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Home › Politics

Politics | 04/12/2009 4:48 pm

SAFE! US Ship Captain Saved in Dramatic Rescue

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
Getty Images

Captain Richard Phillips ended Easter Sunday safe aboard the U.S. Navy Ship the USS Boxer, after Navy Seals rescued him from his Somali pirate captors in a dramatic shoot-out that left three of the pirates dead and one in custody.

According to The Washington Post, the captain was unharmed during the rescue, which saw Navy sharpshooters aboard the USS Bainbridge 25-30 yards away take aim at the pirates, but spare the life of the captain.

In the photo above, crew members of the Maersk-Alabama, who had been freed earlier in the week, cheer the news of Phillips’ safe rescue.

Read more about: Barack Obama, Maersk Rescue, News, Pirates, President Obama

106 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

M J
Fantastic! Where are all the posters!? This is the best news for our good men and women who were only trying to transport goods to people in Somalia. I’m so happy the Captain is safe and so happy Obama authorized it. Happy Easter!!!
By M J on 04/12/2009 5:20 pm
Rudi G.
MJ - Based on the calls on the Republican line on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal this morning (Mon.), the right was apparently hoping this mission would fail so they’d have something to criticize Pres. Obama about. I wish I were just being snarky, but the disappointment of these callers was palpable. "Well, Obama had nothing to do with it," was the usual refrain. Of course, had ithe mission failed, he would have gotten 100% of the blame from them.
By Rudi G. on 04/13/2009 7:14 am
M J

Well, Rudi, all I know is, at 2:30 p.m. EST, I got back from having lunch out with friends at a restaurant, turned computer on, saw 3 inch headlines on Huffington Post that the Captain had been freed and was ecstatic! Showed the headlines to my friends and we were all so happy! Read the details and shut computer down so as not to be impolite to company. About 6:15 p.m. I opened the computer again, went to the WOW site to see what usual responders were saying and the topic was there, but NO COMMENTS! I immediately wrote my comment and still was so shocked that I was the first to post since obviously the rescue had happened so much earlier in the day. Crickey! I thought no one cared or maybe they were all still hunting for eggs!! Nevertheless, I was shocked. About 2 hours later I saw that many had posted and everyone was positive about the rescue THANK GOODNESS! And I still say, THANK GOODNESS!

I wish what you said were not true, but I am afraid it is and I didn’t even listen to C-SPAN this morning. I am just so glad that Obama gave the go-ahead and that the Navy sharpshooters were so well trained and did their jobs so well!

By M J on 04/13/2009 7:53 am
S.J. Morgan
Did it occur that many were enjoying the day with family and observing the Holiday for it’s intended purpsose?  I was totally unaware till later in the day when Tiger was finished golfing.
By S.J. Morgan on 04/13/2009 8:47 am
Libra Lady

SJ….exactly….Easter wasn’t all focused on blog sites!!  I thought Tiger was going to come through…stupid tree!!!  But he is so exciting to watch.  I really wanted to see Tiger in that Green Jacket again.  Mickelson’s putting hasn’t changed much!!

Congratulations to our US NAVY!!!!  America is proud of you!!!

By Libra Lady on 04/13/2009 9:03 am
M J
Congratulations to our US NAVY!!!!  America is proud of you!!!
Absolutely! We’re all so PROUD! 
By M J on 04/13/2009 10:06 am
Libra Lady
MJ…I didn’t mean my post to come across as negative towards you….that was not my intention….I just felt the response previously to you about Republicans not posting was uncalled for…that is not why many of us had not posted yet….Easter and the news coverage on the success (and the Masters) took up much of our time….I was glad Wow had added it on Sunday, I wasn’t aware that Wow updated their site with new topics on weekends….and I was thrilled that it had when I logged in…..yes MJ….we "are all proud of our US NAVY"…both parties!!!
By Libra Lady on 04/13/2009 10:20 am
M J

Hi Libra Lady,

Yes, I subtly agreed without hearing the posters on C-SPAN myself. I don’t want to ever think either our left posters or right posters want anything negative to happen to good people in our country. I usually am never the first to respond to a topic b/c I see people who’ve posted at 1 a.m.! Crickey again… I couldn’t possibly be up at that time unless I was sick. Anyway, point is, I wanted NOT to be alone in my enthusiasm for the outcome of the Captain’s fate and so I said it in a way I could perhaps have said differently. I think people are interested in things on tv on Easter and when my kids were little, my time would have been postponed looking at WOW also. I would have still been outside hunting for the "lost" Easter egg so it wouldn’t have rotted in my yard and be found 2 months later!!! P.U! Alas, my kids are grown and no grandkids yet. Whatever and whenever. But, YES, WE DO AGREE THAT WE ARE PROUD OF OUR NAVY AND THANKFUL THAT CAPT. PHILLIPS IS BACK IN THE HANDS OF THE USA!

By M J on 04/13/2009 10:56 am
Libra Lady
MJ…thanks for the smile this morning…P.U.!!!  Eggs do have that effect!!! (I too miss the thrill of egg hunting with my children, and like you…no grandchildren….yet!!!)  I can understand you being so elated at the great news of Captain Phillips, and wanted to share it with all the posters on Wow…what better way than that….I know if it was a week day, this thread would have been bursting at the seams with this great news, as it is today!!! (nice play on words there, thread & seams) What a great day in America!!!  Have a great Monday!!!
By Libra Lady on 04/13/2009 11:17 am
M J

Thanks for saying I gave you a laugh! I forgot, however, that we usually had no lost eggs that ended up stinkin’ cause our dog always wanted to be let out first to get the eggs. We had to confine him inside till the kids finished, then we’d let him out and he’d find whatever they missed! Golden Retrievers to Cocker Spaniels… they all want that nasty egg smell!!! Yuk!

And again, I say and agree, GREAT DAY IN AND FOR AMERICA.… now we need to get those Taliban murderers who assassinated that woman!(another thread)

By M J on 04/13/2009 11:30 am
M J
SJ, yes, it did occur to me that people were enjoying the day as a Holiday. The fact that I didn’t respond to story until 6:20 p.m. myself lets you know something about my day also. I did observe Easter (even though you don’t know me and you could have been talking to a Jewish woman); ate dinner with friends; spent the afternoon engaged in lovely conversation with friends; enjoyed the beautiful day outdoors with friends. It seems, however, that Tiger was your Holiday. So, even though I was not directing my comment to anyone in particular, the fact that you answered me tells me something, especially since you are one of the most frequent responders on this site. It also tells me something that you still didn’t react to the story itself, just a negative comment to me about my post.
By M J on 04/13/2009 10:00 am
S.J. Morgan

M J ..not sure what time zone you are in but out here on the west coast it was only 3:20 pm when you responded and  most of us were just sitting down to dinner without the tv on!~  Then off to great nephews ballgame!  Tiger was on for my elderly father and that was a grat family event.

If you really watch my posts you will see that I respond yesterday..before there was even a thread dedicated to it!

 

By S.J. Morgan on 04/13/2009 10:12 am
M J
Yes!  I’m thrilled for the families.  Go Navy!!!!! By S.J. Morgan on 04/12/2009 10:25 pm
  My apologies, SJ. I scrolled through the entire site just now and found you had posted around 10 p.m. I’m glad you did and glad you had a great day. Hope you accept my apology. It could be I did respond earlier, but when I saw the time it posted, I assumed that’s when I did. I have a laptop, so I can carry it wherever and respond within seconds when company was out of the room. Then, I can close it pretty fast with no harm done.

Again, I’m glad you had a good holiday with family.

By M J on 04/13/2009 10:17 am
M J
P.S. to SJ: I’m on the East Coast and I know you’re on the West Coast. I looked again at time my first post was dated and timed. It says 6:…. p.m. I don’t know where the Hub of WOW is… I thought it was NYC. Whatever, don’t mean to nitpick. I just wanted to confirm that yes, I’m on the East and know you’re on the West.
By M J on 04/13/2009 10:21 am
S.J. Morgan

Apology accepted!  We did not hear about the rescue until my son got a test on his cell phone from a buddy and my whole family cheered!!

Since I was in the kitchen cleaning up from  the feast…I had to wait till all had gone home to jump on the computer and respond!

My nephew who is a solder in the ARmy…said YES!!!!  It’s about time!!!

By S.J. Morgan on 04/13/2009 10:22 am
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