Loved the movie while it was playing, but I doubt its complete accuracy.
Spoiler Alert - do not continue reading if you plan to see this movie.
During the part where Philips tries to escape and is in the water, the obvious response from the SEALs would be to shoot everyone in the lifeboat - especially the pirate who appears in the door and fires his gun into the water. One could possibly argue that they didn't know who the people in the water were (perhaps just a couple of pirates going out for a moonlight swim?), but once the shooting into the water started, there is little doubt as to where Philips was and that he was in danger of being shot. To not take out the shooter was putting Phillips' life in dire jeopardy.
In all liklihood, the real answer to this is that this part of the plot was not true, but rather concocted by Hollywood to create tension - just as the movie about the rescue of the Americans held hostage in Iran had a lot of Hollywood untruth written into it.
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