The American Spectator : When Silence Was Golden for Obama

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The Obama Watch

When Silence Was Golden for Obama

By Peter Hannaford on 4.14.09 @ 6:06AM

May it not be the last time the President says nothing.

During the tense days when ship captain Richard Phillips was held hostage by Somali pirates, President Obama wisely kept his mouth shut, letting operational people do what needed to be done.

Much less wise was his declaration the weekend before that, "Should North Korea decide to take this action [launch a long-range rocket], we will work with all interested partners in the international community to take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that they cannot threaten the safety and stability of other countries with impunity." The action? None. We did not let the Japanese shoot down the rocket when it passed through their airspace. Predictably, the United Nations Security Council has done nothing either. Lesson: Don't huff and puff unless you intend to blow the house down.

Many Americans were left scratching their heads when Obama said, during a speech in Turkey that "America is not a Christian nation." How's that? It was founded by Christians and the majority of its people continue to profess to be Christians. If he had said that, along with the important stipulation that our constitution prohibits the establishment of a state religion and that all its citizens have complete religious freedom, he would have been on solid ground. As it was, a good many people interpreted his mark as being anti-Christian.

Then, last Friday, he declared that he saw "glimmers of hope" in the economy. Everyone hopes he's right, but this came on the heels of news the day before that Federal Reserve experts were predicting a recession well into 2010.

While the Obama wordsmiths and Teleprompter need to tune up his rhetoric so it takes note of the sensibilities of more than one target group at a time, we can all celebrate the fact this public silence concluded during the hostage standoff concluded with the successful rescue of Captain Phillips.

The message to would-be pirates is clear: Don't mess with American ships and crews. This should be expanded to all commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden region. We should seek the cooperation of the other nations supplying naval ships to the effort, as well as to international shipowners and shippers. Unified word should go out to the latter groups that they should hire well-trained security details to sail aboard their ships. On sighting pirate boats about to toss lines aboard with which to climb up for a hijacking, the security men should fire on the boats and sink them.

It won't take more than a few pirates facing a 100-mile swim back to Somalia to put "paid" to the whole pirate enterprise. Even the nervous insurance companies should cheer that outcome, for it will bring down both risks and rates.

Mr. Hannaford is a member of the Committee on the Present Danger.

About the Author

Peter Hannaford was closely associated with the late President Ronald Reagan for a number of years. His latest book is Reagan's Roots: The People and Places That Shaped His Character.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (20) | Leave a comment

TennesseeVolunteer| 4.14.09 @ 8:29AM

He voted 'Present'. the US Military voted "Present AND Accounted for'!

loulou| 4.14.09 @ 9:30AM

The captain saved himself, with the help of the Navy Seals. Obama had nothing to do with it.

If Obama were a US citizen, he might have known that we are a nation founded on Judeo Christian principles. We ARE a Christian nation even though he's trying to make us a Muslim one.

Robert Rosencrans| 4.14.09 @ 11:04AM

While the drive-by-media was all atwitter about the rescue of Captain Phillips, the same drive-by-media did everything possible to keep the American public uninformed about a possible dry run by a potential terrorist closer to home.

The recent news about the stolen plane glossed over the fact that the person who stole the plane and drove it into U.S. air space and pretty much went anywhere he wanted was identified as Adam Leon.

However, further investigation shows that his birth name was Yavuz Berke and he was born in Turkey. This leads to another question, was/is he a Muslim?

While the media does hand flips over the pirate equation, the American public should look further into this incident, including why President Obama didn't order him to be shot down.

If it was a test run, the terrorists now know we don't have a President with the guts to pull the trigger when it counts.

Doug| 4.14.09 @ 11:40AM

The military can handle the pirate situation. What Obama needs to focus on is the movement by Texas to become independent because of Obama's failed policies. Is this the Alamo II? Watch the govenor of TX speak:

http://tinyurl.com/cqlmd7

Peter McGrath| 4.14.09 @ 11:47AM

From what I've read, Obama gave the order to shoot to kill the Somali pirates only if it appeared that Captain Phillips' life was in imminent danger.

Apparently, also, due to rough seas, the lifeboat was moored to a destroyer and was being gradually drawn closer to optimize the targets. Now, we find out, from complaining Somalis, that the pirates were teenage kids who didn't deserve to die. My question is: where's the video? One must assume that there is video to confirm that the killings were justified.

An escalation in this conflict is now assured. Video which confirms that the killings were necessary would do much to minimize Somali indignation.

Robert Rosencrans| 4.14.09 @ 11:58AM

The fact is that Obama didn't have to give any orders and they knew it. It was all a publicity stunt. The Navy had all the authority they needed under Title 18.

http://teamsugar.com/group/974220/blog/3029646

Title 18, Chapter 81 of the United States Code establishes a sentence of life in prison for foreigners captured in the act of piracy. But, crucially, the law is only enforceable against pirates who attack U.S.-flagged vessels, of which today there are few.

What about international law? Article 110 of the U.N.'s Law of the Sea Convention -- ratified by most nations, but not by the U.S. -- enjoins naval ships from simply firing on suspected pirates. Instead, they are required first to send over a boarding party to inquire of the pirates whether they are, in fact, pirates. A recent U.N. Security Council resolution allows foreign navies to pursue pirates into Somali waters -- provided Somalia's tottering government agrees -- but the resolution expires next week. As for the idea of laying waste, Stephen Decatur-like, to the pirate's prospering capital port city of Eyl, this too would require U.N. authorization. Yesterday, a shippers' organization asked NATO to blockade the Somali coast. NATO promptly declined.

Then there is the problem of what to do with captured pirates. No international body similar to the old Admiralty Courts is currently empowered to try pirates and imprison them. The British foreign office recently produced a legal opinion warning Royal Navy ships not to take pirates captive, lest they seek asylum in the U.K. or otherwise face repatriation in jurisdictions where they might be dealt with harshly, in violation of the British Human Rights Act.

In March 2006, the U.S. Navy took 11 pirates prisoner, six of whom were injured. Not wanting to set a precedent for trying pirates in U.S. courts, the State Department turned to Kenya to do the job. The injured spent weeks aboard the USS Nassau, enjoying First World medical care.

All this legal exquisiteness stands in contrast to what was once a more robust attitude. Pirates, said Cicero, were hostis humani generis -- enemies of the human race -- to be dealt with accordingly by their captors. Tellingly, Cicero's notion of piracy vanished in the Middle Ages; its recovery traces the recovery of the West itself.

By the 18th century, pirates knew exactly where they stood in relation to the law. A legal dictionary of the day spelled it out: "A piracy attempted on the Ocean, if the Pirates are overcome, the Takers may immediately inflict a Punishment by hanging them up at the Main-yard End; though this is understood where no legal judgment may be obtained."
now seem (albeit necessary, since captured pirates were too dangerous to keep aboard on lengthy sea voyages), it succeeded in mostly eliminating piracy by the late 19th century -- a civilizational achievement no less great than the elimination of smallpox a century later.
Today, by contrast, a Navy captain who takes captured pirates aboard his state-of-the-art warship will have a brig in which to keep them securely detained, and instantaneous communications through which he can obtain higher guidance and observe the rule of law.

Yet what ought to be a triumph for both justice and security has turned out closer to the opposite. Instead of greater security, we get the deteriorating situation described above. And in pursuit of a better form of justice -- chiefly defined nowadays as keeping a clear conscience -- we get (at best) a Kenyan jail. "We're humane warriors," says one U.S. Navy officer. "When the pirates put down their RPGs and raise their hands, we take them alive. And that's a lot tougher than taking bodies."

Piracy, of course, is hardly the only form of barbarism at work today: There are the suicide bombers on Israeli buses, the stonings of Iranian women, and so on. But piracy is certainly the most primordial of them, and our collective inability to deal with it says much about how far we've regressed in the pursuit of what is mistakenly thought of as a more humane policy. A society that erases the memory of how it overcame barbarism in the past inevitably loses sight of the meaning of civilization, and the means of sustaining it.

Jim| 4.14.09 @ 12:18PM

one way to combat the pirates is to use convoys like we did in WW2. we have satelites to watch and drones to keep an eye on the area. hellfire missles on the drones can take out the pirates when they get too close

Robert Rosencrans| 4.14.09 @ 12:30PM

Look at this. Apparently the Obama administration has declared open season on anyone who thinks the federal government may be on the wrong track. According to many recent polls, that would be almost 90% of America. Is the Department of Homeland Security getting ready to imprison or investigate 90% of America?
http://www.behindbluelines.com/2009/04/14/homeland-smear-department/
The report defines right-wing extremism in the U.S. as ‘divided into those groups, movements and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups) and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.’

Nice to know that people who oppose abortion and illegal immigation are on a par with the white supremicist crowd.

Michael Tomlinson| 4.14.09 @ 1:24PM

Barack Obama ordered the brutal murder of 3 Somali (black) teens acting as a voluntary coast guard. How can any American be proud of this unwarranted show of force that is more like George W. Bush than the Barack we know and love? Where is the outcry from the MSM, Nancy Pelosi, the Congressional Black Caucus, MoveOn.org, George Soros, Cindy Shehan and the Hollywood elite? Has the Obama administration so stifled freedom of speech that people are afraid to speak out against his unilateral cowboy actions? Hopefully the EU will demand his trial before the international court and end his high seas reign of terror.

Idiots who think they areSmart| 4.14.09 @ 2:54PM

LouLou.

What a load of RUBBISH.

Kevin| 4.14.09 @ 5:10PM

Obama authorizes warrantless wiretaps on Americans!

Obama murders teenage boys.

Assemble the war crimes tribunal!!

Alan Brooks| 4.14.09 @ 10:45PM

America is no longer a Christian nation as it has no morality. We aren't socialist, we are more like a giant social democracy devoid of virtue.

Eric| 4.15.09 @ 5:08PM

The author of this article is quite insane. The founding fathers were far from "Christian".

The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion

-George Washington

The Christian God is a being of terrific character- cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust

-Thomas Jefferson

Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone upon man

-Thomas Jefferson

During fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been it its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolences in the clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution

-James Madison

Lighthouses are more useful than churches

-Benjamin Franklin

This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it

-John Adams

As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how it has happened that millions of fables, tales, legends have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed

-John Adams

And of course:

Shake off all fears of servile prejudices, under which weak mines are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.

-Thomas Jefferson

A man who knows about REALITY| 4.15.09 @ 7:07PM

Thank you Eric.

People on this page really think there is a God hiding in the clouds, who speaks every language on the planet.

Christianity has been the biggest plot against people in History, them and the Rich Bankers, have people hiding from fire and brimstone. It's laughable.

Sam H| 4.15.09 @ 10:31PM

Eric and A man who Knows would do well to remember that the Founders were comprised of a mixture of both Christians and Deists.

Michele San Pietro| 4.16.09 @ 3:48PM

Silence is always golden for Obama. He should simply avoid keeping offending the millions of Americans who don't share his views, didn't vote for him, and would never vote for him.

JinTX| 4.18.09 @ 9:12AM

Alan - morality is not exclusive to "CHRISTIANS" - enough with that garbage. Besides - how MORAL was slavery? Witch Hunts?

And Eric, you are taking numerous quotes out of context.

For example, John Adam's letter actually read:
==========================
"...The Parson and the Pedagogue lived much together, but were eternally disputing about government and religion. One day, when the Schoolmaster had been more that commonly fanatical and declared if he were a Monarch, He would have but one Religion in his Dominion. The Parson cooly replied 'Cleverly! You would be the best man in the world, if you had no religion.'
Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, 'This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!' But in this exclamatic I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean Hell..."
==========================

Everyone should consider the times of this nation's founding. It was a dark time, a dangerous time, and it took determination, bravery, and a belief in something greater than yourself to fuel the movement. Religion was one of the earliest sources of such motivation. Additionally, a man would be a FOOL to publically reject Christianity at that time, although many great leaders left reams of deep philosophical arguments and observations which has led many to continue the discussion, often choosing freedom of and FROM organized religion. To imply that anyone who does not profess to believe all of the man written/copied/rewritten legends is immoral is outrageous, outdated and ignorant.

Bubbers| 4.18.09 @ 8:26PM

I prefer an unknown God to worshiping the State. Most Christians have a basic concept of right and wrong. The State not so much.

Victor| 4.20.09 @ 11:28AM

Whoa - they didn't deserve to die bcuz they were teenagers? Come on guy, get real - they committed a crime that every nation recognizes as a capital crime. These teenagers had captured an entire ship - were then overtaken, then lied & did not free the captain as they agree, and then recaptured the captain refusing to let him go & they were killed for doing so - with AK47's at the captains head...contrary to mass media lies - Obama didn't order their killing - in fact, the Navy already had permission to kill if cappy's life was in imminent danger - in other words, they didn't need obamas approval - which they sought at least twice in the days prior to that and did NOT get...the one teenager captured will spend most of his life in a US jail at our expense eating 3 squares a day, air conditioned, clothed, showered, etc - things he prob didnt get in Somalia & hence hijacked a boat for $

And yes the media covered up the Turkish hijacking of a Canadian plane as F16's were not allowed to shoot it down...because Obama was kissing Turkey's ass & trying to get the Islamic country into the EU - a country who's leader is a stark Islamist and hates the West (despite what the media lies about)

Wake up sheeples