Pirates-Political?

[DonziJon]

I havn't seen any comments here on this subject. Has anyone on this board ever seen the Phalanx Close In Weapons System in action. .. I HAVE. It's pretty freekin impressive. I would think a couple of Manual Bursts from this weapon just off the bow of the lifeboat in question would get the attention of the......Perps. :cool!: Just wondering what you guys think...John

[Ghost]

I've seen them on film, never live. I think the only thing that's really gumming up the works here is the 200 hostages they have onshore already. If it were just our guy, I think we'd have him back already.

I propose we swap him for Jimmy Carter.

[gcarter]

I propose we swap him for Jimmy Carter.

:rlol::biggrin::cool!:

[Cuda]

I propose we swap him for Jimmy Carter.
I doubt we could swap J Carter for a used broom.

[BUIZILLA]

I doubt we could swap J Carter for a used broom. I doubt it, there's no value in either one..

[zelatore]

I've been surprised there wasn't more talk about this on the registry.

No doubt that would get their attention. We have plenty of ways of getting their attention.

But while it would be fitting, easy, and very satisfying to simply blow them out of the water, do you think the Navy would do it even if they didn't have the captain hostage?

I hate to say it, as the pirates deserve to reap what they sow, but our Navy is not in the habit of acting as judge, jury, and executioner.

Now on the other hand if we could somehow arrange to sink a few pirates in the process of saving our man, that would be quite all right. :yes:

The truth of the matter, however, is that these people turn to piracy because they just don't have any options in their homeland. Somalia is a mess, to put it mildly. And although I don't think the US can just swoop in and 'fix' Somalia (have we ever 'fixed' a country successfully?) I don't think blowing a few pirates out of the water will deter the 100's (1000's?) of others who feel they have nothing to loose. They'll continue to roll the dice unless we resort to running navy escorted convoys through the area. (the only solution I can think of - you can't police that much water)

[BUIZILLA]

why can't they find the mothership(s) and destroy it (them) for target practice?

[Cuda]

It wasn't clear from the news reports if the pirates died of lead poisoning, or drownded from being weighed down by lead.

[Cuda]

I've been surprised there wasn't more talk about this on the registry.
No doubt that would get their attention. We have plenty of ways of getting their attention.
But while it would be fitting, easy, and very satisfying to simply blow them out of the water, do you think the Navy would do it even if they didn't have the captain hostage?
I hate to say it, as the pirates deserve to reap what they sow, but our Navy is not in the habit of acting as judge, jury, and executioner.
Now on the other hand if we could somehow arrange to sink a few pirates in the process of saving our man, that would be quite all right. :yes:
The truth of the matter, however, is that these people turn to piracy because they just don't have any options in their homeland. Somalia is a mess, to put it mildly. And although I don't think the US can just swoop in and 'fix' Somalia (have we ever 'fixed' a country successfully?) I don't think blowing a few pirates out of the water will deter the 100's (1000's?) of others who feel they have nothing to loose. They'll continue to roll the dice unless we resort to running navy escorted convoys through the area. (the only solution I can think of - you can't police that much water)
I doubt that these particular pirates will have the guts to try again. It may not deter the hundreds, or thousands, but it damn sure will deter three of them. Explain to me again, how talking it out with them would have made it more palatable.

[zelatore]

I doubt that these particular pirates will have the guts to try again. It may not deter the hundreds, or thousands, but it damn sure will deter three of them. Explain to me again, how talking it out with them would have made it more palatable.

Actually, other than the 3 dead and one prisoner, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the others that were driven off the ship by the crew would strike again. Maybe not a US flagged ship, but what's to stop them?

Don't mistake my intentions; I would say our #1 priority was getting our man back unharmed. But given that he was being held by armed men in a very small lifeboat, getting him back by force was obviously a last resort due to the very high risk to him. I take a good deal of pleasure in knowing we were able to take the captain back by force instead of negotiation and that his pirate captors were killed (well, 3 of 4) in the process. I wish we had been able to kill more to send the simple message: you don't f#uck with a US flagged ship. I'd love to simply rain down an air strike on some of the motherships they're using as well just to drive the point home.

But...

Even if W. was still in office, do you really think we'd just declare war on these pirates and start dropping them left and right? No doubt we could do it - it would be like target practice for the Navy. The question is how much retaliation do we take now that our man is back safe?

We already have forces in the area. I would be surprised if we didn't also have many of their ships spotted and targeted. Should we sink them? Raid them and try to take prisoners for trial? I'm not even sure what the international laws are regarding piracy - no doubt there is ample historical precedent.

[BUIZILLA]

they could use sub's and play target practice, and nobody would know who shot who from under the surface...

just sayin'...

[zelatore]

they could use sub's and play target practice, and nobody would know who shot who from under the surface...

just sayin'...


That would get the job done. But it would be much more satisfying, as well as sending a very loud message, to blow them right out of the water with big surface guns.

[BUIZILLA]

nahhhhh, I don't kiss and tell.. ever :troll:

I would rather be the underwater stealth sandbagger and no one know who did what.. :lifeprese:

mum's the word... :pimp:

[HOWARD O]

Sure am glad the Seals rescued Capt. Phillips. During the successful rescue, one of the pirates was apparently on the Naval ship "negotiating". I would've loved to have seen the look on his face once word came down that he no longer had anything to negotiate with! DOH!!! :biggrin: