Article

2014-12-06 Arabia

American journalist reported killed during Yemen rescue attempt

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Posted by ryuge 2014-12-06 05:28|| || Front Page|| [11128 views ] Top
File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1 They were going to kill him anyway. It was worth the risk to try and save him. Unfortunately there was not a better ending to this story.

Posted by Airandee 2014-12-06 06:42|| 2014-12-06 06:42|| Front Page Top

#2 And the captors, also dead right? So, there was a penalty phase.

Posted by Besoeker 2014-12-06 08:17|| 2014-12-06 08:17|| Front Page Top

#3 On Wednesday, the Yemeni extremist group that was holding Somers threatened to kill him by the end of the week.

better to die in a rescue attempt than beheaded in a jihadi video

Posted by Frank G 2014-12-06 08:59|| 2014-12-06 08:59|| Front Page Top

#4 I'm waiting on the 'Rolling Stone' version for the REAL story.

Snark of the day, regular commenter division.

Posted by Besoeker 2014-12-06 09:04|| 2014-12-06 09:04|| Front Page Top

#5 Ouch. Will be tough for anyone to top that snark today.

Posted by Classical_Liberal 2014-12-06 09:39|| 2014-12-06 09:39|| Front Page Top

#6 The best stat you can give in any hostage rescue is 50% survival rate. Usually the survival rate is less. But to die in a rescue attempt is far better than having your head sawed off on video. Its sad it ended this way, but I'm sure the entire camp was met with an arc lite after the SF guys departed.

Posted by 49 Pan 2014-12-06 12:34|| 2014-12-06 12:34|| Front Page Top

#7 I'm just wondering who the "commandos" were.

Posted by texhooey 2014-12-06 13:54|| 2014-12-06 13:54|| Front Page Top

#8 According to CNN it was Navy SEALS, texhooey. Also killed by the jihadis was a hostage from South Africa, Pierre Korkie. All the SEALS got out safe.

Posted by trailing wife 2014-12-06 14:31|| 2014-12-06 14:31|| Front Page Top

#9 According to McClatchy, which has a lot of details about the raid, our guys shot dead all approximately seven captors.

Posted by trailing wife 2014-12-06 14:35|| 2014-12-06 14:35|| Front Page Top

#10 Bigger Picture

Having failed in last months raid, the element of surprise is off. That puts the failure rate at way above 50%.

What the people of America would want to know, was last month's raid failure of Luke Somers due to Obama foot dragging again? Because the Al Qaeda elements and hostages vacated that location before that raid took place. In the past, Obama's Junior Varsity hesitations was THE failure of hostage rescues which meant no one was around when the Seals rolled in, and the hostages were then scheduled for execution. And in most all cases were beheaded.

The notorious "Obama Hesitation" has been a sentence of death to Americans in every foreign crisis involving Al Qaeda or ISIS or Benghazi. Americans should know if "he hesistated again".

Posted by Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 2014-12-06 14:58|| 2014-12-06 14:58|| Front Page Top

#11 Also killed by the jihadis was a hostage from South Africa, Pierre Korkie. All the SEALS got out safe. Posted by trailing wife

Probably seen by the Champ as a positive.

Posted by Besoeker 2014-12-06 15:37|| 2014-12-06 15:37|| Front Page Top

#12 Claim: South African Hostage killed one day before his scheduled release.

According to a South African news release, a South African aid organization who had successfully negotiated the release of South African hostage Pierre Korkie's wife Yolande Korkie earlier this year held by Al Qaeda, Pierre Korkie was scheduled to be released the day following the raid.

(Link)

(If that was also the day the American Somers was to be beheaded, then the raid would be considered necessary from the US perspective.)

Posted by Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 2014-12-06 16:18|| 2014-12-06 16:18|| Front Page Top

#13 The Abbottabad, Pakistan raid on the UBL compound [just prior to the last presidential election] went off nearly without a hitch. Everything since then has been a cock-up. Prisoners moved, lack of tactical surprise, etc. Strange indeed.

Posted by Besoeker 2014-12-06 16:30|| 2014-12-06 16:30|| Front Page Top

#14 "That puts the failure rate at way above 50%." It's not cumulative. Each raid has risk to its own. With that and to Besoeker's point I wonder if the enemy's training is getting better, if our templates are getting old, or if our guys are just getting rushed into a op making it come off poorly.

Posted by 49 Pan 2014-12-06 17:10|| 2014-12-06 17:10|| Front Page Top

#15 Yes, enemy training can't help but improve as we telegraph our every move and TTP. My feeling on the UBL raid was, and will likely always be, that it was orchestrated theater fully coordinated with the government of Pakistan.

Posted by Besoeker 2014-12-06 17:14|| 2014-12-06 17:14|| Front Page Top

#16 EH2664, It is not Hesitation, it's a very nuanced operational tactic known by elite Jedi masters as juking.

Posted by Count Galeazzo Untervehr1682 2014-12-06 18:16|| 2014-12-06 18:16|| Front Page Top

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