An Easter rescue to electrify our nation

During a Holy Week made hellish by Somali pirates and kidnappers of merchant marine Capt. Richard Phillips, the Internet was lit up by a message from Anglican Bishop Al Knight, a West Point graduate and retired brigadier general:

"Seems to this old grizzled veteran that we armed merchant ships in World War II, sailing to rescue Europe in or out of convoy, so why not now? I am utterly disgusted by how soft and weak we have become.

"During the Clinton administration, they began a series of sensitivity training at the Naval Academy, which seemed to have the objective of eliminating courage from our Naval officers. All right now, you Marines, let's start singing, 'From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli. …' The shores of Tripoli was to solve the Barbary Coast pirate problem. Sink mother ships! Devastate the Somali port facilities! Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

"You may fire when ready, Gridley!

"Oh, for a Bull Halsey right now. Oh, for the stalwart Naval officers I served alongside and trusted with my life! Oh, for the testy arrogance of a Hyman Rickover!

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"So, the FBI gets into 'negotiations'? One SEAL could do the job in one minute.

"Sink the lifeboat from the bottom, grab Capt. Phillips with one hand, and let the pirates sink to the bottom, whether or not their throats are expertly slit in accordance with good SEAL procedures."

That, ladies and gentlemen, was not the precise way this rescue worked – although it was accomplished by the SEALs, who are one of the world's greatest fighting forces.

The Washington Post reported that the rescue of Capt. Phillips involved dozens of Navy SEALs who, near dark on Saturday, parachuted from an aircraft into the sea near the USS Bainbridge, where they set up operations.

As the Bainbridge began pulling the lifeboat where these pirates help Capt. Phillips, the kidnappers declared: "If we don't get what we want, we will kill the captain."

One of these pirates pointed his AK-47 at Capt. Phillips' back, which convinced observers aboard the Bainbridge he was about to be shot and killed.

The SEALs had snipers positioned on a deck at the stern of the ship called the fantail. The on-scene commander gave the SEALs authority to fire. They promptly killed all three of these terrorist kidnappers and rescued Capt. Phillips.

Phillips' crew, who said they escaped the pirates after he offered himself as a hostage, erupted in cheers aboard their ship docked in Mombasa, Kenya. Some waved an American flag and fired flares in celebration. A lawn sign in the captain's hometown of Underhill, Vt., had read "Pray for Captain Phillips' release and safe return home," but was changed to read "Captain Phillips rescued and safe."

The rescue was a dramatic blow to the pirates who have preyed on international shipping and hold more than a dozen ships with about 230 sailors from a variety of nations – but it also risks provoking retaliatory attacks.

"This can escalate violence in this part of the world, no question about it," said Vice Adm. William Gortney, the commander of U.S. Naval forces, Central Command.

Jamac Habeb, a 30-year-old self-proclaimed pirate, told the Associated Press from one of Solamia's piracy hubs, Eyl, that "our friends should have done more to kill the captain before they were killed. This would be a good lesson for us.

"From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill the hostages," he said. France and India have both taken deadly military action against pirates in recent months and seen no significant retaliation, however.

The Defense Department twice asked President Barack Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Phillips, most recently late Friday evening, U.S. officials said. On Saturday morning, Obama signed off on the Pentagon's request, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"I share the country's admiration for the bravery of Captain Phillips and his selfless concern for his crew," Obama said in his first comments on the situation. "His courage is a model for all Americans."

Let me take this opportunity to strongly commend and applaud our president and commander in chief.

Crew members said their ordeal began Wednesday with the Somali pirates hauling themselves up from a small boat bobbing on the surface of the Indian Ocean far below. The pirates shot into the air. Phillips told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men, crew members said. Phillips was then held hostage in an enclosed lifeboat, which was closely watched by U.S. warships and a helicopter in an increasingly tense standoff.

Phillips jumped out of the lifeboat on Friday, tried to swim for his freedom but was recaptured when a pirate fired an automatic weapon at or near him.

"The captain's life was in immediate danger," said Adm. Gortney, who spoke by teleconference from his headquarters in Bahrain. "The pirates were armed with AK-47s and had small-caliber pistols, and they were pointing the AK47 at the captain."

A fourth pirate who had been aboard the Bainbridge conducting negotiations may be taken to Kenya or the U.S. for trial, the admiral said.

Somalia has the largest coastline of any nation in Africa. It has no functioning government but only a number of warlords, much like the Barbary Coast two centuries ago when President Thomas Jefferson sent the United State Navy against them.

My question: Is it possible the CIA has little or no knowledge of where these Somali pirates live on land? And if the CIA knows, why haven't our fighter bombers demolished these camps? And why can't Special Forces conduct lightening raids to complete the cleaning up?

Somali pirates are estimated to have received more than $100 million in ransom and recently seized five merchant ships in 48 hours. It becomes an international imperative to wipe out these seagoing kidnappers.