Posted on 11/20/2009 6:56:24 AM PST by marktwain
Yesterday, Somali pirates attacked the commercial cargo ship Maersk Alabama. This time, however, an armed security team successfully thwarted the attackers.
Last April, Somali pirates successfully attacked the Alabama, kidnapping ship’s Captain Phillips and holding him hostage until Navy SEAL snipers killed the captors. In 2008, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of the U.S. Navy’s fleet in that area, specifically warned that the Navy “can’t be everywhere” and that “shipping companies have to take responsibility for their own ships.”
It appears that after the last near-tragedy, Maersk took the warning seriously.
But the story also highlights media bias against self-defense.
The New York Times downplayed the fact that guns were aboard the Alabama, hiding it within one paragraph among other methods employed in the ship’s defense:
But a security team on board the Maersk Alabama responded with small-arms fire, long-range acoustical devices painful to the human ear and evasive maneuvers to thwart the attack, the Navy said in a statement.
This 34-word paragraph (out of 739 words total) contains the only mention of why the Alabama successfully defended itself. The article’s first paragraph makes passing mention to the attack, without noting the outcome, while the second paragraph goes off-topic, covering another hijacked ship whose captain “died of gunshot wounds” during a successful pirate attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
To reiterate: there is only one way to deal with pirates. Kill them.
Best to use the proper terminology, lest you come under fire from SoD Gates and his "boss"
Exactly, its a ‘buy one get one’ sort of deal. The attack is repelled and future attacks are very likely deterred. What’s not to like..
Hold muh banana...
When will AP, the NYT LAT die a twisting painful death they deserve?
Many would say that they are in the process of doing so.
That is all right, I have a feeling that a few Blackwater guys were mixed in with the able seaman ranks. Maybe, some former Seal Team members with some good fleet experience.
That would be gooooood.
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