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Reagan had his Grenada; Obama has his pirate killing

Sun, 04/12/2009 - 20:06 — Dr. Zaius

Good on Obama for making the call and sending in the peerless Navy SEALs to rescue the captain of the Maersk Alabama. As ExurbKevin notes, the brave captain — for the second time — jumped overboard and swam away, giving our SEALs the time to take advantage of the situation.

And by "take advantage of the situation" we mean "filling the lifeboat with enough 5.56mm-sized holes it could be used as a cheese grater."

As it should be. And I hope this dramatic and deadly action serves as a message — don't mess with the U.S.A., no matter who's in charge. Worked for Reagan. I refuse to belittle this glorious military achievement, as Reagan's rescue of American from Cuban Commies was belittled by the left some 25 years ago.

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Sun, 04/12/2009 - 21:45 — john b (not verified)

imminent danger

well I hope they get all their stories straight. Glad you feel proud.

Sun, 04/12/2009 - 21:59 — Dr. Zaius

re: imminent danger

Seriously, John. You're still suspicious?

Sheesh!

Sun, 04/12/2009 - 23:19 — john b (not verified)

wish it wasn't so

but unfortunately, I am. Sheesh all you want. Show me some footage.

One day this lifeboat is 350 miles out with no fuel and the next it's 20 miles from shore. Three ak-47 armed men in an enclosed boat cannot keep this captain from getting out after he had already succeeded once, and this time the boat is tethered to the ship a few yards away? Gimme a break! Even the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker would have had this captain constrained lest he even try to make a move. One minute these are dangerous smart men and the next they are total idiots.

Frankly, there is very little I believe that relates to our government over the past few years. You hear very little about how the Somalian coast has been a European toxic waste dump for years, or about how the big world fisheries have wiped out the fishing livelihoods of the people there. You don't read about how the government there has been kept in a deliberate state of dysfunction.

I'm probably sounding like some kind of lib-tard, but I am not. I am a big supporter of the military. I'm just not buying this scenario; but I am glad it is over.

Mon, 04/13/2009 - 01:02 — john b (not verified)

on the other hand

Dr., you might find this Newsbuster article interesting (comparing Bush coverage to Obama coverage), and remembering how lame the current administration reaction to N Korea launch was recently ... could be the Navy helped Obama save some face here using the 'imminent danger' directive ...

Plus, you must be aware that two more Chinese warships joined other Chinese warships in the Gulf of Aden today ...

Mon, 04/13/2009 - 01:04 — john b (not verified)

in case I forgot the newsbuster link

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2009/04/10/wapo-la-times-leave...

Mon, 04/13/2009 - 03:29 — Joel

I'll still belittle Grenada. Because it deserves it.

The Grenada medical students weren't being held hostage. They were "frightened." Not the same thing. I refer you to the book "A Spy for all Seasons," by Duane R. Clarridge, a CIA officer who was involved in prep for the Grenada invasion:

There was still some question in Washington as to whether the medical students on Grenada were frightened and really wanted to leave. It was a key issue on whether to intervene. I was in my office at Headquarters o Sunday in the late afternoon of October 23, waiting to go with acting DCI McMahon to the NSPG meeting, when I was handed an intelligence report from Flohr.

She had sent out this crucial information in a letter to her husband, who was on Barbados. She simply included her report within a letter to her husband and "mailed" it with one of her fellow consular officers. She reported that contrary to what the State Department had heard from college authorities in New York, the medical students were frightened and they all wanted out. FUrthermore, some said they were being intimidated by their school administration. In fact, the school's authorities were pressuring the students by insisting that they would not refund the tuition of any student who chose to leave. Although the report had been automatically disseminated to all appropriate recipients, I brought it along to the meeting.

The worst nightmare of the administration had been that we would launch a full-scale assault of Grenada to rescue the students, only to find ourselves forcibly tearing them out of their quarters and off the beaches to "liberate" them and bring them home. Flohr's report made that scenario unlikely.

In other words: The students were a pretext -- so much so that the invasion almost wasn't launched for fear of looking ridiculous. But then the Reagan Administration found out the students were scared to leave ... without tuition refunds. Invasion on! Truly, a glorious moment for U.S. arms.

You should read the whole section. I don't think Clarridge means to portray the invasion of Grenada as a comically bumbling affair, but he does.

Mon, 04/13/2009 - 04:46 — Joel

Now that I've had my coffee...

...it occurs to me that I might be entirely too humorless, and that your "glorious military achievement" talk was all in satire.

If that's the case... oops!

Mon, 04/13/2009 - 08:00 — john b (not verified)

glorious military achievement

When I first read the topic, I considered the same 'ooops' satire angle; even with an extra 'o'.

~ Foools Rush in where the Angels fear to tread.

Mon, 04/13/2009 - 23:14 — john b (not verified)

simulated depiction

of how the hits went down.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=7321378&page=1

Tue, 04/14/2009 - 18:22 — Dr. Zaius

A little bit of Grenada

It's a little late for a full-throated response, Joel. But that excerpt seems like pretty ridiculous to claim that the students weren't frightened of Grenada being overrun and controlled by a brutal commie regime, but were more scared of wasting their tuition money. I think Mommy and Daddy would understand — and be grateful that their kids were safe.

Aside from that, the point of the invasion was not only to rescue the students, but to thwart communist aggression in the Western Hemisphere — not a small, pointless, goal worthy of such derision.