Obama declines comment on US hostage crisis off Somalia

[Lacarnut]

I think some members of the media are beginning to question Obama's ability as Prez. This dunce does not have a clue.

[Hawkgirl]

I think some members of the media are beginning to question Obama's ability as Prez. This dunce does not have a clue.

I haven't seen any examples of this...They continue to ignore his obvious lack of leadership.

[dutch508]

Here is the story about Hillery laughing. MSM has nothing on this.

Why is Hillary laughing?
By Doug Powers  •  April 9, 2009 03:02 PM
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/09/why-is-hillary-laughing/

Hillary Clinton was commenting about the situation concerning the so-called “Somali pirates,” and during her remarks she let loose with a “let’s change the subject” laugh that she hasn’t made since a reporter spotted a cheerleader under Bill’s podium back in ‘93.

Here’s the video.

For those wondering about the reason for Hillary’s sudden cackle, I have five theories:

1) Nervous laughter because she suddenly realized she would be reprimanded for saying “piracy” instead of using a slight variation of the Administration’s preferred term, “Man-caused seafaring disaster.”

2) Desperately trying to suppress the urge to say “ARRRR!.”

3) Caught off guard by being asked about doing nothing about the Somali pirates when she was expecting to be asked about doing nothing about North Korea’s missile launch and Iran’s nuclear program.

4) Giddy because her “the world needs to come together to end the scourge of piracy” remark gave her a book idea: It Takes a Village to Erase a Pirate

And the most likely possibility…

5) The guy standing next to her looks an awful lot like somebody who just baked a Moroccan air biscuit, doesn’t he?

One of the most disconcerting traits of the Obama presidency so far is that whenever something bad happens, the first response of the administration is to very sternly wonder why nobody else is doing anything about it. “Global consensus” is required to attack everything except our paychecks. Now that’s piracy.

Update: John Kerry says this serious “pirate” situation calls for immediate hearings! That should scare ‘em, Senator

.

[GoldieAZ]

It is above his paygrade!

[Chris_]

It is above his paygrade!

What isn't?

[Peter3_1]

New title idea, "It Takes a Village Isdiot...."

[GoldieAZ]

What isn't?

Bowing to a Saudi King!

He got that down without practice or a teleprompter!

[dutch508]

From the UK:

REFILE-ANALYSIS-Pirates pose annoying distraction for Obama
Thu Apr 9, 2009 7:21pm BST 

* First North Korea, Iran -- now Somali pirates

* Recent U.S. experience with Somalia not good

* Analyst: Pirates are test of U.S. resolve

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) - Ragtag teams of modern-day Blackbeards are posing an annoying distraction for Barack Obama, forcing him to add Somalia to an already long list of foreign policy challenges.

American presidents are told to expect the unexpected, and Obama is seeing that this week. First it was a North Korean test of a ballistic missile last weekend. Now comes a swashbuckling high-seas standoff with armed renegades.

Obama so far has sent U.S. Navy ships to protect an American-flagged freighter that managed to repel a pirate attack but whose captain was taken hostage.

America's recent experience with Somalia has not been good, making caution a key element of U.S. policy in dealing with the country.

The Obama administration was careful not to give the crisis too much prominence, with delicate negotiations under way to try to secure the captain's release.

"We're obviously paying careful attention to this issue. And I'm really not able to go beyond that at this point," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.

Obama, just back from a week-long trip to Europe and a morale-boosting visit to U.S. troops in Iraq, already has a long list of foreign challenges from North Korea to Iran to Afghanistan, and beyond.

He declined to comment on the pirate situation for the second day in a row on Thursday.

And the usually voluble Vice President Joe Biden said only: "This is being worked on around the clock since this happened. I'm not in a position right now (to comment)."
Somalia came to U.S. attention in 1992 when warring factions created a humanitarian crisis.

DISTRACTION

President George H.W. Bush, describing it as "God's work," sent U.S. combat troops to the east African nation in late 1992 to lead an international U.N. force to secure the environment for relief operations.

"We will not stay one day longer than is absolutely necessary," Bush said.

President Bill Clinton inherited the problem. He pulled most of the U.S. troops out in early 1993.

But those that remained were sent to track down warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed, ultimately leading to a 17-hour firefight in Mogadishu in which 18 American soldiers were killed, a disastrous battle that led to the book and movie, "Blackhawk Down."

The pirate episode was a reminder to the United States that Somalia is a festering failed state -- or as Foreign Policy magazine called it, "The Most Dangerous Place in the World" -- and poses a foreign policy dilemma that will not go away.

"We don't want to go back there," said presidential historian Thomas Alan Schwartz, a professor at Vanderbilt University. "This may be one of those points where Obama is going to have to cash in some of his international chips and get the U.N. to go in there."

"Somebody needs to go into Somalia and govern the place," he said.

Democratic strategist Doug Schoen, who worked in the Clinton White House, called the crisis "a real test of national resolve" that the Obama White House and opposition Republicans need to work together to deal with.

"It's an annoyance and a distraction," he said. "On the other hand, if we don't take this seriously and we don't stamp it out we will face what other countries are facing, which are repeated acts of piracy." (Editing by Jackie Frank)

It's an annoyance that our ships and citizens are taken prisoner and barry can't apologize to more people...

[ironhorsedriver]

The Pirates are sending reinforcements. If these scum make it to the ship or pirates already on scene, with a US Warship standing by. Well, the Navy and Obam might as well just give up even trying to portray themselves as having any power at all. That they even think about doing it is a sad statement on how our Navy, and our military in general are viewed by these scum. Here's a link to the story. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aNbTueHwH0z4&refer=us

[Peter3_1]

Call the Puzzel Palace, get the invasion plans spooled up on the computer and start minuite to minuite updates with optional actions. Start the process as you very secretly deploy the necessary force to the area. Chose an invasion plan for the area where the vessels are held, move in, retake the verssels, fire them up , pull them out , level the city where they were kept. Take what you can, tell anyone who's interested that you'll make this little excursion look like a mild rebuke if there's any piracy again in that area, and anyone who pays ransom will lose docking priviledges in USA PortS, PERIOD.

BUT HE WON'T DO ANY OF IT.

[Dragon]

    
FBI joins effort in hostage standoff with pirates.
They are treating this like it's a car thief that went across state lines.

As soon as it's dark, put a fast team in the water, 10 mins. later it's over.

[Crazy Horse]

The Pirates are sending reinforcements. If these scum make it to the ship or pirates already on scene, with a US Warship standing by. Well, the Navy and Obam might as well just give up even trying to portray themselves as having any power at all. That they even think about doing it is a sad statement on how our Navy, and our military in general are viewed by these scum. Here's a link to the story. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aNbTueHwH0z4&refer=us

You're off base blaming the Navy.

They are currently and been made sure to the MSM to be following the Idjits orders.

I know for a fact that no Navy CO would not want to take out the threat instead of just sitting there.

Personally I wish an ARG was on hand and getting ready to end this

[DixieBelle]

I'm sure the family of the crew and captain don't think this is an annoyance. Way to go there Obumble.....

[Hawkgirl]

Where the hell is Jack Bauer ?!?!?!? 

[ironhorsedriver]

You're off base blaming the Navy.

They are currently and been made sure to the MSM to be following the Idiots orders.

I know for a fact that no Navy CO would not want to take out the threat instead of just sitting there.

Personally I wish an ARG was on hand and getting ready to end this

I'm not blaming the Navy, I'm blaming the idiots who take this massive firepower and manpower and make it impotent. I'm former Navy, and believe that the Navy should be turned loose. Command decisions have been taken away from the on-scene commander. The Navy might as well give up trying to project power, if they won't use it when it's needed. All that power is impotent, if you stand by and let a speedboat of pirates drill right by you and board a US flagged freighter. There was a time, when the skipper on the spot could make a decision and act. Hell, Kerry wants to have a debate in Congress about it. They will have taken a hundred more ships while these idiots debate.

[5412]

Hi,

Two comments on what I have read.

1.  Notice Hillary called the Pirates criminals.  That is a HUGE mistake, much like they treated terrorists as criminals during the Clinton administration.  Terrorists, like pirates, have no rights, priviledges, nothing, nada.  Under the Geneva convention, terrorists are specifically excluded because they are not soldiers, they target innocent women, children etc. therefore they are not afforded protection under the rules of the Geneva convention.  Same holds true for pirates......except when the stupid libs are in charge....

2.  They are currently negotiating with the pirates regarding the hostage.  What a damn joke!  You do not negotiate with pirates, terrorists etc. hostages have no value.  The minute they do you encourage future attacks.  The only negotiations should sound like this.  If you let the captain go now, we will give you a five minute head start before we blow you to hell.  If you don't release him now you will die an even more painful death.  They have to be dead or they do nothing but encourage other pirates.  That is much too logical for BO and friends to understand.

What is so hard to understand about that for crying out loud.  Put Sara Palin in charge and it would have been handled by now.

regards,
5412

[Sam Adams]

Sorry, guys, but I dissent from the group on this one. Obama, et al, should not say anything to complicate the situation. I agree the USA cannot make any concessions or pay any ransom. That would only encourage future attacks. But let's do everything we can to save the captain's life. So far, it seems to me, the Navy and Obama are playing the situation just right. If we are smart about this, that man will be home soon.

[NHSparky]

Sorry, guys, but I dissent from the group on this one. Obama, et al, should not say anything to complicate the situation. I agree the USA cannot make any concessions or pay any ransom. That would only encourage future attacks. But let's do everything we can to save the captain's life. So far, it seems to me, the Navy and Obama are playing the situation just right. If we are smart about this, that man will be home soon.

Because God knows, they're all sitting on that liferaft watching CNN, just waiting to react to Obama's statement...

Reagan had a line back in 1986 when we went after Ghadaffi where he said, "They counted on us to be passive.  They counted wrong."  Sends a helluva message to the next person who gets the bright idea to go after our ships.

[dutch508]

Sorry, guys, but I dissent from the group on this one. Obama, et al, should not say anything to complicate the situation. I agree the USA cannot make any concessions or pay any ransom. That would only encourage future attacks. But let's do everything we can to save the captain's life. So far, it seems to me, the Navy and Obama are playing the situation just right. If we are smart about this, that man will be home soon.

The President hasn't said a ****ing word about the situation. Hillery is talking about criminals when she isn't laughing. Holden is trying to figure out what law we can bring them to trial with. Gibbs is just stupid.

There is one option- we go in and get our guy back. The ****ing pirates get to feed the sharks. Those 'criminals' need to know if you **** with our ships you get turned into chum.

Shores of Tripoli ring any ****ing bells, retard?

[dutch508]

The DUmp has some interesting thoughts ont eh matter:

Thrill  (1000+ posts)        Fri Apr-10-09 08:29 AM
Response to Original message
1. I think you're overreacting a bit
 I don't think this is a politically big deal.

Yeah- one of our ships is attacked...not a big deal. Kind of like the USS Cole.

hlthe2b  (1000+ posts)      Fri Apr-10-09 08:45 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Ditto... This has been going on for several years...
 Edited on Fri Apr-10-09 08:46 AM by hlthe2b
Hostages from many countries have been taken and ultimately released--albeit with bribes.... Why is it ONLY a crisis for Obama, when crews of our ally's ships were taken over the last several years of the Bush* administration. It is an important, but not devastating issue and I have confidence in his approach, including what I strongly suspect is going on behind the scenes with the Somali government.

DU: Tune off the RW bloviators.... I think they are rubbing off on some DUers.

Note to DUmpmonkie; notice that it wasn't our ships being attacked during Bush's presidency?

monmouth  (1000+ posts)        Fri Apr-10-09 08:53 AM
Response to Original message
4. Why should this reflect on POTUS and his admin?????. Way over reaction...n/t

Maybe because he's the ****ing president?

TwilightGardener  (1000+ posts)      Fri Apr-10-09 10:05 AM
Response to Original message
18. It's a scary situation, but I don't think it's going to impact the Obama administration--
 Edited on Fri Apr-10-09 10:06 AM by TwilightGardener
after all, we've had American citizens captured over the last eight years, and in some cases beheaded, in the Middle East, and no one thought it reflected on Bush. Why is this different?

 

Maybe, and I am just thinking here, it's because those people were in a war zone and were captured by the enemy which you claim doesn't exist. In most cases they attacked innocent civilians and murdered them. The President spoke out in those cases, condeming the enemy. We activily sought to fine them and resue them.

Here is a case of criminal piracy on one of our ships. One of our people is taken hostage. The president doesn't say shit. The Navy on scene should have been able, by now, to affect a rescue. We military types know this to be the case. The only thing stopping them is word from the White House.

[Chris_]

I read this morning that the captain tried to make an escape. It's getting desperate. WTH are we doing out there? Get him out of there! Our president is disgraceful.

[TheSarge]

monmouth  (1000+ posts)        Fri Apr-10-09 08:53 AM
Response to Original message
4. Why should this reflect on POTUS and his admin?????. Way over reaction...n/t

Freaking little goons don't want real life issues and reality to interfere one iota what with their dream of a Socialist utopia within our borders so close.

IMHO they'd just prefer the media didn't mention this even once and look at the sailors and their family members as a "acceptable loss" in the bigger picture...of promoting the greatness of their messiah.

[DixieBelle]

Oh my God! This is STILL going on??? Where is the well placed shot of lead poisioning???

[thundley4]

Oh my God! This is STILL going on??? Where is the well placed shot of lead poisioning???

I had been wondering why some sharpshooters couldn't take them all out at once, also. I saw why this morning. What they showed on the news looks fully enclosed with a hard shell cover.

[JohnnyReb]

Oh my God! This is STILL going on??? Where is the well placed shot of lead poisioning???

Apparently they are in one of those Lifeboat/capsule things and therefore no clear shot. I'm sure they'd be dead by now if that weren't the case, with or without the presidents OK. Strange shit happens at sea when you mess with sailors and their lady(ship).