Well my favorite next to my dad and brother. Hutch check in we miss you. Great week for the Navy. Do you still have friends in active duty?

You two, so anxious to oppose your president, declare failure before a situation develops, and you seem to join the heaven help America chorus. Now, your FAIR minded republican brothers and sisters won't tell you this, but you guys look quite silly getting so far ahead of a story that reality leaves you behind. PTC taxpayer, "fred" seems to think that the President is only a part of this story if it goes bad. You seem to feel it is a test for the president.

Why don't you two huddle, and figure out what actually was at play here. In the mean time, the rest of us will rejoice in The Navy, Marine Corps, and political leaders making great decisions, and bringing forth a happy ending!

Clowns you are!

I ain't praying for the President to fail....If my President fails, my country suffers. I did not vote for him. I disagree with him on much but I support him and I pray for him.

The pirates--- Obama got it right. He gave the green light and left it to Ops to handle. The Navy snipers waited until night when those Somali dumbasses thought they would be safe and then they were picked off at about 1/3 of a mile away which was not hard for those guys. (For the rest of us, yes, a tough shot. For spec op snipers, no).

So keep beating on me but you're wrong on this one. I want our President to lead, to be free of scandal and to have the world respect him.

My apologies. and well said

I'm not a fan of the Obama agenda, but I wonder how many Americans(I use this term loosely these days)who voted for someone else were hoping the pirate episode ended in disaster with the captain dead so they could get a chance to get on the internetz and blame Obama for it.

I try not to wonder too much about the above because I'm pretty sure I'd be disgusted to truly know how many people place hating Obama(or Bush or anyone who is on the hot seat) so much that they gleefully welcome tragedies as an opportunity to blame "the other side."

The 'pregnant' silence is loud and clear.

He approved the use of the outstanding Navy Seals!! He listens - and acts.

I'm sure that's EXACTLY why you like Obama.

The president failed to act on North Korea's missle, and he has failed to act against the Somali Pirates. The pirates know that the president is a spineless weasel, and now are thumbing their noses at him.

This is a sad, dark day for America when the president will not act to protect it's citizens.

Pirates recapture U.S. hostage after escape bid

"We are not afraid of the Americans," one of the pirates told Reuters by satellite phone on behalf of the gang holding Phillips in the Indian Ocean. "We will defend ourselves if attacked."

The United States of America
July 4, 1776 - Jan 20, 2009
Rest in Peace

I'm dying to know how you are going to spin this as a failure for Obama. It's a major victory for the United States, and the Navy was acting on Obama's orders. God bless those Navy Seals!!

By the way, the economy is starting to turn around, finally. Fox News said yesterday that it would have turned around regardless of what Obama did. Never mind they have been steadily trying to blame the crash on Obama, even though it took place BEFORE he took office.

Oh well, you go right on believing what you believe--never mind the facts.

And River... Fred doesn't understand that we got more valuable intelligence by letting the North Koreans launch than if we had shot he missile down. The Japanese and US decided to let it go to assess the technology. Sometimes reality is more complex than Rush and Sean's interpretation. That's a hindrance for some.

Jeff,
Specifically, what valuable intelligence did the U.S. gain by allowing the North Koreans to launch?

The United States of America
July 4, 1776 - Jan 20, 2009
Rest in Peace

Guess what? They didn’t tell me what specific intelligence they got! Darn it. But if you’d read something besides crazy websites dedicated to bashing Obama you could have easily found that they did indeed gather valuable information. Here’s an excerpt from the Norfolk Military Affairs Examiner:

“But the DPRK’s latest missile test will also yield valuable information on the TD-2’s performance and capabilities. The launch was carefully monitored by an array of tracking platforms and intelligence sensors, ranging from spy satellites and long-range radars, to reconnaissance aircraft like the Air Force RC-135 Cobra Ball, which monitors ballistic missile tests.

The missile defense executive said a number of U.S. experts were “at their desks” when the missile launched, and began analyzing data as the event ended. Information collected during the test will lead to better intelligence assessments of the TD-2 and refinements in ballistic missile technology and testing.

“We just got to record the details of a real, operational threat,” the defense executive observed. He said that information from the North Korean test will produce “more realistic scenarios and target vehicles for future ballistic missile defense flight tests.”

Much of the technical analysis of the TD-2 flight will be conducted by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, an Air Force organization located in Dayton, Ohio.”

North Korean missile test

For a more technical intelligence analysis of previous NK missile tests you can read GlobalSecurity’s papers. Here’s one:

Build-up and Flight Test Attempt

If Jane's publishes an analysis I'll post it for you.

...and congratulations to the Navy!!!!!

Tug

Way to go NAVY!!!!!!!
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In what was described as "a swift firefight" the US hostage was freed just after 7pm local time. Three pirates killed, one captured. Captain resting comfortable on the USS Boxer. All good news!

At the exact moment that the hostage was being freed by the US Navy, Newt Gingrich was on ABC doing his best Fred Garvin imitation, shaking his little pink fists in indignation and claiming the Obama administration wasn't doing anything...

Three of the pirates killed--one captured--NONE of our guys dead--our American captives FREED! Thank You, our all-American Navy Seals!! God has blessed this day!

Love that.

Way to go Navy. I have two Navy men in my family, I'm very proud.

All we need now are more pirates killed.

If only the rules of engagement would apply to the Tycos, Enrons, Madoffs, E.T.C.....

Now lets finish it.
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I hope you had a great Easter. It's just another day at work for some of us.

This is a good day. Nice weather and 3 pirates killed. Now we need to make an example of all the rest of the pirates.

Great job by all.

By the way, River. Obama didn't order the rescue, he merely approved it. Big difference.

The United States of America
July 4, 1776 - Jan 20, 2009
Rest in Peace

IF you can't give someone credit when credit is due for their actions, no one will ever take you serious.

Fact is, it was approved by the POTUS and thank goodness it worked.

"Great job by all.

By the way, River. Obama didn't order the rescue, he merely approved it. Big difference"

Fred, you truly are a lost and bewildered little man.

The reason the operation was run by him for his "approval" was that he was a new President and the Joint Chiefs were unsure about who he would blame if the mission failed - defined as the captain getting killed.

I seriously doubt they would have asked Bush ahead of time.

Maybe since Obama and his staff is getting such a ratings boost out of this he'll not cut the Seals budget. Then again a liberal doesn't think like a normal person, so he'll probably cut the Seals and even missile defense, its not like anybody hostile can shoot a missile at us.

That had their butt kicked in the last election.

I thought "but but Bush" was a tactic for us liberals to use .

Your suggestion that the military works without the direction of the Commander in Chief shows the depths, ahem, of your understanding.

When things were looking grim, the conservitards tried their damnedest to tie Obama to these pirates. Now that the situation was resolved in essentially a "best case" scenario for the United States, these same 'tards have turned on the proverbial dime and are claiming the opposite: Obama had nuttin' to do with it, nossir.

I half expect someone to claim that the order to take out the bad guys came from a ghostly voice from Ronald Reagan's crypt....

From day one I've thought it. I could care less who the POTUS is.

Your "conservitards" comment is quite childish. If you can comprehend that.

Sniffles; interesting, but NOT AT ALL surprising. The only principle shown is trash the guy who beat the crap out of us last election, regardless of what happens. I don't mind that, because these guys just end up looking foolish; as usual.

Spyglas, I think sniffles has been called a bed wetting liberal douch-bag one too many times. What do you think?

so be it. Frankly, his postings are just childish in my humble opinion.

I need your help with this.

It would be unfair of me to group all of these radical lunatic fringe types such as Darth Dubious, SLindsey and "Fred" Garvin under a generic "conservative" banner. That would cheapen the word "conservative" and unfairly taint real conservatives.

Help me come up with a one word adjective that concisely describes their inane politics. I thought "conservitards" was an acceptable compromise. I'd use "WATB" to describe them if I thought Cal Beverly didn't have access to the Urban Dictionary. "Freeper" would also be a choice of mine but I'm afraid not everyone would understand what that means.

Give me some suggestions! Unlike those conservitards, I have an open mind! (Oops I did it again!)

when they are ignored.

Well it wasn't a firefight actually--the pirates didn't get to participate. They were shot by snipers from the USS Bainbridge from a distance of about 40 yards. The lifeboat was being towed by the Bainbridge at the time.

FINALLY! Obama does something to redeem himself by allowing the Seals to act. Maybe now the North Koreans are shaking in their boots. Hard to believe it took this long to rescue the Captain. I guess someone told ole Barak the Somalis were not some of the voters recruited by ACORN.

It is time we armed these US flagged ships to the hilt. A few RPGs, Barrett 50 cal guns, and a few cases of AK 47s should deter a few pirates.

I gotta Pocket full of Kryptonite!!!!!!!!!!

"Hard to believe it took this long..."

Ah, the petulant whine of the instant-gratification war-as-videogame baby boomer generation....

Situations over, good guys had no loss of life, most of the bad guys are dead, yet still the mouthbreathers still whine like spoiled little children: "Mommy! I'm BORED! This is taking TOO LONG"

If things get to heavy they can just press reset ehhh????