Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby provided the following statement:
"No one was hurt tonight when U.S. forces, at the request of both the Libyan and Cypriot governments, boarded and took control of the commercial tanker Morning Glory, a stateless vessel seized earlier this month by three armed Libyans.
"The boarding operation, approved by President Obama and conducted just after 10 p.m. EDT on March 16 in international waters southeast of Cyprus, was executed by a team of U.S. Navy SEALs attached to Special Operations Command Europe.
"The SEAL team embarked and operated from the guided missile destroyer USS Roosevelt (DDG-80). USS Roosevelt provided helicopter support and served as a command and control and support platform for the other members of the force assigned to conduct the mission.
"The Morning Glory is carrying a cargo of oil owned by the Libyan government National Oil Company. The ship and its cargo were illicitly obtained from the Libyan port of As-Sidra.
"The Morning Glory will be underway soon to a port in Libya with a team of sailors from the USS Stout (DDG-55) embarked. The sailors will be supervising the transit.
"USS Roosevelt is homeported in Mayport, Fla. and is deployed as part of the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group. USS Stout is homeported in Norfolk, Va."
Odd, is it not? We sent in SEALs for an issue of illegal oil exports from a semi-rebellious region of Libya?
Was there something else on that ship?
Were we worried about where the money from the sale of the oil would go?
We really did this just to support the national government of Libya to help assert control of the east?
Sure, helping the government could get oil revenue flowing, which would avoid the need for the West to provide money just to keep the economy staggering along, and which would prevent Libya from fragmenting. So it isn't like we don't have any interests in this.
I just find it odd that it was SEAL-worthy.
UPDATE: Here's an article on the capture.
It does not, however, mention the reason I just heard on the news--that the SEALs raided the ship to prevent it from being abandoned and creating an oil slick.
So congratulations to the SEALs--newest enforcement arm for the Environmental Protection Agency--for the successfull mission. What the heck. "Sea, air, and land" are what SEALs protect, right?
The administration war on coal could get very kinetic.
UPDATE: News on TV says 30 SEALs captured the ship where 3 Libyans were onboard. Thirty SEALs! Good grief.
How many took down Osama bin Laden in the Abbottabad raid? Just 24 assaulted that compound.
Unless the news report confuses supporting personnel for a smaller core of SEALs. That's always possible.
