...the rescue makes his presidency look that much less like it is Jimmy Carter's second term...
Great news. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, I am the eternal <l.shad...@...> wrote: > > http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97H2SJ00&show_article=1 > > http://tinyurl.com/d53kk8 > > Breitbart.com > > Official: US sea captain freed in swift firefight > Apr 12 01:09 PM US/Eastern > By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY and LARA JAKES > Associated Press Writers > > MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) - An American ship captain was freed unharmed > Sunday in a swift firefight that killed three of the four Somali > pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast > of Africa, the ship's owner said and a U.S. official said. > > A senior U.S. intelligence official said a pirate who had been > involved in negotiations to free Capt. Richard Phillips but who was > not on the lifeboat was in custody. > > Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was safely transported to a Navy > warship nearby. > > Maersk Line Limited President and CEO John Reinhart said in a news > release that the U.S. government informed the company around 1:30 p.m. > EDT Sunday that Phillips had been rescued. Reinhart said the company > called Phillips' wife, Andrea, to tell her the news. > > The U.S. official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly > and spoke on condition of anonymity. A Pentagon spokesman had no > immediate comment. > > When Phillips' crew heard the news aboard their ship in the port of > Mombasa, they placed an American flag over the rail of the top of the > Maersk Alabama and whistled and pumped their fists in the air. Crew > fired a bright red flare into the sky from the ship. > > A government official and others in Somali with knowledge of the > situation had reported hours earlier that negotiations for Phillips' > release had broken down. > > ___ > > Jakes reported from Washington. Associated Press writers who > contributed to this report include Mohamed Olad Hassan and Mohamed > Sheikh Nor in Mogadishu, Somalia and Michelle Faul and Tom Maliti in > Nairobi, Kenya. > > Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This > material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. >
