Navy Seals rescuing Captain Richard Phillips from pirates were...

Navy Seals rescuing Captain Richard Phillips from pirates were restricted by Obama’s delays and rules of engagement – Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:

A forwarded email that blames President Obama for delays in the rescue of Richard Phillips, the captain of the ship named the Maersk Alabama, which was taken over by pirates off the coast of the African country of Somalia. It claims that Obama delayed the deployment of Navy Seals by 36 hours and limited the rules of engagement so the rescuers could not act unless Captain Phillips’ life was imminent danger.

The Truth:

Our investigation into this story did not find any evidence that President Obama delayed important decisions in the rescue of Captain Phillips. Throughout the entire ordeal the President was kept informed on the situation with briefings and twice gave orders to engage the pirates.

The Washington Times looked thoroughly into the incident and came to the same conclusion. In an exclusive article on 4/22/09, the Times concluded, “President Obama dispatched two separate teams of Navy commandos to carry out last week’s rescue of a merchant ship captain held hostage by Somali pirates but left the operational details and rules of engagement to military commanders.” Click for Washington Times article.

Several versions of this email have been submitted to TruthorfFction.com and some claim to come from an unnamed USMC General or Retired Navy Rear Admiral Lou Sarosdy. In an April 21 ,2009 Virginian Pilot article Sarosdy said that he did not write this. Click for Virginian Pilot story.

Military veterans who have read the email doubt that it was written by an insider, as it claims. The terminology and acronyms used in the email were not consistent with military standards, indicating that this eRumor might have been written by a civilian with no or little knowledge of the military. The acronyms “CPN” for Captain and “RIB” for rigid hull inflatable boat if used by anyone in the military would be “Capt.” and “RHIB”

Richards Phillips was the Captain of the American flagged vessel Maersk Alabama and was rescued by US Navy Seals after a 5 day ordeal of being held captive by Somali pirates on a lifeboat. Piracy has been a problem off the East African coast but this was the first takeover of an American ship by pirates in modern history.

Shortly after midnight April 8, 2009, while on route to deliver food aid to Uganda and Somalia the Maersk Alabama was attacked by the pirates about 350 miles off the coast of Somalia. The Alabama crew of 21 worked feverishly for more than three hours using fire hoses to fend off boarding attempts by the pirates. Eventually four pirates armed with AK-47 rifles managed to board the cargo ship. Sometime during the fight the crew of the Alabama managed to disable their vessel and went into hiding near the steering compartment. Shortly after that the pirates boat was scuttled.

About twelve hours later the crew emerged and managed to overtake and capture one of the pirates. The three other pirates had Capt. Phillips prisoner. In an attempt to secure the safety of his crew, Capt. Phillips offered himself as a hostage along with a 28 foot lifeboat from the Alabama.. In an attempt to secure the release of their captain the crew gave freedom to their pirate prisoner, but the pirates did not reciprocate. Captain Phillips remained in the hands of his captors.

The closest Navy vessel, U.S.S. Bainbridge arrived on the scene on April 9, 2009 at 1AM. In the meantime, other US Naval vessels and US Navy Seals were on route to the incident as well.

According to the Washington Times article, there was no delay in granting authorization to the officers on the scene to take whatever action was necessary to protect the life of Captain Phillips.

A Whitehouse spokesperson gave truthorfiction.com an event time line of President Obama Actions on the Pirate Situation in the Indian Ocean off of Somalia. The Whitehouse used “POTUS”, an acronym for President of the United States :

TIMELINE

08 April 2009 early AM post arrival at Andrews

POTUS apprised of breaking development regarding American flagged vessel with American crew being hijacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean off of Somalia.

08 April 2009 0900

POTUS receives briefing paper update from Situation Room on situation regarding American flagged vessel with American crew being hijacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean off of Somalia.

08 April 2009 1030

Maritime Operational Threat Response (MOTR) group meets to coordinate planning for the situation in the Indian Ocean off of Somalia. (NOTE: MOTR includes OSD Policy, National Military Command Center, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of State, Coast Guard, FBI, Maritime Administration, Department of Homeland Security, National Security Council and Homeland Security Council).

08 April 2009 1100

Presidential Daily Brief. Included update and discussion on piracy situation, POTUS requested regular daily updates and tasked review of policy questions.

08 April 2009 1300