Capt. Richard Phillips, his hands tied and an AK-47 at his back, stood within feet of his captors on a bobbing lifeboat in the Indian Ocean when Navy snipers on the USS Bainbridge took aim Sunday. Cmdr. Frank Castellano, authorized by President Obama to act if the hostage was in "imminent danger," gave the snipers the order to fire, said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.
When it was over, three pirates who had been holding Phillips were dead and a fourth had surrendered and was in custody.
The rescue of Captain Phillips is excellent news. It may take a while to get the full story, but the outcome was a good one. It doesn't hurt that pirates were killed while one, now captured, was supposedly negotiating on the US Navy ship. That may actually send a stronger message than Obama intended, but it might also discourage the pirates from attacking Americans in the future.
President Obama looks good for authorizing the successful rescue, although it sounds more like Cmdr. Castellano took the initiative to attack rather than following a specific plan from the White House. If Phillips had been killed, I'm not sure Obama would be taking credit. It's important to make the point, however, in these situations that any harm that may come to the hostages is the responsibility of the pirates, not the rescuers. A hostage was killed during the French rescue attempt the day before. We should all blame the pirates for that death, not the French navy.
Now, it's time to go after the pirate bases. Allow no safe haven for pirates.
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