In a nutshell, here's what happened. After the pirates took over the ship, the American crew members fought back and eventually re-took the ship from the pirates. The Captain ended up on a lifeboat with the pirates (as a trade for some of the other hostage crew members, I think), where he was held for another couple of days.
Navy ships surrounded the lifeboat and negotiations began for the release of the Captain for a hefty chunk of ransom. At one point, he leaped off the lifeboat in an escape attempt, but the pirates re-captured him before he could make it to safety.
Eventually, the pirates got a little to aggressive, pointing their AK-47s at the Captain, and the Navy commander on the scene decided enough was enough. He gave the order, and snipers (or SEALs, it's still a bit unclear) took out three of the pirates. The Captain was rescued, and all but one of the pirates is dead. That last one is in custody, so we may know more after the interrogation.
So, the end result is that all of the Americans obtained their freedom safely, thanks to a lot of their own risk and skill, and some sharp shooting by the U.S. military.
The media are apparently trying to give the credit to President Obama for 'giving the order', thus painting him as a tough negotiator and hero, but that's a bit of a stretch. Apparently, he just gave a general order for the commander on the scene to open fire if he deemed it necessary. For example, MSNBC used the headline "Obama scores win on pirate crisis", and says he passed his first critical national security test. The Political Inquirer puts that statement into proper context:
The biggest problem in all this is that the White House was very reluctant to even go that far, and was apparently willing to negotiate with the terrorists, something that the official U.S. policy is strictly against. That's a show of major weakness, plain and simple. Unfortunately, the test isn't over, because pirates have now captured a second U.S.-flagged ship in the area, a tugboat.Analysis: Obama scores win on pirate crisis.And, don't forget that one of the pirates was a teenager with a hole in his hand after one of the ship's sailors put an ice pick through it.
His administration passes its first critical national security test
...Against 4 lightly armed pirates in an out-of-gas lifeboat with a single hostage, taking 4 days to pass.
...As a bit player who issued a general instruction on force that he had to clarify the next day and even that was stretched unbelievably to carry out a successful rescue by the line officers.
The MSM (especially MSNBC) certainly have dumbed down the ‘testing’, haven’t they?
And, don't forget that it was the on scene commander gave the call to fire on the pirates after he observed one of the pirates in the lifeboat pointing an AK-47 at the back of a tied up Phillips.
Since Cut-n-Runner Barack Obama was completely wrong on the surge and wrong on Iraq, look for the media to make him a hero for the captain's rescue.
What will Obama do now? Will he get tough and act fast, or will he sit around worrying about the sensitivities of our enemies while real Americans are in danger, forcing them to act for themselves?
The incredible weakness and inexperience of this President will become more and more dangerous to Americans as more and more tests become reality.
There's my two cents.
Sources:
http://minx.cc/?post=285854
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/12/whats-missing-from-obamas-statement/
http://minx.cc/?post=285829
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/11/pirates-seze/
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/04/11/somali-pirates-strike-again/
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/04/obama-scores-big-win-against-lightly.html
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