Obama Doctrine Is What?
Boston Herald:
Dramatic rescue ends hostage drama
Five days of fear (timeline)
via Herald: Three shots, three popped. Pirates vow revenge, retaliation against any nations that respond with violence to their violence. U.S. is their “No. 1 enemy.” Sounds like open season on pirates. Whatever happened to them liking us better?
via Herald: Obama kept his mouth shut for a change. Ok that’s not exactly how everyone’s favorite Obamist news agency put it.
via Yahoo: Obama twice approved force. He needed to do that?
OK, time for Executive Grow-A-Set Order No 1. You can call it the Obama Doctrine. Anyone engaging in acts of piracy or terrorism on Americans anywhere in the world or in areas where American forces are lawfully operating can have his coconut drilled at any time, based on the discretion of the commander on scene. No further discussion.
You holding your breath? I’m not.
Blackfive with some of the further discussion.
Malkin with some SEAL sniper background.
RedState, cruelly: Captive captain saves Obama.
Meanwhile, Kos, via Gateway: Captive captain was no hero.
Powerline is happy to give Obama some credit … a pat on the head now could go a long way down the road. (Hinderaker has more faith than I do. OK ahead, Obama, prove me wrong.)
Fred Ilke at Washington Post: Kill the pirates. Suggests a pirate/terror-financing link. Ed at Hot Air, excuse me, haven’t we started killing them yet?
Here’s the Post in thumbsucking analytical mode, eager to give credit where none is yet due, calling it an “early military victory for Obama.” As if what just happened was more than an opening skirmish in the battle which may or may not come, at which point we can start judging whether Obama gets a Roman triumph or not. FYI Post: It was a limited, specific response to a single incident. It involved four pirates and one hostage. It was beautiful to behold, well executed by the United States Navy and the FBI, with a favorable outcome.
Yes, Obama allowed U.S. forces to do their job. It would have been shameful if he didn’t. But it involved no strategizing or anything beyond a yes or no by Obama, and frankly didn’t require that. It means nothing more than a happy day for America and the Phillips family, plus some wailing in a couple of Somali villages. Unless Obama has a plan, and the will to execute it. On that front, to steal a phrase, he has not yet begun to fight.
Riehl cruelly proposes bladder infections all around as the Obama Doctrine. Hey, keep the World Health Organization out of this!
Given that the dirtbags were popped because the Captain had to relieve himself, I suppose a bladder infection may as well serve as the Obama strategy on piracy today.
It especially makes sense given that, big picture, we’re probably going to p*ss money away on foreign aid to a failed non-state in what will be a failed effort to stem the problem.
Tina Brown at the Daily Beast babbles incoherently about pirates, Obama and the economy, and makes an inept comparison to the failed Desert One resecue under Jimmy Carter. The success yesterday was due to a military that has been equipped, configured and trained for this kind of action since the Reagan years, and has seen a great deal of it in combat against America’s enemies in the last decade. The Carter analogy kicks in not so much with the happy, violent ending to a single incident, but with the follow-through. What are you going to do about, Obama?
Now would be the time for a 21st century gibbeting. Are they going to airdrop the pirate bodies into pirate bases? No, not likely. However, it would behoove the Obama admin to drag them through the figurative streets a little. Time for a message followed by action on those Somali elders who claim to be running the show. Play nice, give the other 240 hostages and 15 ships back, stop the piracy, and here’s a economic incentive package, whatever you want to call it. Play not so nice, and there’s more 7.62, .50 cal, Hellfire, assorted good stuff where that came from. It is a delicate matter that must be finessed, no doubt, but one that also requires a willingness to engage in strong action. You’re up, Obama.
Here’s an idea. Inform the elders the entire coastline in question and anyone in those coastal waters will be held responsible for the well-being and prompt release of those hostages. You know, if you’re not with us, you’re against us. Tell the elders, get on the stick, or we’ll put your head on it. Further suggestion. Keep the UN and all ineffectual do-gooders out of it. The nation-building is stage two, once it stops.
O, the ingratitude. Somali insurgents fire on one of their allies in Congress. Gateway.
Topics: Obama, crime, law & order, military
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:48 am on Monday, April 13, 2009
13 Responses to “Obama Doctrine Is What?”
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April 13th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
A very good outcome. But I think some are getting a little carried away. I read the lifeboat was under tow and about 25 to 30 metres astern. To any trained marksman, that should be real simple stuff. That is a execution. I totally agree and support the decision to shoot them, but no need to talk up a trained sniper shooting some-one from inside 30 metres- on the water or not.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
“OK, time for Executive Grow-A-Set Order No 1. You can call it the Obama Doctrine. Anyone engaging in acts of piracy or terrorism on Americans anywhere in the world or in areas where American forces are lawfully operating can have his coconut drilled at any time, based on the discretion of the commander on scene. No further discussion.”
AMEN!!! They should not have needed to ask ONCE, much less twice with a night for Obama to sleep on it before answering. Should be standing orders.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
It isn’t over yet. There are still 200+ other hostages. If ransom is paid for them and their ships, the piracy will just go on and on. The first thing I would do if I ran the world is inform the pirates no more ransom will be paid, and if the hostages are not released unharmed within a specified time, the coastline of Somalia will be rearranged forthwith.
But I don’t run the world.
April 13th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I’m waiting for Obama to say this is the Navy he “inherited” from George W. Bush.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
The Maersk shipping line has a lot of US Defense Department contracts, that’s why the cargo was on a more-expensive US-flagged ship.
The cargo was going to Kenya, where the US is “intervening” to institute reforms.
Was the cargo military or was it foreign aid?
Was the piracy a coincidence or an attempt to forestall a US coup in Kenya?
April 13th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
whab, try shooting 30 meters from one moving boat to another and tell me how easy it is.
As to Obama, I just wonder who he would have laid the blame on if the whole thing had gone huckle, buckle, bean stock? I always get the sense that his motto is “The Buck Stops Over There, Somewhere”.
April 13th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden has a nice round-up on the rescue coverage and various [...]
April 13th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
[...] a commenter at JulesCrittenden.com: I’m waiting for Obama to say this is the Navy he “inherited” from George W. [...]
April 13th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
So that American-flagged tug is still being sailed back to Somalia, right? What’s Obama doing about that.
April 14th, 2009 at 1:38 am
[...] left and the press (but I repeat myself) are falling all over each other in their haste to congratulate Obama and his manly response to the pirates. A retch-worthy visit to [...]
April 14th, 2009 at 6:19 am
If there is a plan to hunt pirates, it would be best if it were kept secret. Speculating, it’s doubtful if the FBI or the CIA has any Somalis on their payrolls, and it would not be wise for an Anglo looking dude to show up in those parts. So, with infiltration impossible, any planned assault on a port would have to be some sort of night affair without knowing precisely where to go. The fact that they probably don’t know where all the 250-odd hostages are, let alone who the pirates are (except perhaps the pirates in the latest video threatening US and French seamen), whatever they do has to be limited to the open seas.
April 14th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Obama will allow the military to eliminate three hapless pirates for a single man, but won’t water-board a terrorist who may have information that could affect thousands.
That’s the moral clarity I want in a CinC, the moral clarity that gets Americans killed.
April 14th, 2009 at 11:39 am
[...] Jules Crittenden has more. [...]