Navy Seals Kick Some Pirate Booty

The nation is rightly giving a big standing O to the Navy Seals, who freed hostage Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean yesterday. The extended drama of the attack on the Maersk Alabama had been riveting, and the 4 pirates were growing increasingly agitated. At one point Saturday, they opened fire on one of the smaller U.S. Navy craft that approached.

As the seas grew rougher the lifeboat drifted closer to Somali shores where the pirates feared being fodder for other pirates. The USS Bainbridge offered to tow the lifeboat to calmer waters, and the pirates agreed! Psych! They linked up to the ship with a towing cable. Then, incredibly, one of the pirates, estimated to be between 16 and 20 years old, asked to come aboard the Bainbridge to make a PHONE CALL. Obviously we are not the only country with teen phone addicts. This guy, however, saved his own life- so maybe he was the smartest pirate.

The 3 other pirates who were left on the lifeboat were becoming increasingly restless. In their last discussion with officials they said they would kill the captain. Shortly, two pirates moved to one of the hatches of the lifeboat and stuck their heads out. The third pirate advanced toward the captain and pointed his AK-47 straight at Phillips’s back, the rifle touching it or inches away, the official said. U.S. military observers thought that Phillips was about to be shot.

SEAL snipers, on a deck at the stern of the Bainbridge had the three pirates in their sights. The on-scene commander gave the snipers the thumbs up to fire. 3 shots, from 90 feet, standing on a bobbing ship, aiming at a bobbing ship. The three pirates were simultaneously shot in the head and went down. “As soon as the snipers had a clear shot at the guy who had the rifle, they shot him and the other two in the hatches,” a senior military official said. A member of the Special Ops team then slid down the tow line into the water and climbed aboard the lifeboat. Phillips was then put in a small craft and taken to the Bainbridge. Beautiful!

Do not mess with Navy Seals. (Had one as a math teacher.) They will get the job done with plenty to spare.

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