Do you think Capt. Phillips is a hero?

[Infin1ty]

[Skrej]

Well, according to the good captain himself, he's not a hero.

Still, sometimes being a hero is nothing more than doing what's necessary even when you're aware of the danger. His actions potentially saved the lives of his crew, and if nothing else, made the situation easier for his rescuers. It's much easier to free one hostage than 5, 10, or more. Smart thinking on his part. So doing what's necessary when you know the danger, and still having the ability to think clearly? That's a hero by my definition.

I'm glad our president finally decided to grow a pair, and let something be done. Notice now the media's giving him credit, as if he did a damned thing, except delay what should have been done already. Why didn't they have prior authorization, and shoot when Captain Phillips jumped overboard the pirate boat? Because prior authorization doesn't get the president the media attention. Now with this dramatic rescue, the President manages to get himself some good media. Shows us how tough and serious he really is on terrorism, blah blah blah.

If he was really that concerned about doing something, he'd have authorized the engagement and sinking of any pirate vessels proactively months ago, instead of waiting for an emergency situation to force his hand.

Start sinking any pirate vessels that come within a half mile of the merchant ships, no questions asked. See how long they continue hijacking ships for ransom then...

Still, hats off to Capt. Phillips, and to the snipers for making a tough shot. Taking a head shot, in the dark, with your target bobbing on a choppy sea? There's another kind of hero for you. As an American, I'm proud of both Capt. Phillips and our SEALS.

That, my friends, is what REAL gun control should be about - hitting where you aim.
_________________
Plan to be spontaneous tomorrow.
***
Did you hear they arrested the Energizer Bunny on battery charges?
***

[Infin1ty]

[Jamie (K)]

Skrej, do you think that the president really had much at all to do with the rescue, other than being depicted in the media as "closely monitoring the situation"? I have a funny feeling that the Navy would likely have behaved the same one way or another. The president is supposed to be commander in chief of the military, but this one has never been in the military and doesn't know the first thing about how it works, so he more or less has to let them do what they know how to.

But you're right. Our military should have been blowing up pirate ships months, or even years ago, and even blowing up their havens on the coast. The big heroes in that whole situation are the Indian navy, which just blows up the pirate ships before they can attack.

This is the same kind of situation that started a wave of colonialism back in the 19th century, when North African pirates were commandeering ships and demanding tribute money. There were negotiations, but it became clear that the pirates considered this to be their right as part of a jihad. The Europeans just chattered about it, so the tiny United States led the way and attacked Tripoli, putting a lot of the pirates out of commission. Then the Europeans got involved, and the northern coast of Africa, along with some other places, became colonies of European countries.

[Jan]

History repeats itself and if I look now on entire matter one just solution would be to conquer Somalia and keep it under control for long time,of course it is now impossible,
but sooner or later ships in this region will be manned with soldiers and will have to fight back more often , without fight it is impossible to stop them.
In that case Captain and his crew are from same nation under national flag and this is very very seldom nowadays at sea. Sea business had pushed away from market such ships into very very tiny margin.
Look what national pride and one language can do with people , they started to act and were supported by their own navy what we can dio if bloody English is not understood by your own crew and people react on their own in time of crisis,
Polish captains advise their crew in such a case to lock them selves in one most crucial for leading ship room where you have contol over course and engines and with full speed and mayday call for help to run deeper into the ocean were navy could reach the ship and enter the boat safe to act with pirates if they are still on board.
Mostly if they will not manage to control a boat in one hour they like to leave as soon as possible.
God bless navy Indian and American and Russian even because without their help
I will soon loose my job and will be in very shitty situation.
Obama maybe has not helped but has not hampered the situation as many times politicians like with their ignorance acts do.

Jan

Esperanto for everybody, no esperanto no peace.
English is a language of war.