US options limited to prevent, fight Somali pira

[The Aussie]

And we all know why. If you arrest them you have to take them to the US and give them citizenship and housing.
Sink the pricks and any still swimming around should be machine gunned in the water.


WASHINGTON (AP) — The seizure of an American crew and cargo demonstrates the limits of U.S. military power in an international cops-and-robbers chase along a huge, lawless stretch of African coastline.
The outcome for the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama and its crew off the coast of Somalia was still unclear early Thursday. The crew had retaken control of the cargo ship from a band of pirates, but the captain was still held by the attackers in one of the ship's lifeboats.
"We're deeply concerned and we're following it very closely," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said. "More generally, the world must come together to end the scourge of piracy."
President Barack Obama was closely following the pirate-hostage drama, the first of its kind in modern history involving a U.S. crew, said Denis McDonough, a senior foreign policy adviser at the White House.
"We have watched with alarm the increasing threat of piracy," McDonough said. "The administration has an intense interest in the security of navigation."
An American Navy destroyer, the USS Bainbridge, arrived off the Horn of Africa on Thursday near the Maersk Alabama, Kevin Speers, a spokesman for the ship company Maersk, told AP Radio. U.S. officials said earlier that the Bainbridge and at least six other vessels were headed to the area.
The Bainbridge was among several U.S. ships, including the cruiser USS Gettysburg, that had been patrolling in the region. But they were about 345 miles and several hours away when the Maersk Alabama was seized, officials said.
The Obama administration has so far done no better than its predecessor to thwart the growing threat of piracy. Since January, pirates have staged 66 attacks, and they are still holding 14 ships and 260 crew members as hostages, according to the International Maritime Bureau, a watchdog group based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


What a load of Obama crap!


http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn101/Pictures77_2008/Bainbridge_in_Suez.jpg

[Michael]

Crew on US ship say Somali pirates hold captain

NAIROBI, Kenya – The American crew of a hijacked U.S.-flagged ship retook control of the vessel from Somali pirates Wednesday but the captain was still being held hostage in a lifeboat hundreds of miles off the Horn of Africa, crew members said.

U.S. officials said an American warship and a half-dozen other ships were headed to the scene.

Ship operator Maersk Lines Limited confirmed that the crew had taken back the 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama and were unharmed but the captain was being held by pirates away from the cargo ship.
Source (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090408/ap_on_re_af/piracy)

Three cheers for the crew of the Alabama! :banana:

Looks like this story is still developing regarding the captain and the fate of the pirates...

[Michael]

And we all know why. If you arrest them you have to take them to the US and give them citizenship and housing.
Sink the pricks and any still swimming around should be machine gunned in the water.

While I may share you opinion on the proper method of dealing with pirates caught on the high seas, I disagree that taking any of them into US custody requires the US to grant them citizenship.

I'm not certain about what has been the process so far, but I believe that previously captured 'pirates' have been transfered to custody of Kenya for trial there.

Btw, USS Bainbridge in Suez is an awesome photo! :thumbsup:

[Dominick]

I wonder what the cargo was or is. This ship sails under the MSP (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/maersk-a.htm)(Maritime Security Program) which is a hybrid of commercial and military interests. It's quite possible this ship had military supplies for Iraq on board. Obviously the pirates weren't aware of this as they assaulted it with only 4 men.
Imagine the consequences if they had succeeded.

[partofme]

I wonder what the cargo was or is. This ship sails under the MSP (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/maersk-a.htm)(Maritime Security Program) which is a hybrid of commercial and military interests. It's quite possible this ship had military supplies for Iraq on board. Obviously the pirates weren't aware of this as they assaulted it with only 4 men.
Imagine the consequences if they had succeeded.

Likely many things. I know part of it was supposed to actually be food aid for Somalia, Kenya, and a couple other African nations among other things.

[Michael]

I wonder what the cargo was or is. This ship sails under the MSP (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/maersk-a.htm)(Maritime Security Program) which is a hybrid of commercial and military interests. It's quite possible this ship had military supplies for Iraq on board. Obviously the pirates weren't aware of this as they assaulted it with only 4 men.
Imagine the consequences if they had succeeded.
Apparently that is due to the status of the shipping line itself, not this particular cargo. Maersk is the largest private shipping contractor for the US government or military. They are an 'approved vendor' as it were.

According to news reports I've seen, the ship was half empty and carrying only food cargo.

[Dominick]

Likely many things. I know part of it was supposed to actually be food aid for Somalia, Kenya, and a couple other African nations among other things.


According to news reports I've seen, the ship was half empty and carrying only food cargo.
Says who ? The military ? :angel:

Im well aware I'm going on a hunch here but weren't aid ships already supposed to travel in convoy ?

[partofme]

Says who ? The military ? :angel:

Im well aware I'm going on a hunch here but weren't aid ships already supposed to travel in convoy ?

It's what I saw on a news program I was watching while working out so I don't know the source other than it being reported by NBC Nightly News.

[Americano]

With US terrorist paranoia still warming hearts, wallets and budgets of the MIC, wouldn't it be considered a security breach for a DoD vendor to admit it was carrying say cluster bombs to Israel even if that cargo had or had not already been offloaded?

[The Aussie]

While I may share you opinion on the proper method of dealing with pirates caught on the high seas, I disagree that taking any of them into US custody requires the US to grant them citizenship.

I'm not certain about what has been the process so far, but I believe that previously captured 'pirates' have been transfered to custody of Kenya for trial there.

Btw, USS Bainbridge in Suez is an awesome photo! :thumbsup:



Well just look at the fiasco when Obama recently asked other countries including and especially Australia to take the released Guantanamo Bay terrorists.I take it that the US still has them because nobody would take them. As we said, if they are all fine law abiding citizens why do you want someone else to take them?

Further to this, the US recently told the world at large that the US Navy would take care of the pirates as long as they [the US] didn't have to take them. It is still in the thinking back in the states after taking the Korean refugees, the VietNam refugees, Iraqi refugees and anyone else that are the flotsam of foreign wars.

[Americano]

Well just look at the fiasco when Obama recently asked other countries including and especially Australia to take the released Guantanamo Bay terrorists.I take it that the US still has them because nobody would take them. As we said, if they are all fine law abiding citizens why do you want someone else to take them?

Further to this, the US recently told the world at large that the US Navy would take care of the pirates as long as they [the US] didn't have to take them. It is still in the thinking back in the states after taking the Korean refugees, the VietNam refugees, Iraqi refugees and anyone else that are the flotsam of foreign wars.

US immigration potential for Iraq nationals is very limited. The US war on terror has designated them as a high national security risk in the US due to widespread hatred of the US by Iraq citizens. I don't think it was a change in policy, just continuation of the program our military industrial complex implemented long ago to further ME and Asian hegemony.

[The Aussie]

For what ever reason, it still clouds US thinking enough to finally wise up.
A temporary remedy has been found in Kenya as mentioned, but what happens after that? Bulging camps full of arrested ex pirates applying for residency in the West? Including soft touch Obama's America?