U.S. flagged ship. So what?
No respect.
Even Somali pirates no longer fear the might of what was just months ago the world’s greatest super-power. In that bygone era, sea piracy directed against a vessel flying the American flag would have been unthinkable by the sane. Why? The evidence of 9/11 was before them. Attack America and risk winding up in a deep dark cave or on the gallows.
There’s no doubt this Administration’s being tested. North Korea did it with a missile launch that provoked President Barack Obama to, well, nothing. He spoke some of those empty words and phrases for which he’s become known, but no potential adversary could have been rattled by that. Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez yanked his chain by offering the Russians an island on which to base strategic bombers. Joe Biden, for once, may have been right in his declaration that the new President would be tested within six months.
There’s no giant conspiracy here that runs from the Samoli pirates to world capitals. It is, instead, an attempt to get a fix on the new President. The problem is not that one of the former or emerging major powers will act unwisely, but that those who sit in caves and plot, or that terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbelloh, will be tempted to move against Israel or the U.S. homeland.
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107 comments Add your comment
DB, Gwinnettian
April 9th, 2009
7:50 am
Refresh my memory, Jim–what did Bush do again to retaliate against those Commie Chinese who held our pilots hostage in the early days of his administration?
DB, Gwinnettian
April 9th, 2009
7:51 am
Oh, and remember the Cole? What bold anti-terror initiatives did Bush put forward to avenge that attack?
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
7:56 am
Apparently these pirates were desperate. The Wall Street Journal reports that all of the hijackers had lost their money to Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme.
BKB
April 9th, 2009
7:56 am
Bill Clinton was the President at the time of the attack on the USS Cole.
jt
April 9th, 2009
7:57 am
And if there was SOOO many threats as Bush Selfishly kept us safe from, why was our southern border left wide open?
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
7:59 am
CNN just reported that Zsa Zsa Gabor was among the crew of pirates who boarded the ship. She had lost 10 million dollars to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme.
Free Zsa Zsa!
as long as zsa zsa is okay, then I’m okay, and you’re okay, and we’re okay……
dekalb bush
April 9th, 2009
7:59 am
The ignorant fool from Gwinett does need his memory refreshed. The Cole attack occurred before Bush. He will be supporting Obama the Neighborhood Activist as our currency dwindles to nothing. I hope him and the other bush supporters have to eat him before it is over.
DB, Gwinnettian
April 9th, 2009
8:02 am
An answer for those who’ve forgotten. A Jan. 2001 FBI report clearly identified Bin Laden’s gang as responsible for the USS Cole attack.
Little stroll down memory lane as to what “He Kept Us Safe” authorized next.
Before Sept. 11, the Bush Anti-Terror Effort Was Mostly Ambition
By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 20, 2002; Page A01
On a closed patch of desert in the first week of June, the U.S. government built a house for Osama bin Laden.
Bin Laden would have recognized the four-room villa. He lived in one just like it outside Kandahar, Afghanistan, whenever he spent a night among the recruits at his Tarnak Qila training camp. The stone-for-stone replica, in Nevada, was a prop in the rehearsal of his death.
From a Predator drone flying two miles high and four miles away, Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency ground controllers loosed a missile. It carried true with a prototype warhead, one of about 100 made, for killing men inside buildings. According to people briefed on the experiment, careful analysis after the missile pierced the villa wall showed blast effects that would have slain anyone in the target room.
The Bush administration now had in its hands what one participant called “the holy grail” of a three-year quest by the U.S. government – a tool that could kill bin Laden within minutes of finding him. The CIA planned and practiced the operation. But for the next three months, before the catastrophe of Sept. 11, President Bush and his advisers held back.
DB, Gwinnettian
April 9th, 2009
8:05 am
So to sum–after the Cole attack, and subsequent investigation, Clinton’s people ID’d the guilty party a few days before they left office; it was a fairly soft target, and Bush had a cool new toy that could do it cheaply and cleanly.
Mid-South Philosopher
April 9th, 2009
8:06 am
Good morning, Jim,
Far be it from me to defend “Georgie” Bush; however, truth is truth. With regard to **DB, Gwinnettian’s** question concerning what Bush did in response to the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, I believe that little event occurred in October of 2000, prior to the disaster (with the help of my vote) of Bush being elected! Seems as though “Billy” Clinton was the “sheriff” at that time.
With respect to “Barry’s” response…or lack of it…to the current insults from the North Koreans, Hugo “Bozo” Chavez, and piracy on the high seas, what can he do. We have allowed the armed forces of the United States to be stretched entirely too thin. Both Democrats and Republicans seem to have helped that cause. We are moving head-long in the direction of, at best, a socialist society, and, at worst, a Marxian state.
But, by the Eternal, “American Idol” and “Dancing with the Stars” still survives!
Sleep on, vast nose-picking heard, sleep on!
jt
April 9th, 2009
8:07 am
“President Bush and his advisers held back”
Also, just a few months prior to 9/11, our federal goverment had just bestowed their annual “Drug War” money. The amount of money shoveled into Aphg. for drug crop eradification is astouning, and I’m just SOOO sure it was used effectively. The last I heard, our soilders are no longed eradicating opium fields, they are GUARDING them.
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
8:08 am
I am not going to waste any comments criticizing Jim Wooten ever again. But read carefully this piece on the pirated ship. You’ll know what would be too cruel to point out. There is no better example of a ruined pen, a ruined party, or a ruined mind. Wooten is a good proofreader with a writing job.
That’s for sure. That’s for dang sure.
But in a larger sense, I cannot concentrate criticism or dedicate my own poison pen to the shallow grounds into which Wooten’s arguments sink…….(if LIncoln were a troll)
findog
April 9th, 2009
8:11 am
Jim,
Like you my military experience is more ground pounding than webbed feet but I really do not think flagging a ship is like it was in those Earl Flynn movies. These sea thugs are just slightly more dangerous than the Iran speedboats that taunted our fleet in the Straight of Hormuz. That bygone era was during the second half of President Bush tenure as CINC.
President Obama ought to get the UN to fund the US Fleet to eradicate the threat. Like the first President Bush did with Iraq. I bet the British would relish a role in vanquishing pirates from the seas again. Get the Saudi Royal Family to foot the bill instead of paying off the ransoms.
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
8:15 am
The best play on words the Right can employ against our president is Nobama. And that was ineffective.
What we have here is a Teflon Camelot. Michele O!
Hey Wooten: Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin were seen on a raft approaching a US flagged Steamboat on the Mississippi River! Should President Grant resign?
Jklol
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
8:16 am
Hey Wooten: The tidy bowl man hijacked the White House commode. Should Nobama resign?
DB, Gwinnettian
April 9th, 2009
8:17 am
Mid south, among others, helpfully points out:
Seems as though “Billy” Clinton was the “sheriff” at that time.
And given that nobody ‘fessed up to the crime, the sherrif had to send a posse out to find the killer. Took awhile, but they found him.
Now if you want to claim that Clinton’s posse deliberately took until mid-January to find out who did it, be my guest. A cited source would be nice, though.
Copyleft
April 9th, 2009
8:17 am
Shouldn’t this blog be titled “Wishful Thinking”? Because that’s all the Republicans have left lately.
Like pretending that the Somali pirates, who’ve been operating indiscriminately on random ships in that region for DECADES, suddenly decided, “Oooh, I know! Let’s specifically target an American ship today, since their new president is probably weak and helpless and not in command of a huge navy!”
Thinking Right? More like thinking, riiiight…... You wish, Mr. Wooten. You wish.
P.S. Enlighten us as to what course of action would have been appropriate to North Korea’s latest bungled cry for attention, which posed zero threat to us whatsoever. Oh, I know–how about attacking Cambodia? That’s what Bush would’ve done (unless he did nothing, of course… which is what happened the last time this lame stunt was pulled).
It looks like Mr. Obama’s foreign policy is not going to be based on ignorance and fear, disguised as bullying bluster. What a refreshing change to have a grownup in charge!
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
8:17 am
Hey Wooten: I found a fellow who’s cute and yellow and chubby in my bathtub! He hijacked the soap! Should Nobama resign?
@@
April 9th, 2009
8:25 am
Now come on, Jim…….Joe’s been right more than once. It’s not that he sets out to be right, he’s just got a lot to say.
I like Joe.
You’re right! There have been hundreds of ships taken, but the Maersk Alabama was the very first U.S. flagged ship seized by the pirates.
Happen”stance”? I bow to your better judgment.
I look forward to watching the Netanyahu/Obama bout in the not-too-distant future.
Canetus Poontang
April 9th, 2009
8:30 am
Another golden shower of wisdom from the ever-hacktastic Wooten.
Somali pirates have been busy for quite a few years now. The de facto US military response, as established under GWB, was to have the ship’s owners deal directly with the pirates and pay ransoms to free the ships. A nod and a wink to a protection racket. One more legacy of the Worst. President. Ever.
But leave it to Wooten to miss the most important point in all this…the brave seamen on the Maersk Alabama managed to overpower one of the pirates and sent the other three running. How was this possible? Could it have had anything to do with the fact that these were union-members who had received federally mandated training on how to deal with these types of situations? Would you wingnuts care to adjust your knee-jerk opinions on the value of unions and government regulation? Just as with Capt. Sully who saved all those passengers with his skilled handling of the Hudson River jet landing, it was a combination of worker organization and government regulation that led directly to an outcome that rational people would find desirable.
But the “rational” qualifier excludes Wooten and his wingnut brigade. Pathetic.
Maniac is accurate
April 9th, 2009
8:31 am
Being conservative is not just criticizing the other guy, because that’s what you think you are supposed to do. But that’s what you do.
For example, these pirates likely targeted a ship because, well, it was there. It appears our boys got the drop on the pirates as good old American smarts and courage prevails again. Our military has them under the gun. Pretty sure this is not going to be the example of Administration failure you hope. And, maybe you should ask yourself, “Why do I hope this?”
Again, Obama doing nothing about North Korea’s missile launch is exactly the same as George W. Bush doing nothing about their nuke test? What course of action do you propose Wooten? Don’t just complain, tell us what you’d do.
Overall your post today is pretty nonsensical. Kyle Wingfield can’t get here soon enough.
DB, Gwinnettian
April 9th, 2009
8:37 am
One last thing. My posts this morning were not intended as a gratuitously cheap shot against the Bush Administration for their failure to stop OBL once he’d been ID’d as the brains behind the Cole operation, nor for weakness in response to the Chinese.
I simply wanted to put Jim’s baseless, history-free assertions that our new President is afforded “no respect” in some kind of context, and show how just how easy it is to take cheap shots like Jim’s done.
Later, all.
Mid-South Philosopher
April 9th, 2009
8:39 am
The problem with American foreign policy, at least for the past 30 years or so is that it has been largely “reactive” as apposed to being “proactive.” The last American President to take a “proactive” measure was Richard Nixon, who, despite his many, many short comings as a leader and a man, understood foreign policy. While his handling of Vietnam was lackluster, his opening relations with the Peoples Republic of China was a brilliant move and may, just may have at least delayed a nuclear world war for the time being.
Since Nixon, our nation’s leaders have shown very little grasp of foreign affairs. Reagan made some attempts with the Russians, and may have enjoyed his finessed hour in Iceland, but the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union was due more to internal failings of communism than anything the free world did.
“Billy” Clinton understood a lot about “affairs”, but, to my knowledge, his most successful ones were “domestic.”
When Al-Qaeda and the Islamist fanatics reared their ugly heads, Bush, Rumsfeld, and Cheney were “lost balls in high grass” when it came to understanding the middle eastern mind set. Consequently, they were dumbfounded when the “Mission was not quite Accomplished” as soon as they thought it should have been.
We can hope…but I am not too sure…that “Barry”, the grown-up, is any wiser.
Peter
April 9th, 2009
8:41 am
Jim, if America wasn’t fighting the “MADE UP BUSH WAR”…….perhaps they would be going after Pirates.
Since Bush let Bin Laden go, and instituted the “Bush Terrorist Protection Program”, we are now in Afghanistan.
Please tell the world what Bush did, when Iran began testing Missiles ?
@@
April 9th, 2009
8:41 am
Mid-South was right when he said We are moving head-long in the direction of, at best, a socialist society, and, at worst, a Marxian state.
I’ve been watching a series on The History Channel — “The Seven Deadly Sins” as they relate to all cultures and religious belief. One sin each night. The sin that launches a dictator to power is ENVY!!!
Who among us carries that burden?
It ain’t me.
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
8:44 am
Jay Bookman employed farming metaphors to vent his rage against our state legislature. “If you dont feed the cow, then the cow wont feed you, and the cow is starving.”
Hey Bookman: If you tip a cow, will the cow tip a waiter? If corn has ears, then why wont the stalkers in our assembly listen to us?
Bookman is another good proofreader who has a job that requires him to write.
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
8:46 am
I wonder if the crew of the M. Alabama said “Let’s float” just before they overpowered the pirates.
CommunistAJC
April 9th, 2009
8:50 am
DB, Gwinnettian, we were attacked 4 times under Clinton. He did nothing for 8 years. Bush had 8 months before 911 to something. Let’s see, 8 years as compared to 8 months. Hmmmmm. Me thinks Clinton gets an F on that one.
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
8:57 am
War Powers are the Fascist side of any Republic. That’s why war should be a last resort, not some favored whimsical dream-scheme supported by second-tier arguments that match the self-indulgent criteria set by history’s monsters, (like Cheney and Bush and other modern pirates).
Author’s Note: In Bush’s case, it’s not so much Bluebeard as blue balls. (If you believe his wife Laura).
Big Bucks GOP
April 9th, 2009
9:06 am
Three bidders remain for General Motors’ Hummer brand, with offers
ranging from $100 million to $200 million in cash, in addition to other
commitments,
Big Bucks GOP
April 9th, 2009
9:08 am
Wells Fargo said early Thursday that it expects to report net income of
about $3 billion in the first quarter, offering an early look at its
results ahead of the highly anticipated earnings season for the
nation’s banks.
Big Bucks GOP
April 9th, 2009
9:09 am
What 200 federal examiners are discovering inside the nation’s largest
banks may come as a relief to both the financial industry and the
public: the banking industry, broadly speaking, seems to be in better
shape than many people think,
But many of the largest American lenders probably need to be bailed out
again.
Big Bucks GOP
April 9th, 2009
9:10 am
Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings, a publicly traded ethanol producer
with private-equity backers, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection.
Big Bucks GOP
April 9th, 2009
9:11 am
Seeking to restore investor confidence in the markets, securities
regulators made several proposals on Wednesday that would restrict
investors from short-selling at certain times, including a modified
version of the uptick rule.
Big Bucks GOP
April 9th, 2009
9:12 am
Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins has filed a class action lawsuit
against Austin Capital Management, the second law firm to file such a
suit against the hedge fund manager over its ties to Ponzi-scheme
operator Bernard L. Madoff.
Big Bucks GOP
April 9th, 2009
9:12 am
Moody’s Investors Service, one of the main credit ratings agencies, on
Wednesday downgraded Berkshire Hathaway two notches from triple-A,
tarnishing the luster of Warren E. Buffett’s investment vehicle.
Peter
April 9th, 2009
9:13 am
Hey Jim…..No comment on this……….?????
Georgia jobless claims surge 126 percent
By MICHAEL E. KANELL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, April 09, 2009
More than 96,000 Georgians filed for new jobless claims last month, a 126 percent leap from March a year ago, the state Labor Department said Thursday.
The number of jobless Georgians receiving unemployment insurance also more than doubled from a year ago, rising 133 percent to 172,947.
I guess as long as Sonny is running Georgia into the ground, like Bush ran the US into the ground, you will have zero to say !
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
9:30 am
FDR had 8 minutes to do something after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. If he were as sound as president Bush, he would have invaded Iraq on Dec 8, 1941.
911 became Lady Liberty’s date-rape which will live in the drugged infirmary of Bush’s self delusions, and his Oedipus-hexed wet dreams, and his unbequeathed quagmires.
Clinton gets an F, for Founding Father-like. Bush gets a A, for A-hole like. Newt gets a C for Catholic-lite. Sarah Palin also gets a C for….(I’m going to punt here.)
Peter
April 9th, 2009
9:46 am
Funny Stuff today……..If Clinton got an F after the Cole attack……. is there a letter low enough for Bush after 911 ?
I guess bankrupting the US, and getting it into TWO WARS, really was WONDERFUL for America !
For Bin Laden, I think the Bush statement is rather fitting…… “Mission Accomplished”….. after all it was Bin Laden who really wanted to mess up America, and with Bush in office…..he really has to be smiling today……. as his small plot really did weaken America, because of our “reaction”.
One reaction was NOTHING / ZERO……..Which of course has allowed Bin Laden still to a free man !
Imagine how wonderful the Republican’s are at Protecting America…… Bin Laden could attack us, and get ZERO Payback.
Hey Jim, you are pitching like the Braves Bullpen…….
Dusty
April 9th, 2009
9:48 am
Well, Jim Wooten is a good evaluator of current events. I gather he reads more about what he writes than the posters here.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia is not a two bit operation. They have a mother ship that supplies the small boats with fuel, directions and AK47s. It is not impossible that this larger”mother ship” also picks the ships to be hijacked.
Thus we get the first American ship to be hit. It is a ship loaded with aid supplies for Kenya. Aid supplies are not ammunition, guns or anything that would bring big money. But an American aid ship was chosen.
Here we have an American acting like an American. The Captain offered himself as hostage to save his crew. He is in a small boat floating without direction in the open sea with a bunch of criminals and no fuel. An American destroyer is now on the scene and trying to save the Captain from bloodshed. The crew is in control of the ship again.
What does this have to do with Obama? Jim decides that it is a try to find the character of Obama which appears to be weak. The criminals of the world want to know what they are against. The present view is that he is a man of talk and tea parties. He wants to get along with everybody including terrorists, communists, socialists, and possibly pirates.
Whether the pirates are testing Obama or not, the world will confirm their opinions on his ability to lead with strength. It will not be Bush-did-it” or Clinton or anybody else. It will be WHAT WILL OBAMA DO?
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
10:12 am
When I first heard about the pirates boarding a US-flagged ship, I thought, “Inconceivable”. Then when I found out that there is a modern navy of hi tech pirates, I thought, “Inconceivable”. But when I found out that Bush didn’t need a boat to pirate the world about bailing out AIG, that the whole mess was invented, obviously, given the banking industries windfall profits lately, I thought “Inconceivable”.
George Uriesi
April 9th, 2009
10:29 am
Yeah Jim, Obama did nothing immediately visible about the North Korean missile test. But what do you propose? A pre-emptive invasion a’la Iraq? Dont you guys learn anything from past stupidity? Besides, what did W do about the nuclear test (for that matter) by the very same North Koreans on his watch?
On the issue of the Somalian pirates, they dont choose the ships they attack by the flags they fly. Besides, what purpose would it serve to allow pirates to operate safely in today’s world as long as they didnt attack ships with American flags on them? You really think that would serve your interests at all? Whose companies own the majority of cargo and use freighters the most on a global scale (American flagged or not)? Whose companies use the most oil tankers (American flagged or not)? Arent there any American sailors on non-American flagged vessels?
If you bothered to do just a few minutes of focused thinking, you might begin to discern a smarter approach to foreign affairs and diplomacy by the current administration. Unfortunately, that’s not a habit of today’s conservatives.
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
10:33 am
It is inconceivable to think that Bush got away with 8 whole years of pirating our ship of state.
Canetus Poontang
April 9th, 2009
10:35 am
A hearty salute to real American Heroes, Captains Phillips and Murphy. Doing us all proud, and wearing the union label.
Chris Broe
April 9th, 2009
10:36 am
China reports record car sales. The numbers work out to a car sold every half-hour.
Ward
April 9th, 2009
10:42 am
This is Obama’s problem to deal with now. On Monday, he said we weren’t at war with Muslims; on Wednesday, an American ship was attacked by Muslim pirates. Biden said that Obama would be tested and that the world would see he has ‘a spine of steel’. Well, we’re waiting…
Thomas Jefferson knew what to do.
Dusty
April 9th, 2009
10:50 am
Dear libbers,
The world is not waiting to see what GEORGE W. BUSH is doing about pirates, terrorists and other criminals. THEY KNOW Bush never cut’n'run in his life about American security. That question has been answered and our enemies laid low.
NOW world populations and their leaders want to know WHAT WILL OBAMA DO?
Sorry, you cannot forget Bush and move on to your new President with your eyes open and your minds clear. But the rest of the world has and they are looking around NOW, not last year and the year before.
Suppose you do the same. Covering Obama with praise will not cover his timidity in policies. The only “bravery” he shows is when he copies Bush. Iraq–finish like Bush. Afghanistan–finish like Bush. Defense–use a Bush appointee. MidEast–use a Bush general.
In these decisions, Obama shows good sense. I hope he continues to follow Bush policy. That’s his only hope if he can forget his other inexperienced socialistic and sissy tendencies.
Tom
April 9th, 2009
10:54 am
Ward is right–the founding generation knew exactly what to do with the Barbary Coast pirates: they officially declared “the government of the United States of American is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian Religion.”
findog
April 9th, 2009
10:57 am
Dusty,
First let me say how nice it is that you are true to your mantra of if not implicitly supporting our president at least not stooping to name calling, real class act [no pun or joke intended].
There really are not a lot of US flagged ships, too strictly regulated, so therefore the only US ships that are not in the Naval Fleet are these humanitarian aid ships; probably because some congressman slipped a line into an omnibus bill that US aid be carried by our tiny merchant fleet. I say all that to point out the miniscule probability of an American Merchant vessel being in the area [any area], or that the pirate mother ship would have had the technical capability of targeting that specific vessel to challenge America’s new president. Somehow the president being weak and a destroyer heading to the rescue seams counterintuitive? As stated previously I hope he gets the UN and Saudi’s to pay for our fine navy to use the mother ship as an un-towed target.
I say follow the international law of the seas and blast them out of the water.
Peter
April 9th, 2009
11:00 am
WOW Dusty….How can you make this comment…………
“THEY KNOW Bush never cut’n’run in his life about American security.”
Bin Laden is still FREE….he attacked America and got his FREE PASS !
Iraq had ZERO to do with 911 ………. More Baloney from the Right !