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By most accounts American's are pleased with the way the standoff between Somali pirates and the US Navy ended. But should they be?
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But a hard look at the history involved and prelude to that now taking place reveals a far more complex picture. Any wishing to claim the side of angels might first consider how close they are to such a position.
Talk about a stretch! You kidding me, these pirates could not care less about the fish in the sea. They attacked a cargo vessel full of food aid supposed to be going to starving people in Africa. They were robbing from the poor, it does not get much lower than that. If they had some intention of stopping illegal fishing in their waters then heres an idea, attack the fishing vessels! These are not some sort of robin hood folk hero type people, these are greedy violent pirates.
As a servicemember I am proud of my fellow servicemembers. Maybe those pirates did these things due to hunger and survival. However, when it comes to making a choice, we in the Armed Forces are serving to protect our citizens.
Our Navy SEALS had to make a call and according to the report they had to take the shots when they felt the captain's life was threatened. Usually people like the OP writer are very good to make judgement. They usually are not the ones who have to make those types of calls. They tend to be what we call armchair quarterbacks. It is very easy to judge from the stands. I do not see them trying to hold office to make such calls and lead people. They are very good at pointing fingers.
However, I believe we need people like the OP writer. They need to be around to remind people of making sure we have a sense of humanity. However, we also need people that need to have a sense of reality to make sure the criminals of the world don't eat the idealists alive.
We are there to make sure the idealist can still be alive and have a chance to say how unethical we are.
Talk about a stretch! You kidding me, these pirates could not care less about the fish in the sea. They attacked a cargo vessel full of food aid supposed to be going to starving people in Africa. They were robbing from the poor, it does not get much lower than that. If they had some intention of stopping illegal fishing in their waters then heres an idea, attack the fishing vessels! These are not some sort of robin hood folk hero type people, these are greedy violent pirates.
That IS strange, isn't it? People attaching higher motives to a bunch of pirates. They don't care about ecology. They don't care about poverty. They don't care about the people living across the road. They were only out for themselves, to get whatever they thought they could get. And had anyone tried appeasing them, then they would have demanded even more. You just don't negotiate with that sort. Give 'em a chance to back down, and if they don't take it, then you rid the earth of them. That's just how it is.
I am very proud of my Navy and Captain Phillips as well. They did what they had to do in order to resolve the situation. We couldn't have played nice. They didn't want to play nice. Last time I heard the United States does not negotiate with terrorists (as far as I am concerned they were/are). The only thing I really disagreed with was waiting so long. I am surprised they waited as long as they did before saying "Let's end this now"
And there are no more pirates. The seas are perfectly safe.
OK, OK, I can see your sarcasm. I said why it was mission accomplished. I will try again. I wil copy and paste my previous message with highlights. The original statement is underlined. I hope this makes it more clear to you. I must admit I feel embarrassed to have to break a very simple statement to someone.
Here it is: It sure was mission (meaning the mission was to rescue the captain) accomplished (Accomplished means they completed the mission they were sent to do i.e. rescue the captain. Please go back to the first explanation in red and parenthesis). (How was it accomplished? Read the next sentence) They took out the threat(meaning the threat to the captain), got our fellow American safe out of there to his family and to his nation.
Italics and boldface are mine for emphazis.
Nothing in that statement say about the total sea total safety and no pirates at all. It does help to not add more than what is written to avoid assumptions. Have you ever heard what some say about the word ASSUME? It makes an ASS of U and ME.
So in a more simple way:
Mission statement: To rescue the captain.
Endstate: To rescue the captain safely, unharmed.
Did the did they fullfilled the Mission Statement and the Endstate? Yes, = mission accomplished.
I hope this explains it better. I did not think my previous message required expanding on it.
OK, I agree, the mission was accomplished. The US Navy subdued a half dozen unarmed men in a rowboat, and it only took them a couple of days. Im so proud of them. When do we stop inflating everything Americans do into some superhuman feats of cosmic importance?
OK, I agree, the mission was accomplished. The US Navy subdued a half dozen unarmed men in a rowboat, and it only took them a couple of days. Im so proud of them. When do we stop inflating everything Americans do into some superhuman feats of cosmic importance?
Unarmed? Where did you get that from?
It was not a super human feat. It just reflected the skills of the Navy SEALS. Am I proud of that? Of course I am. I can have pride if my favorite high school or college team won. What is wrong with that?
Now, when my local college teams makes a touchdown and I say "Did you watch that touchdown? Wasn't that an amazing catch?". I am not saying the player did a super human feat. It is just that my happiness may simply use some impact words, that's all.
It seems you minimize the rescue act with the rowboat comment. Sure they were in a row boat. They had that captain in close range and could kill him anytime they wanted to. Does it matter if it was in a rowboat or in a cruiser? The man was under the potential threat of being killed. Skills have to be displayed to rescue the guy.
They decided to kidnap the guy. What do you want? You may not agree with U.S. policies, OK, I got it. Does that mean we need to let the guy on his own? Not in my book. We try to protect and take care of our own citizens. Those individuals were aware we may be the lone superpower in the world and took their chances, they lost.
Why are you so disdainful of our citizen being rescued?
You have a great day.
El Amigo
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