Give Me Five Minutes

Give Me Five Minutes

The first thing the pirates off the Horn of Africa should have thought upon seeing the US flag flown by the Maersk Alabama was “not this one”, but probably their thought was instead “yes we can!”
The attack occurred on Wednesday, April 8th and we are already on Friday and the issue is not solved. Initially the news reports told us how the crew of the ship had been able to retake the ship from the pirates, but then the information of the captain of the ship being taken hostage made its way around the world.
The US responded by first rushing the destroyer USS Bainbridge to the area, and I thought “ok it’s over, they probably have a SEAL Team or a Marine Recon Unit on board and the problem should be taken care of quickly and safely for our captain”. But I was mistaken. In fact, to my initial surprise, I heard that a negotiation teat from the FBI was also being dispatched to the crisis. At that point, I was wondering what was there to negotiate.

So these are the thoughts that went through my head.
The FBI is a federal law enforcement agency, whose role is to investigate criminal activity and domestic terrorism across America. FBI teams are sometimes dispatched abroad to help in the investigation of acts perpetrated against US interest abroad, because of their expertise.
Earlier today, I read that the US Navy was taking lead from the FBI negotiating team leaders, and finally realized why the situation has not been taken care of yet.
As it was under Bill Clinton and prior to 9-11 attacks, acts of terrorism are, once again, being treated as a law enforcement issue, causing the FBI team to have to conduct themselves as if they were dealing with a bank robbery downtown Los Angeles.
The problem with this philosophy, as we have painfully seen on 9-11, is that certain acts perpetrated across the globe are not of the criminal activity kind, but more of a “state of war” kind. The law enforcement approach is dangerous because it does not give the perpetrators of these acts the perception, or understanding, that when attacking anything that is related to the United States, the response they can expect is the wrath of a united nation. Instead the perception is that the preservation of human life, especially that of the perpetrators, is the ultimate goal, regardless of what needs to be done.
When the Somali pirates have taken other vessels hostage, they have obtained enormous ransoms for the release of the captive ships and crews and the nations that have paid have not created a sense of deterrence in these pirates. The US should have a different approach.

One of the unfortunate results of the prolonging of the standoff with those who are holding captain Richard Phillips is that as additional Navy ships are making their way to the area, the pirates are also taking some of the ships they are currently holding to the area, with the hostages they are keeping. So this is the situation as of right now. Captain Phillips is still captive, the USS Bainbridge skipper is conducting negotiations with the pirate leader under FBI directions, more Navy ships are converging and pirates are moving hostage leaden vessels to the area. The longer this goes on the greater the chance of innocent people getting killed on other ships and the death of Captain Phillips. And if any of the other hostages are hurt, the world will blame America, making the pirates into heroes for standing up to the Great Satan.

So, as Obama is missing, hiding in some crevice of Washington and Clinton is laughing as she mutters the word “piracy”, innocent people lives are at stake and no decision is being taken (except probably the preparation of a teleprompter-driven apology to the pirates for the crimes of Bush against them for the last eight years).
Tell you what, just give me five minutes! Given that amount of time, a SEAL team would have been standing by around the lifeboat where the pirates are holding Phillips, while a squad of Marine Recon would be sitting on a chopper on the Bainbridge, ready to be rappelled onto the same lifeboat, which by the way is just sitting there as it has no fuel for propulsion. When in the middle of the night on Thursday Richard Phillips attempted an escape by jumping in the ocean and starting to swim toward the US warship, only to be recaptured, the assets in position would have had the chance to take out the pirates swiftly and with no harm coming to the hostage (I can only imagine the surprise and disappointment Mr. Phillips must have felt after jumping in the water only to realize that no friendly assets went to his aid).
At the same time the issue at sea was addressed, I would have ordered the closest MEU to position just off the coastal areas where these pirates operate from, with the message that any harm coming to ANY of the hostage in the hands of these thugs would result in the unleashing of HELL upon their bases. What a great chance to add a verse to the Marine Corps Hymn!

Problem solved and, of equal importance, these pirates would think about it more than twice next time a ship flying the US flag came into view.
But I did not have five minutes so now all I have left is my anger toward the inactivity of Obama, the shrillness of Clinton and the possibility, increasing every minute, that Captain Richard Phillips will become a sacrificial lamb to the altar of the inept, clueless, Muslim ass-kissing citizen of the world, King of America. But so what, after all Mr. Phillips is a white man in a position of authority, position that surely he obtained by oppressing black folks somewhere.