Posted on 04/04/2010 1:40:46 AM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
A U.S. Navy ship has sunk a pirate "mother ship" in the Indian Ocean and captured 11 pirates, and then promptly let them go.
It was the second time within 24 hours that U.S. forces captured Somali pirates. Earlier Thursday, five pirates were taken into custody after they attacked a U.S. warship.
While those five pirates remain in custody, the 11 captured Thursday were allowed to leave in small skiffs after the mother ship was sunk. The action prompted a Pentagon spokesman to deny that the Navy had a "catch and release" policy regarding pirates.
A Naval official told ABC News that the practice of releasing pirates is not unheard of. While piracy is illegal according to international maritime law, it is considered a criminal issue, not a national security one.
If the country of the attacked ship does not want to prosecute the pirates, and if Kenya, which has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Naval forces, does not agree to prosecute them, there are few options as to where the suspected pirates can be held and tried.
The latest confrontation occurred when pirates on three skiffs tried to hijack the Sierra Leone-flagged commercial ship MV Evita using rocket propelled grenades and rifle fire.
The MV Evita avoided being boarded by increasing its speed and firing flares, according to a press release by the Combined Maritime Piracy Task Force.
After the ship's captain radioed for help, a Swedish patrol aircraft spotted the pirates and the USS Farragut dispatched its own plane to monitor the situation until the Navy ship could arrive.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Just as it is well known that guns kill people, so it is that some ships are evil pirates and need to be sunk. Letting the people on board go was just an act of mercy to the innocent victims of the evil pirate ship.
We here at ABC News roundly applaud this humanitarian action by our proud Navy. In those dark times of the 19th Century the people on board the ships were declared “hostis humani generis” - enemies of all mankind - and horribly killed on the spot.
Now in our enlightened 21st Century we know better: it is the ships that are the true enemies of all mankind and should be sunk were ever they are found.
Our editorial board, in cooperation with the New York Times, is considering a proposal to set up a trust fund to reimburse these poor victims of the evil pirate ships. Meanwhile, we wish the best to these folks in their future endeavors.
The lead aids in shark digestion. At least that's my theory.
KILL THEM!!!!
What is the marine equivalent of “shoot, shovel, shut up?” If the pirate craft and all aboard simply disappeared without a trace, and it happened fairly often, the piracy trade would become far less attractive.
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