Reply #3: This is really heating up and has all the makings of Obama's first real crisis

[cali]

overnight, Phillips jumped out of the lifeboat and was recaptured, and then there's this report:

Pirate ships converge on US hostage at sea


Associated Press Writers – 15 mins ago

NAIROBI, Kenya – Escalating a dramatic Indian Ocean standoff, more U.S. warships — as well as pirate reinforcements with an international gallery of hostages — rushed Friday toward the spot where four Somali bandits are holding a U.S. sea captain aboard a drifting lifeboat.

The pirates apparently fear being shot or arrested if they hand over Capt. Richard Phillips — captured in a failed effort to seize the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday — and hope to link up with their colleagues who are using Russian, German, Filipino and other hostages captured in recent days as human shields.

U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus said U.S. warships also are headed to the area, more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) off Somalia's Indian Ocean coast.

"We want to ensure that we have all the capability that might be needed over the course of the coming days," he said.

<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090410/ap_on_re_af/piracy

More hostages are being dragged into this. I don't know anything about this stuff, but I wish it was possible for Navy Seals to rescue the captain.