I would suggest that you reread your post... the one I responded to. I didn't "overreact" at all, nor did I call you "a GOP lemming," although I think that's a cool phrase, which I may use in the future, so thanks! Don't want a reaction like you got from me? Then don't drag up a 30 year old incident involving Carter when someone (like me, in this instance) uses a happy occasion to address a current misconception about Democrats. Thus the post you didn't care for.
Pirates hijacked 3 more ships. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090414/ap_on_re_af/piracy MOMBASA, Kenya – Undeterred by U.S. and French hostage rescues that killed five bandits, Somali pirates brazenly hijacked three more ships in the Gulf of Aden, the waterway at the center of the world's fight against piracy. Pirates have vowed to retaliate for the killing of their colleagues — and the top U.S. military officer said Tuesday he takes those comments seriously. But Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that "we're very well prepared to deal with anything like that." The latest trophy for the pirates was the M.V. Irene E.M., a Greek-managed bulk carrier sailing from the Middle East to South Asia, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. The Irene was attacked and seized in the middle of the night Tuesday — a rare tactic for the pirates. U.S. Navy Lt. Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said the Irene was flagged in the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and carried 23 Filipino crew. Choong reported a crew of 21, and there was no immediate way to reconcile the figures. A maritime security contractor, speaking on condition of anonymity because it is a sensitive security issue, said the ship put out a distress signal "to say they had a suspicious vessel approaching. That rapidly turned into an attack and then a hijacking." "They tried to call in support on the emergency channels, but they never got any response," the contractor said. On Monday, Somali pirates also seized two Egyptian fishing boats in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's northern coast, according to Egypt's Foreign Ministry, which said the boats carried 18 to 24 Egyptians total. A flotilla of warships from nearly a dozen countries has patrolled the Gulf of Aden and nearby Indian Ocean waters for months. They have halted several attacks on ships this year, but say the area is so vast they can't stop all hijackings. Choong said pirate attacks this year had risen to 77, with 18 of those ships hijacked and 16 vessels with 285 crew still in pirates' hands. Each boat carries the potential of a million-dollar ransom. The latest seizures come after Navy SEAL snipers rescued American ship captain Richard Phillips on Sunday by killing three young pirates who held him captive in a drifting lifeboat for five days. A fourth pirate surrendered after seeking medical attention for a wound he received in trying to take over Phillips' vessel, the Maersk Alabama. Phillips is aboard a Navy vessel at an undisclosed location, Christensen said Tuesday. He was initially taken aboard the Norfolk, Va.-based USS Bainbridge and then flown to the San Diego-based USS Boxer for a medical exam. In Washington, President Barack Obama appeared to move the piracy issue higher on his agenda, vowing the United States would work with nations around the world to fight the problem. "I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region and to achieve that goal, we're going to have to continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks," Obama said at a news conference Monday. The 19 crew members of the Alabama celebrated their skipper's freedom with beer and an evening barbecue Monday in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, said crewman Ken Quinn. The vessel's chief mate was among those urging strong U.S. action against piracy. "It's time for us to step in and put an end to this crisis," Shane Murphy said. "It's a crisis. Wake up." The U.S. is considering new options to fight piracy, including adding Navy gunships along the Somali coastline and launching a campaign to disable pirate "mother ships," according to military officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have been made yet. In Burlington, Vt., Phillips' wife, Andrea Phillips thanked Obama, who approved the dramatic sniper operation. "With Richard saved, you all just gave me the best Easter ever," she said in a statement. The four pirates that attacked the Alabama were between 17 and 19 years old, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. "Untrained teenagers with heavy weapons," Gates told students and faculty at the Marine Corps War College. "Everybody in the room knows the consequences of that." U.S. officials were now considering whether to bring the fourth pirate, who surrendered shortly before the sniper shootings, to the United States or possibly turn him over to Kenya. Both piracy and hostage-taking carry life prison sentences under U.S. law. The French navy late Monday handed over the bodies of two Somali pirates killed in a hostage rescue operation last week to authorities in Somali's semiautonomous northern region of Puntland and locals buried the bodies.
They were all teenagers? That's messed up. I don't know what to make of your handle. The post makes me think the worst.
The pirates have already been killing people. I don't think us killing them back really changes their modus operandi.
Looks like they have captured a 4th boat today. Would it be realistic to setup some sort of naval blockade around the Somalia coast?
I was thinking about that. Somalia is already suffering a lot. What would a blockade do to the non-pirate population?
Does a blockade necessarily have to cut off all naval activity to and from Somalia? I mean they could still let bigger ships carrying aid, food, fuel, and other supplies in but not let the smaller, faster crafts that the pirates use in and out with regularity. Why not setup dummy ships too, that look like cargo ships but are full of trained and heavily armed military personnel? Like I said, I don't know if any of it is realistic though.
Why's the media going so nuts about pirates all of a sudden? It's not like this stuff is anything new. I wonder if this is a precursor to convince the American people to back an invasion of Somalia or something?
I think it is more of the fact that the pirates hijacked their first American based crew than it is to flare up some reason to invade Somalia. When things like this hit close to home, you hear more about them plain and simple.
Because an American was taken hostage? Because the pirates were more brazen and went further out into the ocean than normal? Because it ended with Navy SEALS sniping the pirates? I can't think of anything really..
The media is trying to manufacture a war with Somalia? Or, are the news organizations in the president's pocket? Anyway, the piracy has been a mounting problem. They've doing it for awhile, but recently they've gotten better, capturing more and bigger ships and costing shippers more and more money. It wasn't too long ago that some shipping companies decided to sail around the Horn of Africa to avoid the Somali pirates. The companies weren't responding to media coverage but to the growing danger and expense of these pirates. Unless the news organizations are in the pocket of the big shipping companies and they're trying to manuever Obama into a war in Somalia...
Well, here's the escalation... http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/15/somalia.pirates/index.html They were unsuccessful, but they fired rocket-propelled grenades at a US cargo ship.
When I was reading an article about their threats, I was caught off guard by the fact that 15 ships are currently being held by pirates as we speak.
I was watching some political show yesterday, they were saying that you needed about 250 ships to patrol the area.
I don't understand why they don't use planes or helicopters. They don't really have to patrol the whole area, just establish a shipping lane and fly up and down that route.
Yeah, it was a big deal here because it was American, but they've hijacked something like 4-6 ships in the last 3 days. At any given time, they have plenty of ships and hostages in their possession. It's a pretty big enterprise - if they are getting $1 million per ship, they probably have quite the collection of arms at this point too.
Well, it appears the French have the right idea. They captured 11 pirates. This is what we should be doing as well. They want to kill French and American hostages....then be prepared to be captured and prosecuted for piracy. Or, possibly use their captured pirates as a bargaining tool to get hostages freed. The pirates are not the only ones who can play this game.
this is how the mafia formed, lack of gov't control, these people start "taxing" on their own to operate in their territory.
