Pirate Boomtown - thoughts?

[Guest AK_AVIATOR]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090413/ap_on_...y_raised_stakes

so pacifism should be our MO with pirates?

[noodles]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090413/ap_on_...y_raised_stakes

so pacifism should be our MO with pirates?

No, Samuel L Jackson is the solution

[Guest AK_AVIATOR]

Ahhh, yeah that's a classic. But this guy should be our ambassador to piracy.

[Guest CmbtWmbt]

I heard that the pirates were accidently killed by a drunk Ted Kennedy, the SEAL story was a cover.

Edited April 13, 2009 by CmbtWmbt

[abmwaldo]

What I liked was the FoxNews headline...

URGENT NEWS: Somalia hasn't had a functioning government since 1991....

and it took you 18 years to pick that up? I think that may have passed the statute of limitations for "urgent news."

*edited for spelling

Edited April 14, 2009 by abmwaldo

[Guest AK_AVIATOR]

What's Somalia?

[Guest warriorboy16]

What's Somalia?

i believe a city in georgia.

[Guest evil load]

"take a destroyer and turn on certain lights to make it look like a commercial ship. When the get close enough to figure out there mistake, it is game over"

Or just build some Q-ships like the Brits did in WWI and II.

[Guest Cap-10]

SEALS are f@cking bad ass!

to them!

Cheers,

Cap-10

[Guest Gadsden]

The Story of a Successful Rescue (and the Obama Adminstration’s Attempt to Claim Credit)

Posted By Jeff Emanuel On April 13, 2009 @ 12:24 am.

After four days of floating at sea on a raft shared with four Somali gunmen, Richard Phillips took matters into his own hands for a second time. With the small inflatable lifeboat in which he was being held captive being towed by the American missile destroyer USS Bainbridge, and Navy Special Warfare (NSWC) snipers on the fantail in position to take their shots at his captors as soon as the command was given, the captive captain of the M.V. Maersk-Alabama took his second leap in three days into the shark-infested waters of the Indian Ocean.

This diversion gave the Navy Special Warfare operators all the opening they needed. Snipers immediately took down the three Somali pirates still on board the life raft, SEAL operators hustled down the tow line connecting the two craft to confirm the kills, and a Navy RIB plucked Phillips from the water and sped him to safety aboard the Bainbridge, thus ending the four-day-and-counting hostage situation.

Phillips’ first leap into the warm, dark water of the Indian Ocean hadn’t worked out as well. With the Bainbridge in range and a rescue by his country’s Navy possible, Phillips threw himself off of his lifeboat prison, enabling Navy shooters onboard the destroyer a clear shot at his captors — and none was taken. The guidance from National Command Authority — the president of the United States, Barack Obama — had been clear: a peaceful solution was the only acceptable outcome to this standoff unless the hostage’s life was in clear, extreme danger.

The next day, a small Navy boat approaching the floating raft was fired on by the Somali pirates — and again no fire was returned and no pirates killed. This was again due to the cautious stance assumed by Navy personnel thanks to the combination of a lack of clear guidance from Washington and a mandate from the commander in chief’s staff not to act until Obama, a man with no background of dealing with such issues and no track record of decisiveness, decided that any outcome other than a “peaceful solution” would be acceptable.

After taking fire from the Somali kidnappers again Saturday night, the on-scene commander decided he’d had enough. Keeping his authority to act in the case of a clear and present danger to the hostage’s life and having heard nothing from Washington since yet another request to mount a rescue operation had been denied the day before, the Navy officer — unnamed in all media reports to date — decided the AK-47 one captor had leveled at Phillips’ back was a threat to the hostage’s life and ordered the NSWC team to take their shots.

Three rounds downrange later, all three brigands became enemy KIA and Phillips was safe.

There is upside, downside, and spin-side to the series of events over the last week that culminated in yesterday’s dramatic rescue of an American hostage.

Almost immediately following word of the rescue, the Obama administration and its supporters claimed victory against pirates in the Indian Ocean and [1] declared that the dramatic end to the standoff put paid to questions of the inexperienced president’s toughness and decisiveness.

Despite the Obama administration’s (and its sycophants’) attempt to spin yesterday’s success as a result of bold, decisive leadership by the inexperienced president, the reality is nothing of the sort.

What should have been a standoff lasting only hours — as long as it took the USS Bainbridge and its team of NSWC operators to steam to the location — became an embarrassing four-day-and-counting standoff between a rag-tag handful of criminals with rifles and a U.S. Navy warship.

On Friday, April 9, as the standoff reached the end of its third day, I called on President Obama to take action to free the American hostage from his Somali captors. I [2] outlined three possible operational tactics that could be used to do so; number 1 was the following:

(1) 2 helos, 2 snipers each: pop the [pirates] in their heads, then drop a rescue swimmer to escort the hostage up to one of the choppers. This works best if the hostage is aware of what is happening and can help without getting in the way — say, by hopping overboard as the gunships near, to divert attention and get out of the line of fire.

(This was written before the USS Bainbridge tethered the life raft to its stern, an action which eliminated the need for helicopters.)

However, instead of taking direct, decisive action against the rag-tag group of gunmen, the Obama administration dilly-dallied, dawdled, and eschewed any decisiveness whatsoever, even in the face of enemy fire, in hopes that the situation would somehow resolve itself without violence. Thus, the administration sent a clear message to all who would threaten U.S. interests abroad that the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has no idea how to respond to such situations — and no real willingness to use military force to resolve them.

Any who think they weren’t watching every minute of this are guilty — at best — of greatly underestimating our enemies.

Like the crew of the Alabama, which took swift and decisive action to take back their own ship rather than wait for help from Washington that they knew could not be counted on, Captain Phillips took matters into his own hands for the second time in three days, leaping into the water to create a diversion and allowing the NSWC team to eliminate his captors. The result, of course, was the best that could possibly be expected: three pirates dead, the captain unharmed, and a fourth Somali man who had surrendered late Saturday night in custody.

One thing that will bear watching will be what the Obama DOJ attempts to do with the captive pirate. My money is on a life of welfare checks, a plot of land (in a red state, naturally), and voting rights in Chicago, New York, and Seattle.

In all seriousness, though, who knows? Obama could decide to get tough on the last surviving participant in the first pirating of an American ship since Thomas Jefferson sent the U.S. Marine Corps to root out and destroy the Barbary pirates.

However, given the administration’s track record to date, I won’t be holding my breath on that one.

I'm not verifying the validity of the above post, but I'm very interested in what comes out of this.

[JeepGuyC17]

I heard he walked on the water over to the life boat and kicked the hatch open.

And then he growled "Get off my plane!"

[StoleIt]

I'm not verifying the validity of the above post, but I'm very interested in what comes out of this.

What was your source? I saw "Jeff Emanuel" but you have a link or anything?

[HercDude]

via Al Gore's internet

JeffEmanuel.net

[jcj]

I'm not verifying the validity of the above post, but I'm very interested in what comes out of this.

Official version from the Navy, as well as mainstream media, is inconsistent with this version on many points. Looks to me like Obama approved the ROE that were needed & then stayed out of the way. If the snipers had accidentally killed the hostage Captain, he would have caught hell for it.

"2" on the SEAL's - glad they're on our side.

[usaf36031]

What's Somalia?

Discovered by the Germans in 1903...I believe it translates roughly to "A whale's Vagina".

[Guest Pike]

Official version from the Navy, as well as mainstream media, is inconsistent with this version on many points. Looks to me like Obama approved the ROE that were needed & then stayed out of the way. If the snipers had accidentally killed the hostage Captain, he would have caught hell for it.

"2" on the SEAL's - glad they're on our side.

I'm not an expert in these matters by any means, but it's pretty obvious that the "Official version from the Navy, as well as mainstream media, is inconsistent with this version on many points" because neither of which are going to make Pres Obama look bad. First, the Navy making it look like Pres Obama was hesitant to take action or whatever would be like biting the hands the feeds them and second, dude, if you don't know that the mainstream media is in bed with Pres Obama and drools at his every move, you've been living under a rock for at least the last year. Additionally, the Navy and Media releases are going to attempt to stick to straight facts and not speculate whereas Emanuel's column is an opinion-based blog.

Experience has taught me the truth probably lies somewhere in between...and in my opinion, I don't believe some of Emanuel's points above are that much of a stretch. Afterall, he was a TAC-P which does hold some clout with the given condition and Sec Clinton's earlier comments about a "...21st Century Response" (which probably means something like "it's not their fault, they're the victim and we just need to rehabilitate them"). I'm sure the current administration would've preferred that no one was killed in the debacle than what actually took place.

Off topic, but is it just me or does Pres Obama love being on TV (just saw his "Economic Status Address")? I have only been alive for ~29 yrs, but I can't remember another POTUS on the tube as much as he is....even my 3 yr old daughter knew who he was since back during the election for crying out loud and not like she was watching the news (funny [kind of not at the same time], I kept holding up pics of McCain and trying to get her to say McCain, but she would only say "Barock Obama"....Lord, help me)...

Edited April 14, 2009 by Pike

[slacker]

Let's all celebrate the 1st French military victory!!!! Go Frogs!!!!

French Warship Captures Pirates

[Guest MegaPieBoy]

I think we should start sending bait ships over to the worst areas.....Wait for pirates to move on them, and then our specials ops guys who were hiding on board can ###### the pirates up(preferably using .50 caliber sniper rifles to make their heads explode like the new Rambo movie). Then release the videos on the internet and tell the pirates to bring it on.

[Flare]

Something similar to the Air Marshalls on commercial airliners?

[Guest MegaPieBoy]

Na...If my idea were used, it would be with the intent of looking for the opportunity to kill pirates.

It won't actually happen though being as our countries leadership thinks that "21st century" peaceful responses are more appropriate for dealing with pirates.

Edited April 15, 2009 by MegaPieBoy

[MKopack]

I think we should start sending bait ships over to the worst areas.....Wait for pirates to move on them, and then our specials ops guys who were hiding on board can ###### the pirates up(preferably using .50 caliber sniper rifles to make their heads explode like the new Rambo movie). Then release the videos on the internet and tell the pirates to bring it on.

I think someone mentioned the WWI and WWII Q-Ships:

Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them. The basic ethos of every Q-ship was to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

They were used by the British Royal Navy (RN) during World War I and by both the RN and the United States Navy during the Second World War (1939–1945), as a countermeasure against German U-boats and Japanese submarines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-ship Could probably be done relatively inexpensively and at least initally with good results. Buy an old freighter, mount a couple of concealed, Army surplus, 25mm Bushmasters on the deck, and cruise around and wait. Anybody want to come fishing?

Mike

[pawnman]

So if we know where the boom town is...how about some JDAMs on Somali pirate HQ?

[AEWingsMN]

So if we know where the boom town is...how about some JDAMs on Somali pirate HQ?

Agreed!

So you state that you want WILL kill more of us. Why wait, here's a little taste of what you'll get if you do kill more! Now, don't do it... or we'll be back.

What, is the Somali Government gonna declare war on us? Likely not since it doesn't exist.

...

And give the French a chance, they may have won that battle, but they still have plenty of time to lose the war.... and ask us for help getting paris back from the pirates.

[FourFans]

You'd have a better chance at getting the Air Force to get rid of reflective belts than you would getting our current government to take decisive action that might make anyone, anywhere in the world, not like us.

FF

[TreeA10]

A marine once suggested the way to deal with Mogadishu was to build an 8 foot fence around the place and just throw khat (a form of amphetimine leaf popular with the locals) and weapons over the fence. His idea has merit.