"THE INVISIBLE HAND . . ."

SOMALI PIRATES VOW REVENGE ON U.S.A

USA:  YOU BROKE THE CODE

PIRATES VOW REVENGE

Somali Pirates live by a code, they are Muslims and the do not kill, "we never kill people.  We are Muslims. We are marines, coast-guards - - not pirates."   A quote from an unidentified Somali Pirate during the captivity of Captain Richard Phillips.  

Now that has all changed, with the Force used by the U.S.A in the crisis with Captain Richard Phillips and the Maersk Alabama.  U.S.A broke the code by killing our comrades in arms, so now, Somali Pirates vow revenge on the U.S.A.   "The Americans will regret starting this killing. We do not kill, but take only ransom. We shall do something to anyone we see as American from now," Hussein, a pirate, told Reuters by satellite phone. "We shall revenge," said another pirate, Aden, in Eyl village, a pirate lair on Somalia's eastern coast.

READ FULL STORY

-LEX REX

U.S. NAVY END PIRATES REIGN OF TERROR, Captain Phillips SAVED

U.S. NAVY SEALS ACT

Two Miracles on Easter Sunday, the First, the U.S.A. decided to ACT, In fact OBAMA GAVE THE ORDER.  "Can I hear an Amen," (AMEN).  Second, Captain Richard Phillips is Safe and in the hands of the U.S. Navy.  Three Pirates Dead one injured in swift firefight.  READ FULL STORY

Captain Richard Phillips A True American Hero

IS FREED BY U.S. NAVY.

Update:

April 12, 2009

President breaks silence on Captain Phillips

After staying mum for days regarding the hostage situation off the coast of Somalia, President Obama used Captain Richard Phillips’ release today as an opportunity to make his first public comments about the situation, calling the Captain’s courage “a model for all Americans.” 

Captain Richard Phillips had been held hostage since Wednesday when his cargo vessel carrying humanitarian aid to Africa, the Maersk Alabama, was attacked by Somali pirates. Captain Phillips and his crew were able to prevent the ship’s takeover but in order to ensure the safety and escape of his crew; Phillips surrendered himself to the pirates.  In his statement, Mr. Obama said “I share the country’s admiration for the bravery of Captain Phillips and his selfless concern for his crew.”

-LEX REX

OBAMA CONSIDERS SOMALI PIRATE'S DEMANDS . . . MAY BAILOUT PIRATES

OBAMA RECEIVES PIRATE'S DEMANDS

The Obama Administration is reviewing the Somali Pirates Demands.  If the Demands are met the Somali Pirates will release Captain Richard Phillips.  President Obama will not talk about the elephant in the room, but the Invisible Hand has learned all of the demands the pirates are seeking and that Obama is considering paying off the pirates in exchange for the release of Captain Richard Phillips.

Here are the Somali Pirates Demands:

1.  $2,000,000 in GOLD, no U.S. DOLLARS;

2.  Free Passage to Mogadishu, Somali;

3.  25 DVD's and an IPOD with downloads of Obama's Speeches, for each pirate involved in the takeover of Maersk Alabama;

4.  The Pirates demand delivery of all items by President Obama Personally, so that, President Obama can bow to all Pirates involved in the takeover Maersk Alabama.

These are all the demands of the Somali Pirates, WHAT WILL OBAMA DO?  

IF HIS PAST IS ANY INDICATION, HE WILL TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT AND BAIL-OUT THE PIRATES.

-LEX REX

OBAMA V. REAGAN: REAGAN'S "PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH" WINS

I enjoyed my post today, so much, I had to create a YOUTUBE video of "ITS 3 a.m. and NO OBAMA."

Thanks again to Jeffrey Lord's Article, "Three Presidents and Hijacking at Sea."

A very heartfelt thanks to the President who made this country stronger with his "Peace Through Strength" fortitude, President Ronald Reagan.

 

-LEX REX

PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS, IT IS 3 AM, WHERE IS PRESIDENT OBAMA?

IT IS 3 AM & NO OBAMA

Two 3 AM phone calls in four days, the first was that North Korea in defiance of the the world community launched  a missile.  Second, on Wednesday, President Obama got word that for the first time in nearly 200 years a U.S. flagged vessel had been taken by Pirates, Somali Pirates.  The President remained silent about the situation.  He made no public comment.  Meanwhile the nearest U.S. Naval ship was 12 hours away, when the 

 ship was seized.  Then, finally a word, not from Obama, but from Denis McDonough a top Obama security adviser, who stated, "The president is following the situation closely,"  and continued that the administration had "watched with alarm the increasing threat of piracy."

Today, more silence from Obama.  The USS Bainbridge a Navy Destroyer has arrived at the scene, the crew (the real heroes) have re-taken the ship Maersk Alabama, the Captain Richard Phillips is in the hands of the four Somali pirates in a life boat that has apparently ran out of gas.  Still no word from the President.  

In an article published this morning in the American Spectator, by Jeffrey Lord, titled, "THREE PRESIDENTS AND A HIJACKING AT SEA,"explores the reaction by three presidents who encountered the same problem, LBJ, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan.  The ships and incidents were:

1. The USS Pueblo -- A US Navy intelligence ship captured by the North Koreans on January 23, 1968, in what the United States insisted was international waters off the coast of North Korea.

2. The S.S. Mayaguez -- An American merchant ship seized by the Khmer Rouge Communists in international waters off the coast of Cambodia on May 12, 1975.

3. The Achille Lauro -- An Italian cruise ship sailing the Mediterranean hijacked on October 7, 1985, by four heavily armed Palestinian terrorists.

The first thing you spot in the article is that all three presidents acted, they did something.  Secondly, the Presidents who had the moral character and understanding of human nature responded correctly with the doctrine "PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH."  So in detail Jeffry Lord lays out President Ronald Reagan's response to the PLO's terrorist attack on the Achille Lauro:

Finally, in 1985, there was the tale of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. Sailing off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt, to Port Said, it was taken over by four terrorists from the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Making demands for the release of 50 terrorists held by Israel, the group sought out American passengers. They elected one, an elderly, wheelchair-bound American Jew named Leon Klinghoffer. They shot him dead, in his chair, then threw Klinghoffer, still in his chair, into the sea.

Ronald Reagan was furious. By the time the U.S. could react, the Egyptians were already involved, and the terrorists were not only back on land -- Egyptian soil -- but had been ushered to an airport and a getaway plane that would fly them to Tunisia and freedom.

In an instant Reagan decided this would not stand. Flying back to Washington on Air Force One, Reagan demanded to know what was possible for him to do, turning to a young Marine Lieutenant Colonel named Oliver North to coordinate his options. Options in hand, the President acted. From the decks of the aircraft carrier Saratoga, F-14 Tomcats launched, ordered to divert the Egyptian charter plane carrying the terrorists not to Tunisia but to a NATO air base in Sicily. They were ordered not to shoot, but rather "persuade" by whatever airborne means other than shooting down the plane, which, of course, carried others than the terrorists. Shortly afterwards the word was flashed to the White House: the plane had been "acquired" by the F-14's. The Americans instructed the pilot to accompany them to Signolla, Italy, the site of the NATO base. They did. The Italians objected -- they didn't want this problem in their lap. They began scrambling F-104's from the Italian air force to keep the America jets and their captured prey out of Italy. Arguments ensued. The President picked up the phone and called the President of Italy. He got what he wanted, saying he was prepared to just do it -- land the planes at the base -- regardless. The plane landed, bad guys in hand. "Good enough" snapped Reagan.

The four terrorists went to jail, although the mastermind, Abu Abbas, got away. To Iraq, where he died during the American invasion. But even without his capture in 1985, the point was made. Said Reagan's Secretary of State George Shultz later: "Terrorists and their sponsor states [read, the Soviet Union] were now on notice that the United States would and could take action and that the rule of law could apply to them."

This policy of Reagan's, the same principle invoked by Ford and disregarded by LBJ, was by 1985 known as "peace through strength." As former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would say at Reagan's funeral, it was a policy that enabled him to win the Cold War "without firing a shot."

LBJ, and later Jimmy Carter, never understood the importance of this principle. They lost their presidencies because of it.

Now, it's Barack Obama's turn to face a hijacking at sea.

Remember, it is judgment that matters, and President Obama lacks all necessary judgment.

 

UPDATE:  OBAMA DECLINED TO COMMENT AT A BRIEFING ON MORTGAGE RATES, HE WAS PRESSED SEVERAL TIME TO COMMENT ON THE SITUATION AND OUR PRESIDENT DECLINED.

-LEX REX

TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS, WHERE'S JEFFERSON WHEN YOU NEED HIM?

The London Times reports today that Pirates are wreaking havoc off Africa, threatening world trade. But as governments fight back, the raiders are getting more daring and their demands are growing.

Google Somali Pirates and the headlines abound, but this is nothing new even in Somalia, below is a map of the recorded Pirate attacks of the coast of Somalia, East Africa from 2007;

Surprise attacks by Muslim pirates, lost lives, cargo and ships lost, a U.S. president who decides to let slip the dogs of war --these are the headlines of today, yet these are ripped not from the headlines but from the pages of history books.  If you have forgotten the Barbary War, Joseph Wheelan who wrote the book "Jefferson's War:  The First War on Terror 1801-1805" wants to remind you. 

"When it is remembered at all," the former newspaper reporter writes in "Jefferson's War," "the 1801-5 war with Tripoli is often recalled as a swashbuckling adventure bookended by America's two struggles with England. ... In truth, the Barbary War was America's first war on terror." 

For two centuries, the piratical Muslim powers of Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers and Morocco had treated the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic as their personal hunting preserve, capturing hundreds of thousands of Christian slaves and millions of dollars' worth of booty. And although their power had faded significantly by the end of the 18th century, the North Africans continued to extort additional millions from Western nations by means of regularly broken treaties - "a jihad protection racket," in Wheelan's phrase. 

When Thomas Jefferson assumed the presidency in 1801, the Barbary States and the idea of dealing with them by naval force had been in his mind for years. And so U.S. ships were dispatched _ to serve as a "squadron of observation" if violence proved unnecessary or (in the words of Navy Secretary Samuel Smith) "to protect our commerce and chastise their insolence - by sinking, burning or destroying their ships and vessels wherever you shall find them." 

As it happened, the Barbary War was not a constant clash of water-borne cannon - frustrations emerged because some U.S. officers proved less than pugnacious - and "Jefferson's War" smells less of blood and gunpowder than some might expect. But the martially inclined will be intrigued by the Philadelphia story - a daring raid to destroy a captured U.S. vessel - as well as an expedition aimed at "regime change" that inspired the "Marine Hymn" line "... to the shores of Tripoli."

Wheelan draws lines between "The Terror" of 200 years ago and that of today, and the headlines in the past few weeks draw the lines boldly.  Yet, something is missing . . . could it be a leader of Jefferson's calibre?  

Thirty percent of Europe's Oil arrives via the Gulf of Aden and When the Sirius Star and its US$100 million crude oil cargo and 25 crew were hijacked by Somali pirates nine days ago, one country was ready to respond immediately.  The USA, I am afraid not, but it was the up-in-coming Naval Super Power to be, INDIA.  Yes, India is wanting to show its muscle, after a successful trip to the Moon, India dispatched the INS Tabor.  The National  reports that India's anti-piracy aggression is a sign of an emerging Super-Power, the article continues, the United States has been particularly feeble. Last week the US navy told shipping companies to ensure their own security by hiring private contractors. Yet over three years ago Adm Michael Mullin, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested a global security partnership to tackle maritime piracy and terrorism. The only result is the US-run Global Fleet Station, a pilot version of which was launched last year in the Caribbean, suggesting the United States is either living in the past or watching too many movies.   Contrast this with the Indian government authorised hot pursuit of pirate vessels, announced the imminent dispatch of three more warships and a reconnaissance aircraft and urged the United Nations to orchestrate joint action. The International Maritime Bureau has praised India’s response and urged the international community to follow it.  The INS Tabor below, has since sunk a Somalia pirate "Mother Ship" in the treacherous Gulf of Aden." in

 the Gulf of Aden, the world’s most treacherous waterway

Where is Jefferson? Where is the USA? Is the USA on the verge of losing its dominance in the world? Is Somalian Pirates along with the War in Iraq, the War in Afghanistan, and the coming show-down with Iran, along with the Economic turmoil in our markets the final steps toward the future of the USA as a Super-Power of yesterday? For the USSR it was perestroika, For the United Kingdom it was the Suez Canal 1956 crises, Is it the Somalia Pirates for the USA? Where is Jefferson when you need him?

 -Lex Rex