“We will seek out the Americans and if we capture them we will slaughter them,” said a 25-year-old pirate based in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail.

“We will target their ships because we know their flags. Last night, an American-flagged ship escaped us by a whisker. We have showered them with rocket-propelled grenades,” boasted Ismail, who did not take part in the attack.

Which presents a great argument for…

slaughtering them first

and

targeting their vessels.

CLEAN THEM OUT…!!!!

Yes, nail, that’s sarcasm. I was merely offering the left wing lunatic/ignoramus perspective.

regularguy: Thanks, I just thought maybe lgm had hijacked your moniker.

By the way, the Navy now has less than 300 war and supply ships afloat and it looks like the numbers will continue to dwindle. We will have one less aircraft carrier under obama.

Those of you who think you could have simply blasted your way out of it are fools. That only works in movies. Real life is much more difficult.

For instance, there were no snipers on the Bainbridge when Phillips jumped/fell off the boat the first time. Even had their been, how could they be sure the guy falling off wasn’t one of the pirates? There was no apparent urgent need to rush to action.

Then the problem of coordinating three precise shots while the shooting platform, the target platform and the targetted heads themselves were all moving. And all three heads had to be vulnerable at the same time that all three snipers were zeroed in.

Give credit where credit is due. This was a fantastic operation all around. And because we acted like a civilized nation by establishing right before using might, we are now free to pursue the real solution, Somalian anarchy.

Why the rush to war with people only trying to better their living conditions?

regularguy: Did you forget the “sarc – off” at the end of your post?

These are pirates, not peace-loving citizens of Somalia.

A comment such as yours would be akin to wondering why the FBI shot Bonnie and Clyde because, after all, they were merely trying to improve their lot in life.

These are pirates, taking other people’s property and putting other people’s lives at risk to include firing upon ships at sea. What they started must be stopped and stopped now!

There is only one way to rid yourself of a cancer… you kill it!

On April 13th, 2009 at 3:36 am, Cosmo said:

Pasadena Phil: I heard speculation over the last week that the reason merchant ships are not armed is to discourage the potential for mutiny amongst crews.

I’m not an expert on this but my understanding is that it is primarily a cost issue. Maybe someone here knowledgeable about international maritime laws can weigh in. Seems to me that arming merchant ships is prohibitively expensive. This is primarily a local problem that might be better dealt with by removing their bases in Somalia and that oft-mentioned mother ship.

We also have troops and operatives on the ground in Ethiopia and Somalia who could factor into a solution.

The main problem is as you said, shippers treat it as a cost of doing business. That guarantees that piracy will continue to be a growth industry that will only grow more greedy and violent. This is a cautionary tale for globalists who don’t believe in national sovereignty and/or American exceptionalism.

On April 13th, 2009 at 10:04 am, max said:

Thanks Joe. You got my back.