Sign me up! :-)
Posted on 11/05/2005 5:01:48 AM PST by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
The new extreme adventure? I like it. It does sound exciting.
Sign me up! :-)
Pushing a lousy button. Where's the sport in that?
Looks like a failed Al Qaeda hostage-taking mission. Sponsored by the "Religion of Peace."
If you mount 3 or 4 50. cals on that boat and award anyone that sinks one of these boats a free cruise, the cruise lines would give away 2 cruises at the VERY most.
"The attacks have highlighted insecurity in Somalia, which has had no government to enforce law and order since warlords ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991."
The Common Enemy of Humankind
The expression hostis humani generis, “the common enemy of humankind,” was apparently coined by Cicero in the first century B.C. to describe the “pirate” states of the eastern Mediterranean with which Rome was almost constantly in a state of war. The legal implications that Cicero intended from his formulation are quite different than those it implies today, but the modern understanding of what it means to be hostis humani generis has been pretty firmly established since the eighteenth century. That was the period when the great English jurist Sir William Blackstone wrote that as a pirate “has renounced all the benefits of society and government, and has reduced himself afresh to the savage state of nature, by declaring war against all mankind…all mankind must declare war against him…by the rule of self-defence.”
The general acceptance among European states that pirates were common enemies of humankind had ramifications not only for courtroom trials of accused pirates but for military action as well. Western navies, especially those of Great Britain and the United States, were deeply engaged in anti-pirate operations well into the nineteenth century, and the officers of both navies understood themselves to have not only a right but an obligation to take offensive action against pirates wherever on the high seas they found them. In fact, on a number of occasions, naval forces landed in other countries—including territory under the sovereignty of other European rulers—to clean out pirate sanctuaries.
Excerpted from: http://vatican.usembassy.it/policy/Events/Terrorism2004/McMillan.asp
Pirates my eye. I'll bet they were Muslim terrorists looking to kill a few hundred Americans and Europeans to so solidarity with the terrorists in Paris.
From the Notices To Mariners (281800Z OCT 2005): Maritime Administration Advisories:
2005-3 SOMALI PIRACY
TO: OPERATORS OF U.S. FLAG AND EFFECTIVE U.S. CONTROLLED VESSELS AND OTHER MARITIME INTERESTS THIS MARAD ADVISORY ON PIRACY OFF THE COAST OF SOMALIA ORIGINATED FROM THE NATIONAL MARITIME INTELLIGENCE CENTER, OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
1. THE NATIONAL MARITIME INTELLIGENCE CENTER (NMIC) ADVISES THAT TWO MORE AT SEA MERCHANT VESSEL HIJACKINGS ON 18 AND 20 OCTOBER OFF THE EAST COAST OF SOMALIA, DEMONSTRATES PIRATES ABILITY TO CONDUCT AT SEA HIJACKINGS FROM AS FAR SOUTH AS KISMAYO (02 S) TO AS FAR NORTH AS EYL(08 N), AND OUT TO A DISTANCE OF 170 NM.
2. ALL VESSELS ARE ADVISED TO REMAIN AT LEAST 200 NM FROM THE EAST COAST OF SOMALIA. ALL MERCHANT VESSELS TRANSITING THE COAST OF SOMALIA, NO MATTER HOW FAR OFFSHORE, SHOULD INCREASE ANTI-PIRACY PRECAUTIONS AND MAINTAIN A HEIGHTENED STATE OF VIGILANCE. PIRATES ARE REPORTED TO HAVE USED PREVIOUSLY HIJACKED SHIPS AS BASES FOR FURTHER ATTACKS.
3. ANOTHER REPORTED PIRATE TACTIC HAS BEEN TO ISSUE A FALSE DISTRESS CALL TO LURE A SHIP CLOSE INSHORE. THEREFORE, CAUTION SHOULD BE TAKEN WHEN RESPONDING TO DISTRESS CALLS KEEPING IN MIND IT MAY BE A TACTIC TO LURE A VESSEL INTO A TRAP.
4. VICTIMIZED VESSELS REPORT TWO TO THREE 6 TO 9 METER SPEEDBOATS WITH 3 TO 6 ARMED MEN PER VESSEL ARMED WITH AK-47S AND SHOULDER LAUNCHED ROCKETS, OPENING FIRE ON THEIR VESSELS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT IN ORDER TO INTIMIDATE THEM INTO STOPPING.
5. TO DATE, VESSELS THAT INCREASE SPEED AND TAKE EVASIVE MANEUVERS AVOID BOARDING WHILE THOSE THAT SLOW DOWN ARE BOARDED, TAKEN TO THE SOMALI COASTLINE, AND RELEASED AFTER SUCCESSFUL RANSOM PAYMENT,OFTEN AFTER PROTRACTED NEGOTIATIONS OF AS MUCH AS 11 WEEKS.
6. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING THIS ADVISORY, CONTACT THE MARITIME ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OF SHIP OPERATIONS, CODE MAR-613, ROOM2122, 400 7TH STREET, WASHINGTON, DC 20590; TELEPHONE 202-366-5735, OR BYE-MAIL TO OPCENTR1.MARAD@DOT.GOV.
(281800Z OCT 2005)
I totally agree. This plan has " al-Qaeda" written all over it.
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