http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41715530/ns/world_news-africa/?gt1=43001 4 Americans killed by Somali pirates :banghead:
OMG! - Wral.com is reporting that the pirates shot and killed those 4 people! :cry: Guess we were posting at the same time - I tried to delete my thread.
I hope there is a meeting being held in Washington to brainstorm a new approach to these pirates. Sadly, the wait and see approach didn't work and innocent people are dead. That being said, if you feel the desire to sail please do not do it in pirate infested waters.
American civilians have no business pleasure boating in waters inhabited by pirates. That doesn't diminish the sadness and anger that is justifiable in this circumstance. It's one thing for these criminals to attack merchant ships, but to target civilians is heinous and dastardly. I think in international waters, that possession of appropriate weapons to fend off an attack is warranted.
You are full of surprises, I expected you to blame Obama for their deaths because he did act! Same result though, an opportunity for you to whine.
Maybe I was born in a different world? But I find it real annoying and offensive when people disrespect our current leader. Whether they be republican or democrat. Black or white. They are OUR leader. Voted by the majority of the USA. I you don't have to like him, but can you not at least respect him? It seems very unpatriotic from my point of view.
Good luck with that. That same argument was made by myself and other's when Bush was President. Didn't change a thing. So now the consensus seems to be..........what was good for the goose.
It seems like anyone and everyone will blame the nation's problems on the president. When in reality, it isn't their fault.
Not quite correct as they are voted on by the few, the proud, the Electorial College. Which has been shown in cases past is not always the majority of the USA.
I must have missed it. How did he act? I mean, in a way that was at all helpful to those four people?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-zimmerman/post_1756_b_826759.html Today, Somali pirates killed four Americans taken hostage Friday off the coast of Oman. President Barack Obama authorized the use of force in the case of an imminent threat to the hostages Saturday. CENTCOM reports that during the course of negotiating the hostages' release, gunfire was heard aboard the captured yacht. The pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the USS Sterett, the closest U.S. naval ship, and small arms fire was heard on the yacht. U.S. forces responded immediately by boarding the ship, but discovered that the Americans had been shot.
Oh, I knew about that. I follow the news. I thought that being held hostage by a dozen or so armed pirates was an "imminent threat" to the hostages itself and maybe they would be alive if we hadn't sat around waiting to hear gun shots. And this is not just on Obama. There are military folks involved who are putting politics before common sense as well. I believe in my heart that those people could have been rescued by the special forces that we rigorously train for covert missions such as this so it makes me sad that the President or his military higher ups didn't believe that as well. If we were able to board that ship and not have any loss of American life - except for the hostages who were killed before the boarding - it proves that it could have been done sooner and possibly saved those people's lives.
I believe they were in negotiations with the hostage takers, which to me is actually trying to accomplish the task without violence. Don't know what happened on the boat that made the hostage takers start shooting. What a shame. Sherry
Obama is a -My Friend but there isn't anything more he could have done. At some point people need to use common sense and not depend on the government to protect them every step of the way. This is the same thing I said after the idiots in New Orleans stood around and let Katrina wash them away.
I actually agree with you here, there is nothing that could have been done for them save for them not to have put themselves in harm's way in the first place. Going there was STOOPID. I admire what they were trying to accomplish, but really? Pirate infested waters by themselves??? They ended up endangering the lives of others who had to come and try to save them. It sounds like there was some sort of skirmish among the pirates that caused those four to be shot.
He couldn't have showed he had some balls and ordered the SEALS in sooner? How many days did we wander around following them and those people were alive? Those people were idiots, sure, but we should not have waited so long to do something. I think it was punishment enough for them if they knew that the Navy was just out of reach for days and nobody ever came for them. We have to change the way these situations are handled. No more pussy footing around these pirates anymore. Quit letting them make all the rules.
