As much as it is driving the hard right crazy, the rescue mission off Somalia worked. Captain Phillips was rescued during a brilliant mission by the Navy who had been given authority by Obama. As the hostage crisis developed, the hard right had been mocking Obama, hoping that he and yes, America, would fail. As much as they try and run away from their desire to see everything fail during this Obama administration, it is their own hatred of Obama that failed. They have been all too willing to give him none of the credit for a success and all of the blame should anything go wrong. The reality, of course, is that both extremes are not correct though it never works out that way in the real world.
This really was a great day for everyone involved in this crisis and Obama showed everyone that he was willing and able to step up and work well with the military in a crisis situation. The Navy made requests and he worked with them and allowed them to execute the mission with his full support. The problem of piracy will continue and more needs to be done in the region to shut this down but for now, Obama has passed the first non-US test. Unfortunately, to be continued...
"The president's focus was on saving and protecting the life of the captain," one adviser said. Friday evening, after a National Security Council telephone update, Obama granted U.S. forces what aides called "the authority to use appropriate force to save the life of the captain." On Saturday at 9:20 a.m., Obama went further, giving authority to an "additional set of U.S. forces to engage in potential emergency actions."
A top military official, Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, commander of the Fifth Fleet, explained that Obama issued a standing order that the military was to act if the captain's life was in immediate danger.
"Our authorities came directly from the president," he said. "And the number one authority for incidents if we were going to respond was if the captain's life was in immediate danger. And that is the situation in which our sailors acted."
