Obama authorized killing of pirates

[dilloduck]

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama authorized killing the Somali pirates holding U.S. cargo ship captain Richard Phillips, and a commander acted upon concluding the pirates were about to kill the hostage, a U.S. Navy official said on Sunday.

"They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain," Vice Adm. William Gortney, head of the U.S. Naval Central Command, said in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain.

Gortney also said Washington had rejected ransom negotiations with the pirates. "The United States government's policy is to not negotiate," he said.

But he said military members had been in hostage talks with the pirate crew, and the talks grew "heated" before the commander on the scene ordered the shots that killed three pirates holding Phillips in a lifeboat.

"If he was not in imminent danger, they were not supposed to take this sort of action, they were supposed to let the negotiation process work it out," Gortney said.

"The on-scene commander took it as the captain was in imminent danger and then made that decision (to kill the pirates), and he had the authorities to make that decision, and he had seconds to make that decision."

"Our authorities came directly from the president. And the number one authority for incidents, if we were going to respond, was if the captain's life was in immediate danger," Gortney said.

UPDATE 1-U.S. acted after pirates aimed at ship captain | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

Hey---give the man some credit for knowing that the only solution sometimes is to kill. I wasn't sure he had it in him.

 

[Burp]

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama authorized killing the Somali pirates holding U.S. cargo ship captain Richard Phillips, and a commander acted upon concluding the pirates were about to kill the hostage, a U.S. Navy official said on Sunday.

"They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain," Vice Adm. William Gortney, head of the U.S. Naval Central Command, said in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain.

Gortney also said Washington had rejected ransom negotiations with the pirates. "The United States government's policy is to not negotiate," he said.

But he said military members had been in hostage talks with the pirate crew, and the talks grew "heated" before the commander on the scene ordered the shots that killed three pirates holding Phillips in a lifeboat.

"If he was not in imminent danger, they were not supposed to take this sort of action, they were supposed to let the negotiation process work it out," Gortney said.

"The on-scene commander took it as the captain was in imminent danger and then made that decision (to kill the pirates), and he had the authorities to make that decision, and he had seconds to make that decision."

"Our authorities came directly from the president. And the number one authority for incidents, if we were going to respond, was if the captain's life was in immediate danger," Gortney said.

UPDATE 1-U.S. acted after pirates aimed at ship captain | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

All this has already been said in other threads. Even admitting that BO authorized it.

But that's ok. You start another thread.

If that makes you feel better.

 

[DiveCon]

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama authorized killing the Somali pirates holding U.S. cargo ship captain Richard Phillips, and a commander acted upon concluding the pirates were about to kill the hostage, a U.S. Navy official said on Sunday.

"They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain," Vice Adm. William Gortney, head of the U.S. Naval Central Command, said in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain.

Gortney also said Washington had rejected ransom negotiations with the pirates. "The United States government's policy is to not negotiate," he said.

But he said military members had been in hostage talks with the pirate crew, and the talks grew "heated" before the commander on the scene ordered the shots that killed three pirates holding Phillips in a lifeboat.

"If he was not in imminent danger, they were not supposed to take this sort of action, they were supposed to let the negotiation process work it out," Gortney said.

"The on-scene commander took it as the captain was in imminent danger and then made that decision (to kill the pirates), and he had the authorities to make that decision, and he had seconds to make that decision."

"Our authorities came directly from the president. And the number one authority for incidents, if we were going to respond, was if the captain's life was in immediate danger," Gortney said.

UPDATE 1-U.S. acted after pirates aimed at ship captain | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

All this has already been said in other threads. Even admitting that BO authorized it.

But that's ok. You start another thread.

If that makes you feel better.

starting useless threads makes him feel important


LOL

 

[WillowTree]

He's having a bad day!

 

[Gunny]

It's quite obvious Obama authorized the use of force. Big whoop. You can post all about it in one of the 3 threads already open on the topic.