"[O]ur interests are more secure today than they were any time during the eight years," Biden said. "Not just at home, but around the world."Well Joe, tell that to the crew of the Maersk Alabama, a 17,000 ton U.S. container ship that was seized by Somali pirates off the coast of that African country. 21 Merchant Marines are being held hostage by radical Islamist pirates.This is the first time in 200 years that a U.S. ship has been seized by pirates. Clearly, the pirates didn't get the message that the U.S. is not at war with Islam. Or maybe they heard the apology-ridden speeches and were emboldened.
We can only hope and pray that this does not become a repeat of the Pueblo Incident, when North Korea captured a U.S. Navy ship and held the sailors hostage for 11 months. Then-President Lyndon Johnson did nothing, electing to negotiate with the NoKo's for the return of the sailors.
President Lyndon Johnson resisted (bombing North Korea), noting that bombing North Korea would not bring our hostages home. So the U.S. tried full-bore diplomacy. It was frustrating, slow and not wholly successful...An understatement to be sure.
There was a time when no one wouldn't dare take a U.S. ship hostage; those times are over. Change has come, indeed.
We have "cyberspies" from China, Russia, and other countries hacking into our national electricity grid.
Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.Likely can't blame Obama for this one, but do you feel safer knowing this?
Authorities investigating the intrusions have found software tools left behind that could be used to destroy infrastructure components, the senior intelligence official said. He added, "If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on."
We have North Korea launching test missiles that can reach the U.S. West Coast; Iran continuing to build its nuclear capabilities, increased fighting in Pakistan/Afghanistan; the Russians telling us to take down our missile shields; Al-Qaida laughing at Obama's plan to court "moderate" Taliban.
We have an Administration that wants to forget terrorism exists by changing its name to man-made-disasters. No mentions of terrorism anymore. No more enemy combatants.
We have Obama pitching a defense budget that will slash spending, including some very weapons we may now need more than ever:
Programs under review also include Boeing’s ground-based and airborne-laser missile defense programs...But, brighter days are ahead as we get to await the possibility of terrorist inmates at Guantanamo Bay being released right here in the U.S.. That can only make us safer having a real-live terrorist living in the three-decker next door.
Biden told us months ago that Obama would be tested. Are these the tests he was alluding to? Or is there worse to come?
Feel safer yet?
9 comments:
The report that the Merchant Marines recaptured their ship was incorrect. And Obama has still done NOTHING yet. Has he even made an official statement on the issue?
Not sure where you're getting your info, since every other news outlet is still reporting that the crew retook the ship, but that the captain is being held hostage out on a lifeboat somewhere. Anyway, does sending the FBI and the Navy to the scene count as "doing something"? Or do you need some strongly-worded rhetoric from the president as well?
Yes. I think it would be good leadership to call a non-question press conference and say something like "A ship has been taken hostage, we are doing everything we can to secure the release of the ship and its crew. I will keep you updated as we learn new things." But in political rhetoric newspeak that Obama is fond of. Take charge; rather like what the CEO of Maersk did. Show that you know it is happening, you are on top of it, and that you care about more than amnesty for illegals.
This is not what a leader does when American citizens are taken hostage by a group of foreign fighters:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSWBT01101720090409
Doesn't sound to me like it is under control:
The position was complicated, according to one western military analyst, by unexplained movement of previously-captured ships towards the area of the stand-off, in the Indian Ocean 350 miles off the coast of Somalia.
The pirates could be seeking “safety in numbers” in the face of the threat of US military intervention.
“There does seem to be movement of other pirated ships towards the area in question,” the analyst said. “There are a myriad of different reasons why one would do that. There’s apparently some co-ordination going on.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f8646672-244d-11de-9a01-00144feabdc0.html
If that were my son out there, I would not be sleeping too well.
Look, I don't want to sound like I'm not concerned for the captain's safety and all, but a bunch of sea-bound thieves tried to rob a boat and kidnapped one guy. I'm not sure this warrants the white house shifting into crisis mode. (Put another way, I'm not sure these guys should be 'rewarded' with presidential attention. If such a thing has value to the leaders of Iran, Cuba and North Korea, surely it has value to a bunch of ship-robbers.)
I do admire, however, the gymnastics required to conflate these guys with "Islamist terrorists" and America's "enemies." My 42-year-old bones could never pull it off. Unless I missed the announcement that these pirates are operating under the banner of Islam with the aim of establishing an international Caliphate, I'm not sure what the difference between this and, say, robbing a branch of a US bank in Turkey.
My word verification is "yopsismo," which sounds vague illegal-alienish...
Three degrees of separation:
Pirates to al-Shabaab to al Qaeda
From Reuters 8/24/08:
"The spike in attacks at sea has coincided with a rise in assaults on land by radical al-Shabaab insurgents, including the capture on Friday of Somalia's strategic southern port Kismayu.
The United States say al-Shabaab is a terrorist group with close ties to al Qaeda.
"The entire Somali coastline is now under control of the Islamists," Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, told Reuters in an interview.
"According to our information, the money they make from piracy and ransoms goes to support al-Shabaab activities onshore."
As for crisis-mode, not sure it is necessary. But he should address the matter.
"Obama was asked (by the press) to comment on the situation several times by reporters at a White House event on refinancing for homeowners. "
Make a statement, dude. Let us know you are even aware of what is going on. You're the president of the country that had a ship stormed by Islamic pirates.
I met a guy who met Osama bin Ladin once, but I'm not sure this makes me Qaeda. But whatever. Have you considered adding an "America Held Hostage: Day 2" banner? Cuz I'm pretty handy with the Photoshop.
[word verification: meningl. So now you're calling me worse than Hitler.]
If you met a guy who only MET Osama Bin Laden, I would have nothing on you.
But, if you were giving money to the guy who met Osama Bin Laden to fund that guy's business and the guy is in the same business as Osama, I might look at you with a bit more scrutiny if you broke into my house, kidnapped me, and demanded ransom.
I might be inclined to think that your kidnap could be a part of a larger problem.
Like, if you see carpenter ants on one side of your house and termites on the other, they might not be working together, but they are contributing to the same problem.
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