Jump to content

What's the deal with these Pirates off Somalia?


SD Jarhead

Recommended Posts

A little off topic... :ph34r: 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]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 150
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. :rolleyes:

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idU...ews&sp=true

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. :rolleyes:

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idU...ews&sp=true

 

I wonder what their accountant feels is a fair profit?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...