Obama’s security chief stopped secret US/German “suicide mission” to rescue pirate hostages
US Naval Institute
President Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor, GEN James Jones Jr., USMC (Ret.) reportedly made the difficult decision last month to call off a massive hostage rescue effort that was to have been undertaken by German counter-terrorism forces and launched from the USS Boxer, a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship that was also involved in the April rescue of Captain Richard Phillips of the Maersk-Alabama.
USS Boxer
According to the German weekly magazine Der Spigel, the United States was asked by its close NATO ally to assist with logistics for the German assault force, said to involve over 200 members of GSG-9, German law enforcement’s most elite hostage rescue and counter-terrorism team. The plan was to retake the German freighter Hansa Stavanger and free the 24 crew members seized by Somali pirates in early April.
The German rescue forces were already in place aboard the American ship when Jones called off the mission. Deeming the planned assault far too risky and a possible “suicide mission,” Jones apparently felt the risk outweighed the benefits of the rescue attempt. German federal police leaders who oversee GSG-9 (a unit roughly equivalent to the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team) are likely relieved that the Marine General turned White House advisor vetoed the rescue plans, as they too were said to have been concerned that the bureaucratically convoluted and tactically complex hostage rescue effort might result in a “bloodbath.” German Interior Ministry State Secretary August Hanning also noted that the pirates seemed well prepared to repel any attack.
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