George Rebane
With the heroic Captain Richard Phillips in a lifeboat full of armed pirates surrounded by US Navy warships with no orders on how to proceed, we see the media interviewing retired generals on what to do. One of these guys – he must have gotten his star by passing a multiple choice test – sagely advised the anchor that we should let the people there on site (i.e. monitoring the lifeboat) make the decisions and not second-guess them. That is exactly NOT what we should do.
This is a geo-strategic matter involving so many more dimensions than any destroyer captain has purview over or is trained to handle. What is needed is a clear statement of purpose and mission objective given to the naval personnel on the scene. Since this involves a multi-national situation and its solution has a long shadow into the future, the White House should be visibly involved. We as Americans don’t need to know the details of the national solution to this situation, but we and the world need to know that our President has given the Navy orders on how to proceed as this situation continues to develop. Looking like he’s absent from yet another vote is not the way to take the high ground on this. And the high ground must be taken.
[12apr2009 update] Redemption! Captain Phillips was freed unharmed by the US Navy “after a brief firefight in which three of the four pirates were killed.” This will happen again, and our government needs to quickly tell the world that our forces are competent, are present, and have received orders on how to deal with the situation as it develops. We don’t need to display ‘tangled in our own underwear’ pieces like this one in yesterday’s Washington Post. Happy Easter!
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