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The rescue of Captain Richard Phillips from the hands of pirates was the Story of the Day. All three newscasts led with a computer-animated reenactment of the sniper attack by USNavy SEAL commandos from the deck of the USS Bainbridge that killed three of the captain's captors; the fourth pirate has been arrested. The drama off the coast of Somalia occupied more than a third (21 min out of 58--36%) of the three-network newshole.

Apparently the lifeboat from Phillips' ship, the Maersk Line's Alabama, was being regularly supplied from the Bainbridge with food and water. During one supply trip, the fourth pirate, a teenager, was taken back to the ship. The remaining three pirates agreed to have their craft towed by the Bainbridge. At one point two of the three stuck their heads out of the protection of their capsule. At that point their brains were blown away. A trio of snipers on the deck of the destroyer each fired a single successful simultaneous shot.

Given that none of the three reporters--ABC's Martha Raddatz, CBS' Bob Orr or NBC's Jim Miklaszewski--that described the end of the hostage siege was an eyewitness, each mentioned extremely specific details. Why did the fourth pirate surrender? "For medical treatment"--Miklaszewski. Why did the pirates agree to a towing line? To get to "calmer waters"--Miklaszewski. How did the lifeboat get within sniper's range of the destroyer? "The Bainbridge started slowly reeling in the lifeboat closer to the big ship, apparently without the pirates' knowledge"--Raddatz. Why did the pirates expose themselves? "A tracer round was fired from the pirates toward the navy ship and two of the gunmen popped their head and shoulders out"--Orr. How come snipers, bobbing up and down on a warship, could aim so accurately at targets, bobbing up and down in a lifeboat? "They likely had gyrostabilizing weapons"--Raddatz.


Andrew Tyndall 4/15/09 6:53:20 pm

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