I cannot help wondering if President Obama’s first reaction to the news of the rescue of Captain Phillips from Somali pirates was anger. Now he cannot use this hostage crisis to pressure the Senate into ratifying the Law of the Sea Treaty, one of those international laws that would further bind America to the will of the rest of the world.
Caleb credits Captain Phillips’ and the Navy Seals’ bold action with saving our President from becoming a second Jimmy Carter:
Playing pansy politics with pirates put the Captain’s life at increased risk. His first escape attempt was thwarted by the thugs as Phillips remained adrift from the aid and cover of the US Navy, which sat restrained by an administration too cowardly to let slip the dogs of war. Each day the tension and humiliation of a nation grew. The emboldened pirates fired upon our men of action, who thus restrained could not yet act in kind. The terrorists’ defiant lack of fear inspired their fellows to target other American vessels. All while the community organizer in chief flipped through his conflict resolution handbook.
But here, at long last, the captive captain is free. He leapt clear and our faithful Navy, apparently at last free to take the safety off, rid the world of three contemptible degenerates and have the fourth in custody to question. So the bold leap into the sea frees the President of the burden to act.
In the end, Captain Phillips wasn’t saved by the President, but by his own courageous plunge and the deadly professionalism of our men with guns. The President, you see, was saved by the Captain.
Alas, those poor pirates! Everything the Obama administration did signaled weakness, but somehow Captain Phillips and the Navy Seals didn’t get the memo. Perhaps the pirates’ last thoughts, before the Seals sent them to Davy Jones’s locker, were, “Wait, you’re shooting at us? Does Obama know about this?”
This crisis exposes the big problem with the left’s approach to national security: they turn what should be a matter of war into a matter of law enforcement. War cannot be fought with the legal restrictions that guide the police. You don’t read the enemy his Miranda rights, you just kill him. The bold campaigns of General Patton and General Sherman could not have happened if they had been forced to consult a committee of hand-wringing lawyers before every action.
American obeisance to international law is altruism in foreign policy; it subordinates American action abroad to the will of the rest of the world — a world that is, for the most part, less free and less capitalist than America. The result is a weaker America. That’s what Obama and Secretary of State Clinton mean when they talk about restoring America’s image in the world. The only way to make a world full of socialist hell-holes and strongman dictatorships happier with America is to make America weaker and more sacrificial to the rest of the world. They want to see America bow to Muslim sheiks, and now they have a POTUS who will give them anything they want.
Grant Jones has an excellent round-up on the piracy.
UPDATE: TigerHawk credits the President:
Great news, and — yes, I’ll say it — tip o’ the hat to President Obama for signing off on the mission.
Have I been unfair to the President?
I don’t think you are being to hard on Obama. You are absolutely spot-on regarding his feckless law enforcement model when dealing with this nation’s enemies. And yes, I have those Old Yellowstain blues.
And, thanks for the link.
Let me put on my tin-foil hat and through out a little conspiracy theory:
Do you suppose that Chief Little Big Man is TRYING to look like Dhimmy Carter and send out a message of weakness in order to INVITE some sort of attack on our country. Sounds too horrible to believe, I know.
But remember when Clinton right after 9-11 carelessly blurted out jealousy that Bush had an opportunity to look good that Clinton never had during his term?
More importantly, recall all of those Leftists who went around screaming that Bush had advanced knowledge of 9-11 and perhaps was even complicit in it so that he could use the War on Terror as a pretext for a massive power grab and establish a dictatorship?
Of course, all of that was totally BIZARRE. The notion of the appeasing, self-sacrificial Bush as dictator is laughable. He allowed the Left to walk all over him – dictators do not do that.
The Left’s conspiracy theories were certainly NOT backed up by any facts of reality. So, if reality was not the source for their conspiracies, what was? How about PROJECTION – i.e., what THEY would do if THEY were in power and in Bush’s position?
If their attacks on Bush were, indeed, a projection of what they would do – well, that is frightening now that they are in power. We have ALREADY had a massive power grab under the pretext of the economic situation. Would Little Big Man use a foreign policy “crisis” for an even further power grab – and will the horrors of another attack be enough to scare the public into going along with it? Perhaps he DOES know the lessons of Dhimmy Carter and Neville Chamberlain and the consequences of foreign policy weakness and that is why he is trying to act like Carter.
Again, I have my tin-foil hat on when I ask these questions. But they are interesting questions. Hopefully Chief Little Big Man really IS nothing more than a Dhimmy Carter with better enunciation.
And already, there were people on the radio today stating that any future “attacks” like the rescue mission of Captain Phillips would only provoke the pirates more (!)
Proper “attacks” won’t leave any pirates to be provoked.
In regards to Tigerhawk’s congratulations, I must say I am confused. Forgive my ignorance of the technical workings of the political system, but what exactly was Obama’s role in this rescue?
He authorized the use of force against the pirates that were holding an American ship’s captain hostage. Be still my heart!
In other words, there were Navy SEAL snipers waiting on his say-so to shoot the pirates when there was an opportunity. Isn’t he just such a dreamy hero?
I didn’t expect a matter of such tactical nature to reach the presidential level.
Of course it would. How else could we get such propaganda:
From what I can gather, the president’s involvement was to give the order that “if the captain’s life is in imminent danger, attack.”
This paragraph illustrates how neutered the navy of the world’s last superpower has become:
The proper response at seeing that the captain had escaped would have been a barrage from its Phalanx, a Tomahawk, or one shot from its 5″ gun. It should have never come to needing highly trained special forces shooting in the dark on a rolling sea.