No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Somali pirates die from seasickness and SEAL Team bullets, but mostly from SEAL Team bullets

by @ 14:45 on April 12, 2009. Filed under War on Terror.

(Headline courtesy EC at Ace of Spades HQ)

Hopefully you haven’t been in a cave the last 2 hours, because some very good news came across the wires in that time. Maersk Alabama captain Richard Phillips escaped his Somali pirate captors a second time, and this time, the US Navy was ready. The Navy plucked Phillips from the water unharmed, killed three of the pirates, and captured the fourth.

I personally wish they had put some lead into the fourth pirate’s last meal; piracy is not a capital offense anymore. Title 18, USC, Sec. 1651 proscribes life in prison for those convicted of piracy.

Revisions/extensions (3:46 pm 4/12/2008) – I’m listening to the Pentagon press conference with the CENTCOM naval commander, and a couple more details came out:

– The captured pirate was on the USS Bainbridge as part of the negotiations.
– The standing orders from the CINC (i.e. President Obama) were to engage only if Phillips’ life were in imminent danger.
– The commander of the Bainbridge saw that one of the three pirates remaining on the lifeboat had a weapon trained at Phillips, who was apparently still on the lifeboat tied up, determined that Phillips’ life was in imminent danger, and ordered the rescue.
– Snipers on the Bainbridge took out all 3 of the remaining pirates.

Bravo Zulu, Navy!

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