First U.S. Citizen Taken by Pirates Since 1804

Those funny acoustic wave emitters could do wonders.

 

Probably started covering their ears or something. There's always the option to go melee but there's already enough bloodshed.

 

This is an absolute disgrace. While I'm not completly blaming Obama, I don't believe this type of crap would have ever happened under Reagan, Bush or even Clinton. I feel bad for the captain, but a message needs to be sent that this nonsense will not be tolerated. Can someone explain to me why a SEAL team hasn't attacked the lifeboat under the cover of darkness? I figure no matter what happens, the captain has at best a 33% chance of survival. The pirates on the other hand should have one of two options, prison or death. The U.S. Navy should also sink every one of the "pirate ships" that have come out to assist. To make it even worse, Hilliary seems to thinkt the pirates are amusing. For once, she should consult her husband. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have considered it a laughing matter.

 

True, but as you posted it hasn't happened to one or our ships and one of our captains.

 

The usual procedure is for shipping companies to pay for his release and the captain will be returned, atleast this has been the case regarding past acts piracy and kidnappings near the coast of Somalia. These pirates are fairly harmless as terrorists go since they usually treat their prisoners quite well and have so far returned their prisoners upon recieving their ransom. So the reason why there has not been a military operation is because the captain would likely get killed. According to an article I read at BBC it's usually cheaper for the shipping companies to pay the ransoms than risking military operations that risk their vessels and personel.

 

In this case the ship got away. It is only the captain who is at risk.

 

Piracy isn't new near Somalia. The French, for years now, have been the most aggressive Navy as far as engaging piracy is concerned, with the tacit support of the US, who have stationed a Marine force in Djibouti, a French base. They have been regularly conducting operations against Somali pirates over the last years. The German Navy is operating there, as so the stuff is in the news in Germany. The consequence of this endemic piracy was that captains have been advised to stay clear of the Horn of Africa, and to stay a presumably safe distance away from the Somali coast.

The reports I heard cited as a reason for the recent surge in piracy not that the pirates are exploiting Obama being a liberal Democrat puss*, but rather that the fair weather allowed them to venture out into the ocean farther in their little, not seaworthy powerboats.

 

I agree with Ragusa here. While China's recent activity may easily be seen as testing the waters with Obama, I'm betting these pirates don't really care who our president is. Hell, they may not even pay attention to world politics at all.

At the same time, I believe a forceful response (probably executed by an elite SEAL or marine team) is the best option at this point. If left alone, or worse, encouraged by successful ransoms, this will only get worse. If responded to with force, while at the same time addressing the problems in Somalia on the ground (aid programs and the like), it may cost something to begin with, but has a real chance of actually stopping this once and for all.

 

I personally think a Decatur-type response would work best. Fine, use the Marines (they train for this kind of thing) to rescue Phillips -- but the pirate bases need to be decimated. Every boat leaving various ports needs to be challenged.

 

Arrr!

I agree with T2. Piracy is an international crime, it is robbery, kidnapping, extortion. It must not be tolerated. The French do the right thing. So sink them. Burn their boats. I imagine Super Cobras and occasional raids will be good at that. And if that sort of engagement also results in capturing or sinking illegal fishing (i.e. poaching) or trash dumping expeditions (sinking in that case would not be so smart), all the better.

Piracy is an off-season occupation for Somali fishermen, and a very lucrative one for that. Or maybe not quite. Still, all they need is a couple guys, a powerboat, guns and a few RPG and they can get themselves and their clan rich quick - all of which are at hand in Somalia. A solution would be to ban shipping companies from paying off pirates, as it is precisely this what makes the work so lucrative. To prevent them from doing this means there will be casualties among the shipping crews. That will be hard to swallow.

The trap I hope nobody will run into is to try to 'civilise' the Somali wilderness 'to drain the swamp'. They are darn happy with being 'uncivilised'. No attempt at nation building please. It didn't go all that well the last time. It is more cost effective and less prone to failure to simply and probably violently drive the point home that piracy is a very dangerous and not lucrative business and that fishing is far healthier and offers better long term prospects, like survival or not being deported for trial in Kenia.

 

Well, he's been freed now. 3 pirates were killed. Boo hoo.

...wait, did that sound insensitive?

 

Great that the Captain is okay, even better that 3 pirates are dead and the other prisoner. He should be tried and then executed.

I was talking about this with my stepfather, and we both thought a good idea would be to send a carrier down from the gulf and always be ready with warplanes and attack helicopters to swiftly intervene when any ships are attacked by pirates.

After a ship has been saved, the U.S. government could send a bill to the shipping company to recoup the cost of fuel and ammunitions. It would surely be much less expensive than paying ransom, and it would be good training for our pilots. It would also drive home the lesson that piracy gets you killed.

Paying them ransom will only make the problem worse.

 

Yes, it does sound insensitive. But I don't care about being sensitive to these pirate idiots. I'll take it one step further and say that they should all have been killed.

 

Pretty sure that fuel, ammunition and other assorted cost would cost far more than the ransoms the pirates ask. I think that has been the kicked, these guys seize ships worth many many millions and ask for quite modest ransoms which has made any proper response not worthwhile.

The background is a bit interesting though, I saw a documentary the other day and in it some Somali journalist explained that most of these pirates used to be fishermen but since the collapse of the Somali state and the lack of any control of their territorial water foreign fishing ships have sucked the ocean dry leaving a bunch of ticked off and desperate fishermen around.

I must also say that is always so fun to see people get extremely upset if something happens to a person who happened to be born in the same country while as long as it happens to strange foreigners it is completely irrelevent and uninteresting. This goes for pretty much all people and it has always bugged me. Like the tsunami, a few hundred Swedes died and it was a huge disaster, that a few hundred thousand natives got killed as a well was just a sideshow. I mean, I dont care much about any of them but at least I care equally less about the stranger from the same country as me as the stranger from another country.

 

The US military is not a for profit organization. It's job is to protect the lives and securty of Americans. And they obviously do that pretty well.

I could not agree more, Scot.