Show of Hands

SEAL snipers.

The standard Marine is more advanced in combat than a SEAL... but I'll say SEAL on this one

Of course, risk their lives. At least I'm sure that's what a lot of people would be saying unless it was their lives or their family's.

Well just we all saw what happened...I still say one shot, one kill. Just rinse and repeat.

A negotiation might cause the terrorists to kill the hostages. Send the best in first and they'll probably have a better chance at surviving.

The US doesn't negotiate with terrorists... It's always been our policy and it is for good reason.

@b4mytime, Go get informed before you start parroting the President, and the media, to your own intellectual detriment.

Or perhaps it's because you've been lied to, and they're just plain, old modern rifles with no more special lethality than any other rifle, and less than most. Most crimes involving a firearm do not happen with an AR-/AK-pattern firearm. It's a fact, look it up.

Or maybe it's because they're highly accurate, so that the target, and only the target, is hit? It can't be the calibre, since it's only an intermediate cartridge, not a 'high-powered' round as the media keeps repeating, mistakenly, ad nauseam. Or is it because they're fully automatic (they're not)?

@b4mytime, what makes them killing machines? The fact that they are identical in operation to almost every handgun, and a significant portion of all other firearms? Or is it the fact that they have black, plastic hardware instead of a wooden stock?...

It's al Qaeda. They're close followers of that prick Mohammed from what I understand.

Funny, Boehner's done nothing but bend over for Obama with his ass lubed. It's the TEA Party who's had the courage to send Obama the middle finger.

Violence is not the answer...It's the question!

The SEALs don't get hostages killed nearly as much as they kill the hostage-takers.

One shot, one kill. Repeat as necessary.

We do not negotiate with terrorists

Sometimes violence is the answer ;)

Don't risk more Americans getting kidnapped. The hostages are out of our hands already, it's not our fault if they are killed if we don't negotiate before sending in force. Terrorists lie anyway. Send in the SEALs!!

Damn straight! :-)

I think you meant ''speak softly.'' Anyway this whole deal about apologizing is overblown. You're complaining about a president actually showing some understanding overseas instead of acting like a vengeful cowboy? I guarantee it's harder for Al Qaida to recruit young people now.

First, those aren't regular guns he's trying to take away. They're killing machines that most believe should NOT be legal. Second, don't you think a president can handle more than one task at a time? He managed to go after Bin Laden while handling other issues.

Learn proper grammar and punctuation before you start calling people dumb.

Interesting to see that Republicans are against negotiating with terrorists and hostage takers when their names aren't Boehner or Cantor

Hahahha no one ever said anything bout Islam!

Send seals and kill the terrorists on site, even if they surrender. Send a message Americans will destroy you when threatened.

Well I say it's worth a shot to try to kill them all.

Either scenario has a significant chance of death, I would rather have the worlds best trained warriors on it from the get go.

negotiate first, and if that doesn't work...

They're terrorists, they're going to kill. special forces at least offer a chance

The Algerian govt won't accept our help because that will just bring more trouble from Islamists on them. Same thing in the Philippines. Anything American is poison in the ME.

You all really don't understand Islamic extremism. You can kill as many of those guys as you want, they will never run out of guys and they will never abandon jihad. They aren't deterred by death, they seek it as a reward.

The Algerian military went in and many of western hostages were killed... The SEALS would have been a better option

@Elizabeth... Read up on the SEALs, their training, and their missions. It's very impressive what these guys do and the character they hold.

Never negotiate. Kill the kidnappers, hostage takers and hijackers every time. It would quickly cease to be a problem. In the short term some innocent people will also die but in the long run lives will be saved.

What would a Real Leader do?
I know. An Actual President would go and get our People Back.
Our Big Dummy is too busy trying to take his on people's guns to be bothered using weapons on our enemies.
What a JackAss.

Negotiate first, then when hostages are safe kill them.

Obviously, I'm not referring to the expectation of protecting our citizens.

That's such bullshit.

I agree with the idea that they're ruthless... But why would they understand English and what does that have to do with anything?

Walk softly but carry a big stick! Obummer just apologizes- real gov't protects its citizens. We were going to impeach prezs for lying- what about folks killed?! This prez blows big chunks & is ashamed of America.

SEALs. 9/11/12 proved we're just dealing with animals over there. They probably don't even understand English.

Allied forces? This isn't WWII

The threat of physical harm will always be needed to make some idiot obey. Unfortunately, physical harm gets too powerful and becomes abusive to everyone just because it's easier. If it could be done than I'm all for less violence but I don't think it can, at least not any time soon.

And then we all suffer from radioactive fallout. That sounds like a great plan.

It's pretty hard to keep track of terrorists...

The question is how many more Americans would be captured as hostages if we did negotiate (and therefore give the captors at least part of what they want).
I don't know the answer, but it's something you dismiss too easily.

If you slaughter every one of those kidnappers, they will eventually realize that it would be pointless to kidnap anyone because they will be dead without their demands being met. And if they decided to kill instead of kidnap, the Allied forces will fight terror with terror.

Uncivil behavior should not allow one to gain access to civil society.

Reasonable question. One concern re: negotiating with terrorists is that doing so solidifies bad behavior, just like a child. If they get what they want, they will do it again. I do not believe that we can afford to put ourselves in that type of compromising position where blackmail works.

Ride the hot hand. No one can compete with us (U.S. special ops and intel) when we do it right. I say, if we're tactically able, make it happen. Our guys want to and I guarantee our captives want them to.