ExiledInIllinois Posted November 20, 2008 Posted November 20, 2008 A little off topic... Check out this "pirate" roaming the streets of Chicago looking to shakedown business! The Safety Squeeze Back to East African pirates. Like blzrul said: Looks like the pirates got their ransom, 1.7m or something. There's a good way to discourage them. During the 1930's everyone thinks that the mob was the biggest problem... Actually, one of the biggest types of crime during that era was kidnapping... You want to know why? Because back then, the tactic was just to pay the ransom. My point? The more they get the ransom... The more they do it again... NO! Really! [/sarcasm off]
SD Jarhead Posted November 21, 2008 Author Posted November 21, 2008 No. The merchant marine fleet is essentially unarmed. I respectfully disagree with your premise that we should do something in this case. The Saudis own the cargo. Let them build their own navy and police the high seas on their own behalf. We and they (the Saudis) ostensibly fought the "war on terror" "over there" so we each wouldn't fight it on our own soil. Enough's enough. They're a spineless bunch of ingrates like the Kuwaitis who wouldn't take up arms to defend their own selves, wives, families and country. They'd rather buy off the bad guys or pay for the service of being rid of them - which is much as they value women - like a pack of cigarettes. This is their MO and they're repeating it now by negotiating with these "pirates". This is nothing new. From before the First Barbary War, the world's been set upon by cockroaches and vermin such as these "pirate" criminals. I say, if a US ship or citizens are attacked and/or held hostage - give them the full force of our military in reprisal - and/or send in the SEALS at midnight to cut their throats and throw their entrails overboard. However, absent an assault upon our direct interests - let the buyer (cargo owner) beware and suffer the consequences of their own actions or inactions as the case may be. I'm with you. Let the other nations police their own. But if they screw with our ships...it's on!
elegantelliotoffen Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/539942 Can't we just waste these pricks on land? Somalia's increasingly brazen pirates are building sprawling stone houses, cruising in luxury cars, marrying beautiful women – even hiring caterers to prepare Western-style food for their hostages. And in an impoverished country where every public institution has crumbled, they have become heroes in the steamy coastal dens they operate from because they are the only real business in town. "The pirates depend on us, and we benefit from them," said Sahra Sheik Dahir, a shop owner in Haradhere, the nearest village to where a hijacked Saudi Arabian supertanker carrying $100 million (dollar figures U.S.) in crude was anchored Wednesday. These boomtowns are all the more shocking in light of Somalia's violence and poverty: Radical Islamists control most of the country's south, meting out lashings and stonings for accused criminals. There has been no effective central government in nearly 20 years, plunging this arid African country into chaos.
ExiledInIllinois Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/539942 Can't we just waste these pricks on land? Shhh... The hostages are getting Western style food... We are rebuilding Iraq.
finknottle Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 A little broadening of the horizons, coutesy of the Indian press: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/21/stories...12156791100.htm
Steely Dan Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 A little broadening of the horizons, coutesy of the Indian press: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/21/stories...12156791100.htm What a shame for them there pi-rates!
SageAgainstTheMachine Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 come on, why is this pirate problem so hard to solve? everybody knows that the only way to kill pirates is with ninjas...
Steely Dan Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 come on, why is this pirate problem so hard to solve? everybody knows that the only way to kill pirates is with ninjas... Ninjas with lasers!
erynthered Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 Blackwater says " Give us a shot" They might be the right group to take those bastards on. NO RULES!!
finknottle Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 Blackwater says " Give us a shot" They might be the right group to take those bastards on. NO RULES!! Leave it all to India - at least they've got the balls to use lethal force.
Wacka Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 Ninjas with lasers! No. SHARKS with frickin' laser beams!
Steely Dan Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 No. SHARKS with frickin' laser beams! I know, it was an Austin Powers reference while still keeping to the ninja theme. How about ninjas with lasers riding sharks with lasers and remoras with lasers riding the sharks too!
Chump Change Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 Maybe if we give them food they'll leave them alone. They're Somalis and starving so maybe that's all they want. If that doesn't work, then shoot them.
Steely Dan Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 Maybe if we give them food they'll leave them alone. They're Somalis and starving so maybe that's all they want. If that doesn't work, then shoot them. Give them poisoned food! As Deano suggested use bait ships and I say stock them with poisoned food.
Chump Change Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 There's so much material in this article, I don't know where to start. OK, here's my favorite: A pirate identifying himself as Jamii Adam told the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that negotiations were taking place with the ship's owners, saying the ransom demanded was not excessive but declining to give a figure. He said it had cost the pirates $500,000 to seize the vessel. "We bore many costs to hijack it," he said. http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idU...ews&sp=true
Steely Dan Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 There's so much material in this article, I don't know where to start. OK, here's my favorite: A pirate identifying himself as Jamii Adam told the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that negotiations were taking place with the ship's owners, saying the ransom demanded was not excessive but declining to give a figure. He said it had cost the pirates $500,000 to seize the vessel. "We bore many costs to hijack it," he said. http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idU...ews&sp=true I wonder what their accountant feels is a fair profit?
Chump Change Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 I wonder what their accountant feels is a fair profit? It sounds like he's been trained by Progressives in the art of making an argument.
finknottle Posted November 21, 2008 Posted November 21, 2008 Yes, I am 51, and remember it well. But, I don't believe that, because something didn't work once, you never to anything remotely related to it, again. I think you learn from your mistakes, and do a better job, next time. Also, see above. My reason for asking was not as a veiled criticism of our actions then. Rather, you simply seemed unaware that there is no functioning government in Somalia capable of policing the pirates. A youngster can be excused for assuming otherwise, but people who remember those days generally remember the lawlessness of that failed state if they remember anything at all. It seemed a stretch to accuse the government of complicity when do not even have civil police, let alone a navy.
The Dean Posted November 22, 2008 Posted November 22, 2008 My reason for asking was not as a veiled criticism of our actions then. Rather, you simply seemed unaware that there is no functioning government in Somalia capable of policing the pirates. A youngster can be excused for assuming otherwise, but people who remember those days generally remember the lawlessness of that failed state if they remember anything at all. It seemed a stretch to accuse the government of complicity when do not even have civil police, let alone a navy. As far as I know the TFG in still in charge, at least on paper, in Somalia. A strong gov't, no? Strong enough to make a call or sign a paper allowing foreign forces to come get their stuff and take care of the pirates? Absolutely.
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