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As usual, the left-wing blogosphere is a breath of fresh air. I've read at least a dozen brilliant accounts of the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates, each that ties the actions took place as compared to the comments that were spewed forth from the right wing. As you read through the excerpts of Dr. Cole's post below, and hopefully through the entire post at the link, you should understand this: Republicans cannot handle a crisis. They overreact. They start wars against countries that never attacked us. They torture. They suspend Habeas Corpus. Rather than enforce the rile of law, they look for ways to get around it. When an American is held hostage, they would blow the bad guys away immediately, even if it meant the death of the hostage.
Make no mistake: Barack Obama is not the hero of this rescue. Not even close. The Navy SEALS who took out the pirates with remarkable shots on the high seas are heroes. Captain Phillips bravery and unselfishness will be talked about for generations. No, Obama did what a President is supposed to do. He got good advice. He gave the orders. He and his administration didn't leak to the press. Best of all, the hostage is safe, and it is the right-wing that once again has egg all over their faces.
The crisis began early in the morning of April 8, when Somali pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama. The crew captured one pirate, and three others took Captain Phillips hostage. He talked them, along with one other, into getting into the lifeboat and keeping him as the hostage, as a way of saving his crew.The link is a must read. When someone gets under Dr. Cole's skin, he gets super extra snarky. He has great examples of the right wing stupidity that was spewed during the crisis and his take downs of Limbuagh and company is definitive. Great, great stuff.
The US Navy, aware of the danger to Phillips's life if it took precipitate action, brought in experienced FBI hostage negotiators.
This attempt to end the crisis through hostage negotiation was made fun of by the American right wing ...
(Glenn) Beck actually made fun of the US Navy, implying that it was dawdling about instead of going in with guns blazing. What kind of person makes fun of the professionals of the US Navy and the FBI while they are trying to do their jobs in saving a true American hero? ...
Meanwhile, even Rush Limbaugh's supporters were embarrassed by his inability to stop bashing the president long enough to celebrate the escape of the crew. Ann Althouse lamented of Limbaugh, "He'd slotted the story into his Obama-doesn't-know-what-to-do template and was riffing away about Obama's indecision and what he must be fretting about and how he'd probably want to apologize to the pirates and so forth."
(Kenneth T.) Walsh (of Newsweek) explains of Friday, April 10: "In Obama's first national security test, he secretly gave the Pentagon the go-ahead at 8 p.m. Friday to use force if Phillips's life was in imminent danger." So, Rush, I guess Obama wasn't in a mood to apologize after all. Unless in Limbaugh Limbo, making preparations to whack someone is seen as a mea culpa.
What of Obama's silence, which allowed the blowhards to bloviate? Walsh adds, "Throughout the crisis, Obama avoided saber rattling in public. His aides said that would have made negotiations for Phillips's release more difficult." In other words, Obama avoided posturing and talking like a cowboy about the pirates in order to avoid complicating a hostage crisis and endangering the life of the hostage ...
Now it is Saturday, April 11. Walsh explains, "In a follow-up order at 9:20 Saturday morning, he gave more specific authorization that included allowing a Navy commander to order snipers to take out the pirates if the situation became dire, U.S. officials said."
On Sunday, the US snipers were sent into action when it appeared that the pirates were menacing Captain Phillips with their weapons. They killed three and freed Phillips, capturing the fourth.
While the whiny Right was ridiculing the president as a do-nothing, or calling for blowing the lifeboat out of the water, or calumniating Obama with charges that he was "apologetic" to the hostage-takers and even "bringing them hot chocolate," the president was quietly, competently, taking stock of the situation and putting in place the policies and personnel that would lead to a successful resolution and the freeing of a hero.
Source - Informed Comment
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