I seriously hope you are not talking about the battle of mogadishu. Cause if you are that is the most ignorant statement I have heard today (and I had dinner with my whole family)
Right, but never U.S vessels....If Bush/Cheney were in office they would have invaded..... Libya, due to the danger of WMD getting in the hands of pirates and being sold to Guddafi,........ if not that, then they'd bring freedom to the people. I doubt they would be able to find the pirates, thus my scenario
I’m very aware of the differences between the two idiot, I was just poking fun at Bush, who I’m sure would have acted erratic. My point is, I feel Bush wouldn't have shadowed the hostage boat to negotiate in the first place and if he did, he probably would have took out the whole boat captain and all.
Maybe some of these people are sick of being poor, starving, and having the Western world steal their resources, poison their water, and take all their fish. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. But NOooo we need more manpower abroad, just like I'm sure we'd all be happy if the Chinese military just hung out in the streets here.
And you know this because? You know Bush isn't the one that would have pulled the actual trigger right? Presidents' give the ok to use force, but its the people on the ground who are actually managing the situation. The same sailors served under Bush are now serving under Obama. I am sure the SEALs would have knew not to kill the captain on a rescue mission even if Bush is the president. Again, you are an idiot.
Yes, lot's more ships than I thought, and who said anything about small arms? Equip the company of men with hand held missles that lock onto the ship...blow it out of the water, and let the rest drown. No one will even know......all they will know is that pirates leave shore and never come back. I do like the idea of helping them fix their country though..... DD
Big bad white devils of the west ruining of the life of the good people of Africa! Folks supposed to take prisoners and kill people! They tired of being hungry!
He actually didn't say he knew anything, he said he felt a certain way. He could be right he could be wrong but I don't think that makes him an idiot by any means.
The pirates don't kill people - they actually treat their prisoners pretty decently, as a sort of detente with much more powerful armies. As far as why they do it, I think it's pretty easy to see. They are in Somalia. They have the choice between making $3/day or capturing a ship and trading it for a million dollars. It may not be right, but I don't think it's unexpected.
I doubt the average Somali makes $3 a day. Probably $3 a week at best. Somalia is a country with no government, no industry and not much natural resources (at least resources that can't be exploited because of the war). The one thing they do have is a lot of guns and desperate people used to fighting. Throw in some major shipping channels and it should be no suprise that there is a lot of piracy.
Not sure if you're being serious but this "change" in strategy/diplomacy may lead to more death and pirating. Pirates vow to kill U.S., French Sailors http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/13/somalia.pirates.revenge/index.html Somali Pirates Vow Retaliation http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6369121.html As another already pointed out, Pirates don't usually kill their hostages and treat them kinda decently. I do agree with the tactic we took, but the result of our move may lead to more violence and possibly holding the U.S. responsible for hostage negotiation for other foreign officials, not just our own.
Fair enough, but the pirates aren't doing this to better the situation in their country, they are doing it to make money. I feel for the people in Somalia and I feel for most of the people in Africa who are stuck in war torn parts of that continent. It's a disaster and I wish there was a good solution. That doesn't give them the right to do what they want.
lol @ first sentence. When the US government does illegal things to make money, its OK, but if crazy African pirates do it omg they are the terrorists! Furthermore, most of the 'professional' pirates don't kill, just collect taxes and money for ransom. Us killing pirates won't help this cause much.
I think retaliation is a bad policy for the pirates. Right now, it doesn't seem like anyone has the testicular fortitude to confront pirates on land. But, if citizens of first world countries start getting killed, I'm sure a number of countries will start becoming more aggressive about rooting out the pirates. In the interest of their gravy train, they should probably refrain from escalating. But, I imagine the pirate leaders have their own PR to worry about. After turning around a boat sent to save these four guys and leaving them with the Americans to be killed, they have to watch the morale of their crews, make sure they don't make them look weak or scared, and make them feel like the leadership won't just abandon them when they're in trouble.
When have I defended the US doing illegal things to make money? Oh, that's right I haven't. And yes, if crazy African pirates do it they are terrorists. I don't care if they kill or not. Somehow I doubt that anyone who's ever been held hostage by them comes back the same as they were before being abducted. And you are right, the US killing them individually isn't going to do much to deter them when the potential profits are so big. When do you plan on taking up arms with your comrades abroad Red?
It will be interesting to see where this goes if the pirates do make good on their threats. Given that they can make the same money going against ships from countries who aren't in position to do anything about it except pay, it would be a stupid escalation on their part. You know we are not going to sit by idly while they kill a US ship's crew. They start doing what they threaten to do...this will escalate and they will probably wish they never had made good on their threats. They say we changed the rules of the game. They are going to really change the rules of this game. They still have it easy now. Why they would want to make the game more dangerous to themselves...? Escalating may mean dead hostages...but it also means dead pirates. The ball is pretty much in their court now.
There was a congressman in Somalia when all of this went down and some evildoers lobbed a few mortars at his plane as it took off.
