Are you pissed by the US pirate response?

**imported_Gears** · 04-11-2009, 04:42 PM

The US Navy is looking like a bunch of panseys in dealing with these Somali pirates. A small group of pirates armed with AK47 and hand guns sitting in a drifting lift boat in the middle of the ocean and all we can do is watch!

So they have the captain as hostage, big deal, shouldn`t really matter. Blow this little boat out of the water and then go after their fellow pirates that have come to show support for surrounded pirates.

If we give these bas_ards one cent ransom this country might as well abolish all our armed forces.

**imported_Jakerooni** · 04-11-2009, 04:48 PM

I don`t see any ransom being paid at all. if anything is a waiting game tatic. We can defaintly outlast them. They`ll give up here soon. I`m utterly suprised the seals didn`t try a night tatical.. But maybe they see this as something not even worth worring about. I mean they`re adrift in a life boat surrounded by... Well us... Where exactly are they going to go?

**Setec Astronomy** · 04-11-2009, 05:03 PM

I wondered about this as well, and why the FBI is involved, instead of these guys getting sniped from the cruiser or knifed by a SEAL team...but then I realized that this must be a law enforcement issue rather than a military one...I`m sure if these guys were considered "enemy combatants" they would have been eliminated a long time ago.

**wfedwar** · 04-11-2009, 05:36 PM

Did anyone seriously expect Obama to do something? We`re sitting so far away, the captain jumped in the water and tried to swim away and we still couldn`t do anything.

**imported_shine** · 04-11-2009, 05:37 PM

I say we put are floating military to use and sink all these toy boats so stuff like this doesn`t happen.

**topnotchtouch** · 04-11-2009, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

I wondered about this as well, and why the FBI is involved, instead of these guys getting sniped from the cruiser or knifed by a SEAL team...but then I realized that this must be a law enforcement issue rather than a military one...I`m sure if these guys were considered "enemy combatants" they would have been eliminated a long time ago.

The life boat is all enclosed with few windows so the opportunity to snipe or sneak on board and kill the pirates without endangering the hostage is pretty low.

If I am not mistaken isn`t it a fairly standard tactic to wait out these kinds of situations rather than go in with guns blazing? The pirates have one hostage so they can`t afford to lose him. We just need to make sure they can`t get to shore with him.

After the actions the captain took to save his crew I think we owe it to him to make every effort to get him out safely.

**Setec Astronomy** · 04-11-2009, 07:08 PM

Hmmm....who knew lifeboats were so high tech these days...I was picturing a dinghy...

**white gecko** · 04-11-2009, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by wfedwar

Did anyone seriously expect Obama to do something? We`re sitting so far away, the captain jumped in the water and tried to swim away and we still couldn`t do anything.

Shows the captain is braver than our president. Coward (not the captain).

**Thomas Dekany** · 04-11-2009, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by Gears

The US Navy is looking like a bunch of panseys in dealing with these Somali pirates. A small group of pirates armed with AK47 and hand guns sitting in a drifting lift boat in the middle of the ocean and all we can do is watch!

The longer "they" make you watch the easier it is for "them" to convince you that "they" need to take more of your rights away to prevent incidents like this.

**IBStoney1** · 04-11-2009, 10:07 PM

Basic hostage taking here, nobody has died. World media is watching.

You can not go in with USN guns blazing. This would be absurd.

**Flawless Image** · 04-11-2009, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by PaintPolisher

Basic hostage taking here, nobody has died. World media is watching.

You can not go in with USN guns blazing. This would be absurd.

why not? seems that we are the only ones that follow `rules` when in confrontation or even war.. No one else we fight against follows these `rules`.. They chop off heads, kill women and children, etc etc..

**Tony1** · 04-12-2009, 07:01 AM

Originally Posted by Flawless Image

why not? seems that we are the only ones that follow `rules` when in confrontation or even war.. No one else we fight against follows these `rules`.. They chop off heads, kill women and children, etc etc..

Are you serious? Your war on Iraq was illegal by any standards. If retard bush was leader of any other country and pulled that BS he would be on trial for war crimes. Also I would not call that concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay "following rules". It`s more like making the rules up as you see fit or changing them to suit your purposes. It`s something I would expect from a third world crap hole. It`s a shame America can`t see what an embarrassment it is and a disgraceful chapter in your history and will be looked back on with shame. The rest of the world already sees it that way.

Having said that I think the situation with the pirates in Somalia is out of control. It`s been going on too long now and they clearly need to be exterminated. Every time these $hit bags get payed ransom it encourages them to continue.

**Spilchy** · 04-12-2009, 08:16 AM

I think people need to calm down. Going in there with our trillion dollar Navy with guns blazing is typical, boring John Wayne nonsense that gets people into more trouble than before. The hostage will die if we do that.

First, people have to realize piracy is a law enforcement issue, not a military one. Secondly, the main objective is to retrieve the hostage unharmed. The pirates are on an enclosed lifeboat with no fuel that is low on fresh water and food. So it becomes a waiting and negotiating game and we can sit there indefinitely. The pirates tried to strengthen their hand by joining up with other boats that had hostages. They failed and were cut off by the Navy. So they are sitting ducks out there helplessly. Given that situation, blowing the sh!t out of them is probably the single dumbest thing that we can do and frankly, in my opinion, be a total embarrassment since we would kill our citizen. If the pirates open fire, of course the Navy can return fire if it deems necessary (and doesn`t require an "A-OK" from Obama). If the pirates kill our citizen, of course the Navy can open fire.

What is important to point out that these guys are greedy criminals, not terrorists. They are smart enough to realize that harming or killing their prize will not yield the dollars that they covet. They are not interesting in dying. They are not Islamic fascists that are on jihad and resort to slicing off people`s heads like psychopaths. It is believed that a portion of their ransom money may go to a Somali terrorist organization (that controls pirate territory) as a form of "protection" money like helpless, legitimate businesses do with the mafia in this country.

I think this will end with us getting our citizen back and these criminals going free without a ransom being paid. Basically a swap; our citizen for their freedom. The Israelis do it all the time. They swap the the release of many Palestinian for the remains of their deceased soldiers killed in action. They also open a can of whoop a$$ too and that doesn`t always achieve their objective. But that is a different discussion.

There is over 1,000,000 square miles of pirate waters. Patrolling all of it is impossible and a waste of military resources. Don`t forget it took the nearest US vessel one day to travel to the scene. They were 350 miles away. Although it would be nice to blow them to smithereens, it will not deter them from trying again, again and again because the odds are in their favor and the lure of money is insatiable. I firmly believe that these cargo ships should be able to hire private security forces like Blackwater so they have heavily armed, expert military personnel on board that can thwart an attack. I believe this tactic is much better because if every cargo ship had superior protection and fire power, it would make it much, much more difficult for the pirates. The odds are greatly reduced in achieving success compared to no security and the hopes that a Navy vessel is somewhere near them in a 1,000,000 square mile pirate domain; not very likely.

**Setec Astronomy** · 04-12-2009, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by Spilchy

I firmly believe that these cargo ships should be able to hire private security forces like Blackwater or others so they have heavily armed, expert military personnel on board that can thwart an attack.

Ha, I was just saying this to someone a few minutes ago. Although the cargo companies should pay for it, even if the US Gov`t paid for it, it would likely be cheaper than the Navy mobilization going on (I happened to be having this discussion with someone whose child was just deployed because of this). Blackwater must have plenty of jobless merc`s since we booted them from Iraq.

**yourgrandma** · 04-12-2009, 08:43 AM

The problem is that the route the victim ships are on takes them through waters where arming thier ships is illegal. So when they get into pirate territory, they have no defense. If it werent a risk to their business, I`m sure the companies who own the merchant vessels would arm them hevily.

I was just involved in a gun rights discussion on another board and this situation mirrors that of countries with disarmed citizenry. People arent allowed to defend themselves, so the criminal element takes hold. Let these guys mount some 20mm cannon on their boats and watch guys in rafts with small arms try to take the boat.

I agree, at this moment, force isn`t a good option in the hostage situation. They will lose at a waiting game. The question in my mind is whether they will try to keep their hostage alive, even if it means risking their own lives in the process by giving him enough food and water to survive.