Saturday 18 April 2009

The real story of Obama's decision making with the hostages...

(From a Marine that lives just outside Coronado where the Seals train. He uses the Coronado Officers’ club.)

Having spoken to some SEAL pals yesterday and asking why this thing dragged out for 4 days, I got the following:

1. BHO wouldn't authorize the DEVGRU/NSWC SEAL teams to the scene for 36 hours going against OSC (on scene commander) recommendation.
2. Once they arrived, BHO imposed restrictions on their ROE that they couldn't do anything unless the hostage's life was in "imminent" danger
3. The first time the hostage jumped, the SEALS had the raggies all sighted in, but could not fire due to ROE restriction
4. When the navy RIB came under fire as it approached with supplies, no fire was returned due to ROE restrictions. As the raggies were shooting at the RIB, they were exposed and the SEALS had them all dialed in.
5. BHO specifically denied two rescue plans developed by the Bainbridge CPN and SEAL teams
6. Bainbridge CPN and SEAL team CDR finally decide they have the OpArea and OSC authority to solely determine risk to hostage. 4 hours later, 3 dead raggies
7. BHO immediately claims credit for his "daring and decisive" behaviour. As usual with him, it's BS.

So per our last email thread, I'm downgrading Oohbaby's performace to D-. Only reason it's not an F is that the hostage survived.

Read the following accurate account.


Philips’ first leap into the warm, dark water of the Indian Ocean hadn’t worked out as well. With the Bainbridge in range and a rescue by his country’s Navy possible, Philips threw himself off of his lifeboat prison, enabling Navy shooters onboard the destroyer a clear shot at his captors — and none was taken.

The guidance from National Command Authority — the president of the United States, Barack Obama — had been clear: a peaceful solution was the only acceptable outcome to this standoff unless the hostage’s life was in clear, extreme danger.

The next day, a small Navy boat approaching the floating raft was fired on by the Somali pirates — and again no fire was returned and no pirates killed. This was again due to the cautious stance assumed by Navy personnel thanks to the combination of a lack of clear guidance from Washington and a mandate from the commander in chief’s staff not to act until Obama, a man with no background of dealing with such issues and no track record of decisiveness, decided that any outcome other than a “peaceful solution” would be acceptable.

After taking fire from the Somali kidnappers again Saturday night, the on scene commander decided he’d had enough.

Keeping his authority to act in the case of a clear and present danger to the hostage’s
life and having heard nothing from Washington since yet another request to mount a rescue operation had been denied the day before, the Navy officer, Commander Frank Castellano, — unnamed in most media reports to date — decided the AK47 one captor had leveled at Philips’ back was a threat to the hostage’s life and ordered the NSWC team to take their shots.

Three rounds downrange later, all three brigands became enemy KIA and Philips was safe.

There is upside, downside, and spinside to the series of events over the last week that culminated in yesterday’s dramatic rescue of an American hostage.

Almost immediately following word of the rescue, the Obama administration and its supporters claimed victory against pirates in the Indian Ocean and [1] declared that the dramatic end to the standoff put paid to questions of the inexperienced president’s toughness and decisiveness.

Despite the Obama administration’s (and its sycophants’) attempt to spin yesterday’s success as a result of bold, decisive leadership by the inexperienced president, the reality is nothing of the sort. What should have been a standoff lasting only hours — as long as it took the USS Bainbridge and its team of NSWC operators to steam to the location — became an embarrassing four day and counting standoff between a ragtag handful of criminals with rifles and a U.S. Navy warship.

H/T Peter Gunn

8 comments:

HMS Defiant said...

You need a better source man. There is no Coronado Officer's Club and no Junior Officer would be caught dead in any existing Officer's Club anywhere else.

There is the Gator Bar in the BOQ in Coronado but that isn't much patronized by junior officers either.

Anonymous said...

You are forgetting the I-Bar on NASNI. Lots of folks go there all the time including the JO's. I'm just sayin'...

LifeoftheMind said...

Curtis,
It's a long time ago but my friends and I used to patronize the Gator Bar when we were JOs at SWOS. My guess is that the strippers no longer perform at the I-Bar Officer's Club on Naval Air Station North Island. Since the whole complex of bases is called Coronado you might be wrong. For 12 years now Naval Base Coronado has included almost all the area facilities not part of the 32nd street Naval Station across the bay.

Dave Harvey said...

Yeah, I'm with Curtis on this one - there's no O'Club down there, and Marines don't hang out there anyways. Besides, this implies that the Marine was talking to one of the handful of SEAL officers out there - not too likely.

To make things more problematic (and less believable), this same story is making the rounds as having originated in Va Beach, VA - home of the East Coast SEAL teams, naturally.

This has all the hallmarks of another unverifiable story that sounds just credible enough to pass unhindered through the "BS monitor" of many conservatives. It's written with enough military jargon & technical knowledge to appear authoritative, but there are waaaaay too many unanswered questions.

Do us all a favor next time - verify your sources so you don't end up giving credibility to what will surely be revealed as a hoax - it only hurts your reputation.

Paul Clark said...

Yea, I can see how that diplomacy thing can get in the way of military operations.
And I can see how very specialized military personnel on scene could be frustrated by bureaucratic operations taking place across the planet by politicians and advisors.
But is any of this new? Isn't that a regular complaint, even when Eisenhower was in office?
Come on, are you really giving more information than rhetoric, hear say, opinion, and anecdotal evidence? Your reporting sounds like commercial talk radio and the E! network, not breaking news.

Carol_Herman said...

The FBI had jurisdiction.

All hostage negotiations take time. The FBI does not go in shooting! They go in TALKING. And, curtailing EXITS.

There were vessels sent by the somalis, that couldn't get through.

And, at the end? The injured pirate; who on board the Maersk-Alabama had crew member stick an ice pick through his hand? Was at sea in the fuel-less life boat, with the wound getting to FESTER.

The Commander of the Bainbridge had convinced the pirates to take HOT FOOD and FRESH WATER, aboard. So, there was TRAFFIC between the lifeboat and the Bainbridge.

Then? The seas got rough. And, the Captain of the Bainbridge convinced the pirates that it would be a good idea to TOW the boat. This was accepted. And, the life boat was towed behind the FAN TAIL. This stabilized the boat, and the Bainbridge's position, where the FAN TAIL was the most stable part of the ship.

Jimmy Carter is not in this picture. Obama deserves the credit. He is, you know, the Commander in Chief. (And, the FBI "outranked" the Captain of the Bainbridge, by laws set up by CONGRESS.) That's why there's a Federal Case, ahead. (And, perhaps? One pirate, who boarded the Bainbridge for care of his hand wound, "missing digits.")

Rockport Conservative said...

I watched as the the rescued hostage thanked the military profusely, the people and officers of the Bainbridge and The boxer; asked all of us to thank every military we ran into, his wife, children, company, etc. EVERYBODY BUT PRESIDENT OBAMA. I find that a little telling.

thegreatsatan said...

Just to clarify:

Marines would be on NAB Coronado for several different training classes that are offered there. Scout Swimmers, Coxswain School and Combat Water Survival Instructors school just to name a few (at least this is where we did our training in the 90's). I can't remember the name of the place, but the enlisted club was across from the Team and BUD/s compound on the other side of the base in a two story building. They used to have DJ's play records etc. and a lot of enlisted from the outlying bases would come there. I don't recall there being an official O-Club when I was there for BUD/s in 90-91, or back for MCIWS and Scout Swimmers 94-96.

About the closest thing you could call an O-club for operators would be McP's out in town.