearly I'm out of line to disagree with your assessment. I'm sure you're the one person with the appropriate world view.
knapplc wrote:Whatever, Art. You're making way more out of that statement than necessary. If you want to perceive that you're the one person with the appropriate world view, knock yourself out.
I didn't realize that unless you agree with someone fully, you were questioning their world view and implying that your own is the One True Way.
Whatever though, clearly I'm out of line to disagree with your assessment. I'm sure you're the one person with the appropriate world view.
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