It's one thing if they are attacking another nations ship but this is getting rediculous.

I think it's time to start kicking some butt!



link to story

 

It's unbelievable that this can happen in modern society. If there ever was a nation tat needs the help of the UN, it would be this Somalia.
But instead, we pay a ransom to get the loot back

 

Sometimes it's mind boggling to think that piracy is even still in existence (and thriving no less).

 

The real kicker is that the ship was on its way to deliver emergency food relief for Mombassa, Kenya.

There's an easy solution to the problem: 1 security guard + 1 .50 cal machine gun + lots of ammo = no more pirates.

 

That's what I don't understand.

I think it should be required that every US Government ship, whether contracted or not, should be required to have security onboard.

Enough security to atleast fight off a dozen priates.

Yea you would think that a few 50 cal machine guns would take care of that.

AS long as there are enough to protect the circumference of the ship.

 

There can be no weapons onboard a merchant marine ship. International Maritime laws prohibit any weapons and depending on the port where the ship is, search laws apply and in Honk Kong, if you are found to have a gun, you are arrested. The penalty for having a gun in Hong Kong is death- and they don't play around with it like we do here. Yer dead in a matter of hours after the verdict. So there won't be any weapons in the near future.
FWIW, Yahoo News is claiming the US crew has taken the ship back by force. They apparently overwhelmed one of the guards and took his weapon. All but one pirate is now in the water. The Captain is still being held hostage by one pirate.
The question I have about this is where the heck was our military? The crew fought these pirates for 5 hours before they came aboard. Five hours and no F16's? I wonder which of our military generals was in charge of this screw up. One F16 could have handled the situation and splashed the "speedboats" and the mothership.

 

They say the closest ship was 350 some miles away. I think it's pretty hard to patrol an ocean.

We probabaly don't want to use a aircraft carrier. Not sure.

With regards to a commercial boats not being allowed to have weapons on board..................................

..........................Lunicuar(SP?) you listening?

There is a importand lesson to be learned here!!!!

 

Why not activate an old escort carrier? They could easily carry 15 Tomcats and can be on the scene in a matter of minutes, not hours. But we could have had F16s on the scene in less than 2 hours. It's not like we don't have bases in the area that an F16 couldn't have gotten there in 2 hours. Yes, he would have had to refuel to make it back but an A10 tanker is not a problem. They are fairly common over there.

If you have an armed merchant ship, it now becomes a warship according to International Law. If you have crew members that are armed, they are now considered combatants and could be held for war crimes. Some of the ships that frequent the area are now slick on the sides which makes it hard for the pirates to board and some now have an electrical fence that they would have to climb over. I'll bet that's gonna be shocking news to the pirates.

The good news is that the crew has control over the ship. The Captain is still a hostage at last report I saw. I'm assuming by reports he is not on the cargo ship but in one of the little boats. I guess you just can't get an American crew to co-operate with pirates. they took their guns away from them and made several jump over board according to reports.

 

I would love to see the crew rescued safely during a raid, and then have every single one of the pirates killed and tossed overboard to the sharks.

Those people are animals with no regard for human life.
Dirty bastards.

 

Need to setup an ambush. Make it seem like they are going to take over then have like 50 Marines come out and mow them down in a lead storm.

 

these pirate attacks are proof of that statement...

 

efurin (sp) you listening?

Greater minds than us have thought this through, there are lessons to be learned here!

 

 

Adding guns for hire on these ships will just escalate the problem. Piracy is big business in those parts. Add security, the pirates will just send larger packs. I think manpower is the most expendable thing these ingrates have.

May deter some, but within weeks you'll have a war going on, and security persons will just get hurt or killed. So far, no one has ever been hurt or killed by these pirates, or so they said on the news.

 

So what do you propose? Just keep paying ransoms?

If that's your thoughts I would like your address cause I need some money too.