I couldn’t get enough of the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama. I’m sure I’ve read ten different stories–maybe more. There’s not a lot of detail yet, except to say Navy Seals are well trained and Capt. Phillips, who offered himself to save his crew, is a genuine hero.
There are more potential heroes than there are opportunities to be heroic. How long did Sully fly and Phillips sail before they were tested?
My suspicion is by the time the pirates were shot we had that lifeboat ‘wired.’ we could hear their conversations. We could probably sense, through heat detection or some other pasive method, where the pirates sat long before they became visible. The boat was already under tow with the line slowly shortened. The pirates were moving closer-and-closer to the American ship.
There has been some discussion recently about whether the president has the cojones to aggressively defend our national interests. The naysayers won’t admit this was a sign… but it was.
On shore, pirates now unhappy they are not the only ones capable of threatening violence, have put us on notice they’ll be more cutthroat from now on. False bravado. Hopefully they’re really wondering how much money it’s worth to be dead.
At the moment in the Indian Ocean crime pays. That’s got to be reversed. The reversal doesn’t have to be 100%, just enough to scare the pirates. These are not religious zealots looking for a reward in the afterlife. These are just street gangs at sea.