Somali pirates have decided to test the new American president.
They’re not alone.
The world took the measure of our president and his words as he ran across ‘The Continent’ apologizing for everything American and decided they can take him. North Korea shot off a rocket and hit their planned target of the Pacific Ocean – nice shooting, by the way. They managed to hit the largest body of water on the planet – the one right next to their country. Wow. I could do that with a BOTTLE ROCKET from there.
‘The Continent’ our president was apologizing to had their fun with him, too. The Brits lampooned him in their press, the Germans loved his wife while telling him ‘no’ to more troops, and the Turks put on blackface to make fun of him on their TV. And were those ‘boos’ I heard when he talked to the troops in Iraq? Maybe. If they weren’t booing him at the time you can bet they were talking bad about him once they were outside.
Now we have to decide what we’re going to do about the Somali pirates. They just took an American ship and are still holding the captain. The pirates are Muslim. What will we do? What will we do?
The larger question is what are WE going to do about the overall situation. These attacks have been escalating over the last year, but the pirates left American ships alone until now. The ship was flying an American flag, so there’s no doubt they knew they were attacking an American vessel. Until now they were afraid – or were instructed not – to attack American vessels. It’s not like there was no opportunity until now. That area is the entrance to the Suez Canal, so there are thousands of American ships going through that area every year. The opportunity has been there, but until NOW the pirates stayed away from attacking American ships.
What that means is the pirates were afraid of President Bush, but they are no longer afraid. The tour of ‘The Continent’ and the apologies along the way have served to reinforce that belief. Not only are the pirates not afraid, but the rest of the world is no longer afraid, either.
And the world just became a lot less safe for Americans.
They’re not alone.
The world took the measure of our president and his words as he ran across ‘The Continent’ apologizing for everything American and decided they can take him. North Korea shot off a rocket and hit their planned target of the Pacific Ocean – nice shooting, by the way. They managed to hit the largest body of water on the planet – the one right next to their country. Wow. I could do that with a BOTTLE ROCKET from there.
‘The Continent’ our president was apologizing to had their fun with him, too. The Brits lampooned him in their press, the Germans loved his wife while telling him ‘no’ to more troops, and the Turks put on blackface to make fun of him on their TV. And were those ‘boos’ I heard when he talked to the troops in Iraq? Maybe. If they weren’t booing him at the time you can bet they were talking bad about him once they were outside.
Now we have to decide what we’re going to do about the Somali pirates. They just took an American ship and are still holding the captain. The pirates are Muslim. What will we do? What will we do?
The larger question is what are WE going to do about the overall situation. These attacks have been escalating over the last year, but the pirates left American ships alone until now. The ship was flying an American flag, so there’s no doubt they knew they were attacking an American vessel. Until now they were afraid – or were instructed not – to attack American vessels. It’s not like there was no opportunity until now. That area is the entrance to the Suez Canal, so there are thousands of American ships going through that area every year. The opportunity has been there, but until NOW the pirates stayed away from attacking American ships.
What that means is the pirates were afraid of President Bush, but they are no longer afraid. The tour of ‘The Continent’ and the apologies along the way have served to reinforce that belief. Not only are the pirates not afraid, but the rest of the world is no longer afraid, either.
And the world just became a lot less safe for Americans.
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