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POPSConfirmed: Waterboarding Prevented Library Tower Attack If it was okay to shoot to kill unmirandized pirate youths ( under direct Presidential authority ) in an effort to save Captain Phillips' life (a 3:1 tradeoff of baddies for innocents), mightn't it also have been okay to spook and discomfort a single terrorist leader to save thousands of innocent lives? Obama Signed Off On Taking Out Pirates http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21156.html
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POPSAccused Somali pirate faces life in prison The Americans responsible for this should crawl into a cess pit and rot. This teenager is the prize of the might of American power. Ignore the fact that mining companies stuffed his land; or that foreign fishermen fished out his share of the ocean. How brave and hypocritical thou art, America. Ask why these people hate those who have no respect for them as people, exploit them and then shoot or jail those who complain.
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POPSUPDATE: Captain Phillips "I'm Not The Hero, The Military's The Hero" Video http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=13016214&ch=4226713&src=news video (2:04) There were no plans for an organized welcome home bash in the rural town at the base of Mount Mansfield. Local officials said they were wanted to check with Phillips and his family before arranging anything. Still, spontaneous excitement was the order of the afternoon once Phillips, 53, returned from his ordeal in the Indian Ocean. "It's really exciting that he's coming home," said 10-year-old Nate King.
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POPS Don't Mess With U.S. OK, time for Executive Grow-A-Set Order No 1. You can call it the Obama Doctrine. Anyone engaging in acts of piracy or terrorism on Americans anywhere in the world or in areas where American forces are lawfully operating can have his coconut drilled at any time, based on the discretion of the commander on scene. No further discussion. You holding your breath? I’m not. Yes, Obama allowed U.S. forces to do their job. It would have been shameful if he didn’t. But it involved no strategizing or anything beyond a yes or no by Obama, and frankly didn’t require that. It means nothing more than a happy day for America and the Phillips family, plus some wailing in a couple of Somali villages. Unless Obama has a plan, and the will to execute it. On that front, to steal a phrase, he has not yet begun to fight.
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POPS American Hero ~ Captain Richard Phillips Snipers on the fantail of the destroyer USS Bainbridge, which was towing the lifeboat with a 100-foot line, opened fire when they "observed the pirates with their heads and shoulders exposed," Gortney said. The captain, widely hailed for giving himself up as a hostage to save his crew and for his valiant escape attempt Friday, was unhurt and safely aboard the USS Boxer. He (Captain Phillips) told his boss, John Reinhart, head of the Maersk Line shipping company, that he wasn't comfortable with the hero label. "'The heroes are the Navy, the Seals, and those that have brought me home.' That was his quote," Reinhart said.
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POPSCaptain Rescued, 3 Pirates Killed Some of the crew managed to hide in a secure part of the Alabama as the pirates stormed the ship, the sailor said. As the sailors described their clash with the pirates, a crew member pointed to one shipmate and said, "This guy is a hero. He and the chief engineer, they took down the pirate. ... He led him down there to the engine room, and then they jumped him." The shipmate added that he stabbed the pirate's hand and tied him up. advertisement "Capt. Phillips is a hero," another crew member shouted from the deck of the freed ship
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POPS Free! ~ Elite Navy Seals More from NYT on the escape/rescue here, on the negotiations here. It’s great news. But it isn’t over, though some people in positions of authority might like to think it is. There are 240 other captives of various nations. Needs a program. Meanwhile, those Somali elders the Americans were negotiating with might want the bodies of their clansmen. I’d suggest a delivery from altitude.
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POPS Captain Richards Phillips is Unharmed and Free When Phillips' crew heard the news aboard their ship in the port of Mombasa, they placed an American flag over the rail of the top of the Maersk Alabama and whistled and pumped their fists in the air. Crew fired a bright red flare into the sky from the ship. A government official and others in Somali with knowledge of the situation had reported hours earlier that negotiations for Phillips' release had broken down.
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POPSStandoff Negotiations Break Down as Navy Fears Pirates... This is a created crisis that has been allowed to escalate to humiliating proportions. The Navy vessel turned tail and ran!!!....not wanting "to escalate the situation." If the President doesn't allow the military to deal with 4 pirates in a lifeboat, we are INDEED doomed when confronted by Iran, Russia, N. Korea, etc... It's now more understandable as to why the military's budget is being cut; there's no plans to use our military!
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POPSPirates Fire On US Navy Craft. Pirates... Obama can't even deal with them; what would he do with a *small* scale attack on US soil or a large scale attack elsewhere in the World? I want this guy home SAFE! Go Navy! or whoever. Then can someone acknowledge that this phenomenon...piracy on the high seas... will not longer be tolerated??! Well...it never should have been.
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POPSMerchant Marine Organizers Demand Their Bailout Here's Robert Gibbs, the most brilliant, educated, smartest, quickest, wittiest press secretary ever: GIBBS: The president has followed the situation closely, has gotten -- got updates throughout yesterday and today, and obviously his main concern is for the safety of the captain and the rest of the crew on the ship. And he will continue to -- to receive those updates. He's staying apprised of the situation. RUSH: Yeah, he's staying apprised of it. He's out there acting like an infomercial salesman trying to sell his new mortgage plan yesterday, keeping his distance here from the merchant marine organizers. But he's keeping tabs on the situation. We're all staying apprised of it, by the way. Experts: Possible ransom may protect US hostage Capt. Richard Phillips http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ihTBWxj48eITQzk5GxGgEKhre26AD97FTPH00
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POPSAmerican Captain Tries Daring Escape from Somali Pirates 
by another warship, the Halyburton, which carries two helicopters. The pirates also claim to be sending reinforcements, hijacked ships with their captured crews as human shields. "The pirates have summoned assistance -- skiffs and motherships are heading towards the area from the coast," a Nairobi-based diplomat told the Associated Press. "We knew they were gathering yesterday." A Somali pirate identified as Mohamed Samaw in the pirate stronghold in central Eyl, told the AP that among the ships heading to their colleagues' rescue was a Taiwanese fishing vessel seized Monday and the German cargo ship Hansa Stavanger, seized earlier this month. "They had asked us for reinforcement and we have already sent a good number of well-equipped colleagues, who were holding a German cargo ship," said another pirate. "We are not intending to harm the captain, so that we hope our colleagues would not be harmed as long as they hold him," Badow said.
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