For perspective on the U.S. effort in the Strait, we turn to Ian Rolby, president of

Auxilium Worldwide, a nonprofit organization that focuses on ocean governance and maritime

law and security. And retired rear admiral Andy Loiselle had a 35-year career in the Navy

and has extensive experience operating ships and aircraft in the Middle East. He's now with the military consulting firm.

Thanks very much, both of you.

Welcome back to the News Hour.

Ian Robbie, let me start with you.

How are these shipping and insurance officials that you spoke to today responding to Project

Freedom, and are they willing now to send their ships through the strait?

Well, I think it's hard to garner any great degree of enthusiasm when so many of the statements

over the last few months have been met with reality at a very different point.

In other words, there has been a lot of enthusiasm behind announcements in the past that

the strait was open, that things were going to be over in a

couple of days or two weeks, and here we are. And so I think many of them are skeptical and at the

same time, very cautious because at the end of the day, human beings' lives are at stake.

These are not just big hunks of metal. They're moving with people on board. And so what we're risking is both the

loss of those lives as well as the potential for a catastrophic environmental situation that

could become detrimental to the passage through the strait itself if one of these vessels

were to entirely be blown up or sink and spill. And so this is not something that is being seen as being the end

of the situation. It is potentially the next step. But we're far from the confidence needed to

have a mass exodus or a return by other ships that are looking to come into the Gulf. So this is,

this is far from over.

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