# Navy Seals rescue Cap't Phillips **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 12, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880 "2009-04-12T20:12:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/21 "2009-04-13T00:19:41Z")
Slight hijack: Why is (what seems like) a time-sensitive, small-scale tactical decision left to the President instead of a local commander? Where’s the national security interest or political necessity in having someone that high up deal with 3 pirates and one cargo captain? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/22 "2009-04-13T00:34:57Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Slight hijack: > > Why is (what seems like) a time-sensitive, small-scale tactical decision left to the President instead of a local commander? Where’s the national security interest or political necessity in having someone that high up deal with 3 pirates and one cargo captain? The Admiral at the press conference said that Obama authorized them to kill people, and the local commander made the decision when the time was called for. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/23 "2009-04-13T00:39:51Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Slight hijack: > > Why is (what seems like) a time-sensitive, small-scale tactical decision left to the President instead of a local commander? Where’s the national security interest or political necessity in having someone that high up deal with 3 pirates and one cargo captain? I think the national security interest is the fact that the eyes of the world were upon them, and if the decision was going to be made to shoot three or four people in the head it should come from the person with whom the buck stops. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/24 "2009-04-13T00:47:31Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I saw somewhere that the lifeboat was “floundering” and that they agreed that the USS Bainbridge be allowed to tow them with a rope/cable/whatever it was with 35 foot of slack. I wonder if the SEALs had anything to do with the “floundering?” ;). The word is “[founder](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/founder)”. When a ship is filling with water and in danger of sinking it is said to be foundering, not floundering. Sorry, this is one of my pet peeves right up there with “Begs the question”. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/25 "2009-04-13T00:58:07Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The right wing media started bringing politics into it the second those hostages were taken. > > For the record, I think GWB would have handled things pretty much exactly the same way. This is a situation where the CiC pretty much takes the advice of experts, give whatever authorization is needed and stays out of the way. Also for the record, I’m a die-hard bleeding-heart liberal, and I also would have expected GWB to handle things the same way, would have supported it, and would not have blamed him had something gone wrong. Oh and, I also supported (with reservations and fears that it would all go wrong, as it did) the invasion of Afghanistan. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/26 "2009-04-13T01:01:58Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > The word is “[founder](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/founder)”. When a ship is filling with water and in danger of sinking it is said to be foundering, not floundering. Sorry, this is one of my pet peeves right up there with “Begs the question”. To be fair, if it was filling with water and being towed along, it would almost certainly also be floundering – “struggling with stumbling or plunging movements”. It was a foundering, floundering, faltering, flooding failure of a floater. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/27 "2009-04-13T01:06:32Z")
I hope we have a memorial service for the dead pirates/er, third world income redistribtion agents. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/28 "2009-04-13T01:10:10Z")
Ok, now _that’s really_ bringing politics into it. Oy! ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/29 "2009-04-13T01:14:48Z")
Well hopefully the international community will join together to come up with a long term game plan to combat these pirates. This raised the stakes on both sides. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/30 "2009-04-13T01:25:22Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Well hopefully the international community will join together… We’ll see. This has been going on for ages. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/31 "2009-04-13T01:29:03Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > To be fair, if it was filling with water and being towed along, it would almost certainly also be floundering – “struggling with stumbling or plunging movements”. It was a foundering, floundering, faltering, flooding failure of a floater. I thought that when a vessel flounders it is filled with many flat, tasty fishes. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/32 "2009-04-13T01:52:40Z")
[This blog from ABC News](http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/04/the-pirates-cri.html) has loads of very interesting information. Not how it exactly went down, but things that happened before then, especially in Washington. ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/33 "2009-04-13T01:58:21Z")
\ > [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Sorry, this is one of my pet peeves right up there with “Begs the question”. What’s the pet peeve for “begging the question”? Is there an equivalent to _intensive purposes_ for this phrase? \ ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/34 "2009-04-13T02:42:01Z")
> [@mkecane](#): > > What’s the pet peeve for “begging the question”? Is there an equivalent to _intensive purposes_ for this phrase? …or an issue being “mute”? ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/35 "2009-04-13T02:44:33Z")
All Obama did was to authorize the use of force. A wise decistion, but not brain surgery. I’d make the same statement if it were anyone else in office, Republican or Democrat. Only those directly involved are due credit. As to how the Navy did it, the probability is that we’ll never know. Yet another wise decision. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/36 "2009-04-13T02:55:13Z")
> [@SanDiegoTim](#): > > As to how the Navy did it, the probability is that we’ll never know. Yet another wise decision. The USS Bainbridge was towing the lifeboat. The good guys saw all three bad guys at once, one of the bad guys aimed a gun at the Captain, and the good guys blew their brains out from 25m away. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/37 "2009-04-13T02:57:27Z")
> [@SanDiegoTim](#): > > All Obama did was to authorize the use of force. A wise decistion, but not brain surgery. I’d make the same statement if it were anyone else in office, Republican or Democrat. Only those directly involved are due credit. No, the Commander-in-Chief can also make the _wrong_ critical decision, like [out-sourcing the critical parts of one war](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tora_Bora#Fury.27s_account) in his fervor to launch another one. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/38 "2009-04-13T03:11:50Z")
slight hijack _shiver_ My brother begins BUDS (boot camp for SEALS) training in June… If this pirate stuff continues, it’s just going to be all the more scary the things he’ll have to do. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/39 "2009-04-13T03:14:26Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > No, the Commander-in-Chief can also make the _wrong_ critical decision, like [out-sourcing the critical parts of one war](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tora_Bora#Fury.27s_account) in his fervor to launch another one. I hate Bush’s guts, but there is a difference between that and, “We will probably have to kill some civilian citizens of a country we are not at war with. Is that OK?” “Hell yes, they’re pirates for crying out loud.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880/40 "2009-04-13T03:27:19Z")
I guess Obama won’t be able to count on the pirate vote next election. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-seals-rescue-capt-phillips/492880.md?page=3)