“You took an oath, if you recall, when you first came to work for me. And I don't mean to the National Security Advisor of the United States, I mean to his boss... and I don't mean the President. You gave your word to his boss: you gave your word to the people of the United States. Your word is who you are.”
You take hostages, all bets are off as sadly, we hear and read about too many stories that end in the loss of innocent lives. By now, the entire world has heard about the heroic rescue of Captain Richard Phillips off the coast of Somalia after pirates first made the Choice to try to steal and then made an even more despicable Choice of taking a human being as a hostage with the hope of getting others to pay ransom money for his safe return. For those that may want to question our United States military, aren’t you glad they are there when we need them?
This action needed to be done and I am sure President Obama had to think carefully as well as consult his advisors (which all leaders should look to do when faced with emotional and/or difficult decisions) about the Choice to authorize and empower the military to do their job. The acceptance of pirating by our society has gone on for too long and the world has seemed to become numb to it and/or written it off as a cost of doing business. And as I wrote about last year, (Click Here) to see why in one of my favorite entries of all time?
This story had a happy ending for Captain Phillips but sadly a hostage was killed earlier this weekend in a rescue attempt when a French boat was taken over by pirates. There are varying reports that there are still upwards of 300 people and 15 vessels still being held by pirates all over the world. What got me most fired up about these despicable acts by criminals was when there were reports that other pirate ships were trying to block the military’s rescue efforts by bringing hostages and boats in to use as human shields. Gutless, bully cowards that for whatever reasons they made this Choice in their life are trying to get what they want at the expense of others.
Who knows if any message was heard by these criminals? The shipping industry is now incorporating change in how they run their business and it will become more or less risky depending on who you ask. Captain Phillips is absolutely a hero as he put his own life on the line to save his crew. I have always said that we should measure a leader when times are tough, not when things are all lollipops and roses. Captain Phillips will be hitting the talk shows and write a book and more power to him after what he and his family have been put through; I hope he retires today. The movie of this drama is already in the works; let’s not kid ourselves and who else thinks Harrison Ford will be playing Captain Phillips? In fact, this story seems similar to Ford’s movie “Clear and Present Danger” where I took our opening quote by James Earl Jones as Admiral James Greer.
