Posted on 07/02/2014 9:27:41 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
President Obama had been in office less than a year when Navy SEAL snipers opened fire on a small lifeboat in the Gulf of Aden, killing three armed Somali pirates and freeing an American mariner, Richard Phillips. That April 2009 ordeal has since become the stuff of legend, outlined in a bestselling book that was developed into the 2013 Tom Hanks movie “Captain Phillips.”
Phillips met with the president in the Oval Office the following month. But it appears that will only take Obama so far. The captain is coming out in a public relations offensive against the White House’s new counter-piracy plan. It is time for the United States to “zero in on the pirates’ nests and eradicate them,” Phillips said in news release published Wednesday by a maritime officers union.
The new White House plan, released June 20, states that pirates require land-based support and access to weapons in order to hijack ships at sea. It suggests that piracy at sea can only be reduced if bases on shore are disrupted or dismantled, and says the United States “will work with other governments and international organizations to disrupt and dismantle pirate bases to the fullest extent permitted by U.S. and international law.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Arrrrrrr . . .
Prepare for your audit, sir.
I don’t think the government needs to get involved in this. It can be easily solved by the ship owners.
At least the governments can offer Letters of Marque!
“It suggests that piracy at sea can only be reduced if bases on shore are disrupted or dismantled...”
As much as many of these shipping companies don’t want to consider the idea, maybe it’s time they started having a security crew on each ship.
The crew would obviously be equipped with all the necessary heavy weapons (rocket launchers, etc) needed to completely STOP a boarding by pirates.
I wonder if many of these piracy attempts would start diminshing if a number of these pirates never came home from their raids and instead ended up as fish food. The others back home might start to think “Hey, this piracy thing is not as easy as it used to be”.
That might eliminate the need for ground-based disruptions of their camps and safe havens.
But, but, the Constitution does not define what Letters of Marque are!!!
Only teasing.....
Cluster bombs on ever “fishing” village along the Somali coast.
Simply done;
Either train and arm the sailors on these ships with AKs, or put armed private security contractor professionals on them.
Problem solved.
In 1974 I worked for a short time in the South China Sea guarding cargo containers from pirates. Got paid fairly well(for back then) and the government sent me home. (Just got discharged).
[The crew would obviously be equipped with all the necessary heavy weapons (rocket launchers, etc) needed to completely STOP a boarding by pirates.]
The excuse by ship owners for not arming up is that most ports of the world prohibit armed merchant ships.
The sad thing is that if Tom Hanks had asked this, Mullah Obama would probably listen.
Three step process. First, you hire up special forces retirees and put a minimum of three on each vessel. Second, you let it go out on a public statement that if at sea, and outside of any treaty area....you will use any and all force necessary...period, no exceptions. Third, after each encounter with pirate vessels...sink the vessel and dispatch the crew into the deep.
Your problem goes away in six months, as less pirates exist and less vessels exist. The chief pirates back in Somalia will have to figure a new game...like taking vessels while in the Med, and then start risking more European naval involvement.
The ship owners cannot solve piracy by themselves. Fishing boats, yachts and other small craft are soft targets. Some governments do not allow small vessels to carry arms. India recently arrested a contractor protective service vessel & crew.
Multiple means are required.
a squadron of AC-130 PUFF gunships ought to do the trick.
Issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal to some enterprising Ex-SEALS................................
Just one......................
I guess nobody has told Phillips that because of the international effort the number of ships seized by pirates off Somalia has dropped to fewer than one a year. The newest pirate haven is Nigeria, and they have a central government that should be dealing with that. The other old ones are Indonesia and Malaysia, and there are governments there as well.
Alas, outlawed by the 1856 Treaty of Paris.
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