Capt. Richard Phillips freed from pirates

[Ed62]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa...rss_topstories

Ed

[Uncle Cracker]

Time to get tough on these thugs... Need to make them realize that dyin' ain't much of a living...

[LCHIEN]

The scary thing is that reporters have interviewed other pirates.
They seem to be very outraged that some of their brethen have been killed, but that kidnapping world citizens and taking their property and holding it for ransom is perfectly OK.

Are people in Somalia and Nigeria just not subscribers to the moral scruples of the world?

[OpaDC]

"Seas in the area were getting rough at the time of the rescue, Gortney said, and the Bainbridge was towing the lifeboat presumably to calmer waters with a towline about 82 feet long.

A senior defense official told CNN that each pirate was shot in the head.

After the shooting, special operations personnel shimmied along the tow rope to ensure the pirates were dead and freed Phillips, the official said."

Kudos to our military personnel working under adverse conditions.

Until recently it has been mostly a risk free operation for the pirates. With this and the French rescue a couple of days ago (which unfortunately resulted in one hostage death along with 2 pirates) maybe some of them will choose a new line of work. Although if history is any indication ...

[LCHIEN]

The pirates are clearly aware that other countries consider it (piracy on the high seas) a crime. They do it because its profitable and in the mess of a country they live in there's not much else to do that pays well. While they say the warlords who sponsor them (with money for equipment and protection while on land) take a huge share of the ransoms (running 2-3 million in cash per vessel) the actual pirates themselves probably get to split a few hundred thousand between them. $50 thou to a impoverished former farmer or fisherman plus the social status is probably still worth a chance of getting killed if the chance is only 1%. We need to raise the probablilkity to 30-50% w/o raising the ransoms and getting hostages killed, which will be difficult. The stakes may rise if the pirates start equipping themselves with S/A missles like stingers (for use against aircraft and helos) and other heavy anti-tank weapons bigger than AK47s, 50 caliber machinie guns and RPGs which they now possess. Which they have the money to buy and they are available on the world's black market for arms.

[jackellis]

Like the mafia and other criminal gangs, the thugs in Somalia have their own code of "ethics". The good news is that they now understand they could be killed. The bad news is that they have less to lose by killing others.

However I also think our society has to take some of the blame. Bad folks around the world get mixed messages about our willingness to make sacrifices. Pulling out of Somalia and Beirut saved American lives but it also signalled that they can wait us out.

I don't fault the Navy for taking those guys out but we have to understand that there's a price to be paid - on both sides.

[just started]

The scary thing is that reporters have interviewed other pirates.
They seem to be very outraged that some of their brethen have been killed, but that kidnapping world citizens and taking their property and holding it for ransom is perfectly OK.

Are people in Somalia and Nigeria just not subscribers to the moral scruples of the world?

They act like rabid animals so treat them that way - kill on sight!

3 down - 300,000 to go.

[BobSch]

Perhaps it's time to react as we did with the Barbary pirates on the other coast of Africa back in the early 1800s.

...to the shores of Tripoli.

[leehljp]

I am afraid they will learn from this. With one hostage, they know that they will be killed if they kill the lone hostage. Next time, there will be several hostages.

The sharpshooters were well trained and worked as a team for sure.

[Kristofor]

$20,000,000.00 fee assessed to any company that pays ransom for their ship/people.

For the ones who don't want to play ball, we should sink the ship ourselves to deny the pirates any gain... Bad luck for the next folks who get hijacked but the problem solves itself in a month as shipping companies start using security details during dangerous transits and the pirates make nothing even if they do take the ship...

[edit]

Or if that's too much diplomatic heat let it be known that this policy only applies to American flagged ships and any others that want to sign on, and let the tax/regulation dodgers fend for themselves... Our boats don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than the other campers...

[radhak]

If all countries could do something similar (to the US/French action now, and the Indian action last year), it might make some real impact.

Now they are threatening to kill American/French hostages at capture. Almost incredible how thick they can be. They only invited stronger response to their threat of piracy now on : maybe armed convoys, air support, etc.

For all their crafty lawlessness, they forget that their arena of play is the open seas. Till now, it worked to their advantage with it's vastness. But it can be their downfall too : bombing a pirate vessel sky-high is easy if one doesn't have to worry about collateral damage around it. Creating identification patterns/network for legitimate vessels will need international collaboration, but the time is ripe for that now.

The only thing running for them till now was there were scarcely any casualties in all their prior hijacks, keeping countries sanguine about their threat.

[Bruce Cohen]

I assume that we know just where these guys hang out.

I haven't seen a really good Napalm Run since 1969, ya gotta just love them crispy critters

Remember, whatever goes around, comes around.

Bruce

[BobSch]

I think if I was sailing in the Gulf of Aden or the western Indian Ocean I'd be sure to bring along a case or two of RPGs and make sure several of the crew knew how to use them.

[billwmeyer]

Sharpshooters

Being from Kansas and a certified landlubber, I was impressed with the sharpshooters. Then I read that the seas were rough, and I realized that three sharpshooters made perfect headshots on three pirates, when the lifeboat would have been bobbing in the ocean and the Navy ship also bobbing in the ocean. Those shots sound impossible. Now I am really impressed.

Bill

[radhak]

The more I think about it, it seems incredible that they pulled it off with the best possible results : 3 separate, barely visible targets on a bobbing boat, shot by 3 different snipers from another vessel, in the dark... Did some hollywood stunt director script that, or what !

When I read about it to my daughter on sunday, she asked, 'why don't they shoot them down from a distance', and i said, "well, they don't want to hit the hostage". So now she's all told you so...