Later Add:
Pirates hold U.S. ship's skipper, officer aboard says
Capt. Richard Phillips, seen in this 1979 photo, is being held captive by pirates, a crew member said.
"There's four Somali pirates, and they've got our captain," Ken Quinn said in a ship-to-shore phone interview.
Capt. Richard Phillips is being held in the Maersk Alabama's 28-foot lifeboat, Quinn said.
The crew had a plan to make an exchange for their captain.
"We had a pirate we took and kept him for 12 hours," Quinn said. "We tied him up and he was our prisoner."
The crew gave back their prisoner but the pirates reneged on the plan and are continuing to hold Phillips captive.
"So now we're just trying to offer them whatever we can, food, but it's not working too good," he said.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge, part of the allied fleet that patrols the waterway, is headed to the area to assist, the U.S. Navy reported. Quinn said his sailors were trying to hold the pirates off for a few more hours, "and then we'll have a warship here to help us."The 780-foot Alabama was carrying food aid bound for the Kenyan port of Mombasa for USAID, the U.N. World Food Program and the Christian charities WorldVision and Catholic Relief Services when it was seized, the ship's owner said. Twenty American crew members were on board.
Quinn said the pirates were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, but the freighter's crew carried no weapons...(read more here).
The emphasis above is mine. I hope that PBO will change his usual approach here, and let our military do what they do best. Prayers for all.
...
US Crew Reportedly Takes Back Ship From Pirates
WASHINGTON - A U.S. official says the crew of an American-flagged vessel hijacked off the coast of Somalia has retaken control of the ship and has one pirate in custody.
The official said the status of the other pirates is unknown but they were reported to "be in the water." The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The shipping company, Maersk, has scheduled a noon press conference in Norfolk, Va.
Somali pirates today hijacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship with 20 American crew members onboard, hundreds of miles from the nearest American military vessel in some of the most dangerous waters in the world.
The 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama was carrying emergency relief to Mombasa, Kenya, when it was hijacked, said Peter Beck-Bang, spokesman for the Copenhagen-based container shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk....[more here]Never mind the 'errr, uh, ummmmmm' that is probably coming from the White House. Unpack the crumpets, Obama. The Americans have done what needed to be done.
As Mike says: Yippeeeeeee...
And as I always say: NEXT!!!
Thanks for the heads up, Mike...
Oh, and be sure and go check out Michelle Malkin's post on this here. Her commenters are always priceless. One of my personal favourites for this post?
capt obama screams to his crew:
“RELEASE THE HARSH LETTERS AND READY THE MEANINGLESS OUTRAGE!!!
And yes, that was BEFORE the US crew took back the ship, but might we expect the same response even now that the Americans have control? Just sayin'...
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