Somali pirates and their easy targets....

[NuBer92]

Well, first of i dont know why we are being so civil with the "people". These are the same who committed genocide, rape and worse (what could be worse than rape), so obviously they have no moral scope and dont care about anyone else except their own hides. What you do is send in the SEALs or Delta Force and prob solved.
Either that or invade with a Battalion of soldiers and let them see how Americans respond to thugs and rouge goat herders.

[Excaliber]

Those are trade routes in international waters...Open ocean...

Not a coastal, or even a territorial or littoral claim that has violated to warrant these ever increasing attacks by these "pirates"...

These are not terrorists or even pirates in the conventional sense...These are criminals...

Turning them into "chum" will be about the only message they will understand...And that harsh reality is something some may find a bit uncomfortable to fathom...

So while the international community struggles with reality, and will undoubtable come up with some sort of weak political solution (that will fail before it even begins) there will be more and more of this happening...

Until we light that fuse, "From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli..." that will be the only way this re-occuring problem will be taken care of, until the next time it re-surfaces...

If you guys thought this area is bad...You should do a little research on the Straight of Malacca...

An interesting bit of history:

Initially the Somali pirates focused on fishing boats operating in coastal waters. The fishermen apparently don't watch American news channels and didn't know that "arming crewmen would increase the danger to them" ...... so they armed themselves and actively defended their vessels. That's when the pirates turned to easier, larger, and more lucrative prey - the merchant vessels of nations that don't have the common sense or intestinal fortitude of Somali fishermen.

The current videos of pirates in skiffs operating with impunity in front of high tech US warships are absolutely painful to watch, and are not likely to change much until the fishermen's solution is more widely adopted.

This will most likely not happen as a result of bold action by national leaders, because bold national leaders are in pretty short supply in the west these days. It will likely take place gradually, with individual shipowning companies who are fed up with the losses quietly hiring competent ship defense teams. When pirates attempt to board vessels with teams on board, groups of pirates will not return to their motherships with no news coverage of what took place. When disappearances become known to be more likely than ransoms, the remaining pirates will either focus on companies that are a bit slower in figuring things out, or will discover new career callings.

[zaroffhunts]

Ted Nugent new reality TV show...rent a cargo ship, sell "exotic game hunting trips," slowly float by southern tip of Africa.

At one point we were tossing around the idea of doing a Q-ship cruise to the Red Sea via the Gulf of Aden but ultimately we didn't think it would be a sufficiently profitable venture. However, it might work as an "extreme" reality television program if you could line up advertisers.

[Skiprr]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04 ... index.html

CNN: American captain rescued, pirates killed, U.S. official says

The captain of the Maersk Alabama was freed Sunday after being held captive since Wednesday by pirates off the coast of Somalia, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told CNN.

The official said Capt. Richard Phillips is uninjured and in good condition, and that three of the four pirates were killed. The fourth pirate is in custody. Phillips was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge, a nearby naval warship...

[RKirby]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04 ... index.html

CNN: American captain rescued, pirates killed, U.S. official says

The captain of the Maersk Alabama was freed Sunday after being held captive since Wednesday by pirates off the coast of Somalia, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told CNN.

The official said Capt. Richard Phillips is uninjured and in good condition, and that three of the four pirates were killed. The fourth pirate is in custody. Phillips was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge, a nearby naval warship...

This is exactly the kind of response that needs to be made to every threat of violence, whether successful or not, against an American vessel. The next step should be to seek out and destroy the mother ships that support the hijackers.

Negotiating, paying ransoms or sending Hillary to apologize and Obama to bow to their leader will never solve the problem. If they threaten US interests, kill 'em all and let God sort them out.