[Carla B]

And, if we think that this is an isolated case...unbelievably, there have been 96 Somali piracy alerts reported in 2011 so far! The website: [url]www.shipping.nato.int[url] lists all the details of Somali pirate activity day by day. S/v "Quest" is the first yacht taken this year and, although the main focus seems to be on merchant vessels, the pirates do not discriminate if a yacht happens to be in the vicinity where they are trawling. This can be hundreds of miles from Somalia territorial waters.

Why do the governments of the European Union and the U.S. allow this to happen month after month without stopping it?

[chuckinca]

The cheapest solution - pay off a local warlord to stop it.


.

[k2at]

What person in his right mind would sail a yacht thru those waters?

[l2ridehd]

There was a time not to long ago, in my life time, when the respect of the US allowed our citizens to travel most anywhere in the world and be relatively safe. That is not the case today. Our leaders have allowed our decline in the world and until they are removed and the constant talk and "diplomacy" is backed up by action, our citizens will not be safe any where. How we can accept things like "our country can withstand another 911" to even be uttered by our leaders is a travesty.

So that's why we are where we are, so how do we now resolve this issue of pirates? We need to take very bold, targeted, decisive action every time it happens. The pain must always happen and be far and above the potential reward. And yes there will be collateral damage. And we also must take action to provide a means for these people to have an alternative. Jobs, food, and a way to grow and feed your family that is better then supporting the pirates. Never negotiate with pirates, terrorists, or others who blackmail you in any way. It will do nothing but encourage more pirates. Desperate people will take bold risks. Provide them with something to lose and they will stop supporting this activity.

[Challenger]

Originally Posted by l2ridehd

There was a time not to long ago, in my life time, when the respect of the US allowed our citizens to travel most anywhere in the world and be relatively safe. That is not the case today. Our leaders have allowed our decline in the world and until they are removed and the constant talk and "diplomacy" is backed up by action, our citizens will not be safe any where. How we can accept things like "our country can withstand another 911" to even be uttered by our leaders is a travesty.

So that's why we are where we are, so how do we now resolve this issue of pirates? We need to take very bold, targeted, decisive action every time it happens. The pain must always happen and be far and above the potential reward. And yes there will be collateral damage. And we also must take action to provide a means for these people to have an alternative. Jobs, food, and a way to grow and feed your family that is better then supporting the pirates. Never negotiate with pirates, terrorists, or others who blackmail you in any way. It will do nothing but encourage more pirates. Desperate people will take bold risks. Provide them with something to lose and they will stop supporting this activity.

I wonder what the response would be if these were Israli citizens??

[hoseman]

edited

[Shimpy]

Originally Posted by Talk Host

If you had murders living in your neighborhood, what would you do? You would do everything in your power to stop them or get rid of them, I hope. If you didn't, you would be as guilt as they are.

The people are allowing this to go on and they are benefiting from it, that's what's nauseating. Our innocent people are dying. Do their lives have any value?

You've labeled my assessment "nauseating." I'm eager to hear your plan on how to stop these butchers from killing Americans.

I AGREE

During WW2 we carpet bombed cities in Germany and thousands died, but that ended the war. Look at Japan and the two atomic bombs. Sometimes innocent citizens are killed in order for our innocent citizens to live.

[beartrack]

Originally Posted by Talk Host

We are no longer a super power. Nobody is afraid of us. They feel free to kill our people and destroy our country because they know that nothing will be done about it. They know that we are now steered by the thinking of people people who don't have the guts of our forefathers. We have shown ourselves as being spineless and weak.

A lawless country is plundering the world, killing innocent people stealing millions and millions of dollars. Then spread the money around to the population, it's the national industry.

Those of us who believe that firm and decisive action should be taken to defend our country, our people, and our reputation are placed in the category of "nauseating." How really sad is that.

By the way, "animals" don't murder people. Calling them animals is an insult of the animal kingdom.

Oh, and Red, nowhere in any of my posts did I say that they should "level the nation and kill babies." Please don't put your words in my mouth. You don't have to exaggerate what I said in order to try to find a way to validate your position.

[katezbox]

Originally Posted by k2at

What person in his right mind would sail a yacht thru those waters?

My thoughts exactly!

[cybermuda]

Let's get some perspective here

Far more people are murdered in New York City than by Somali pirates, yet I doubt that carpet bombing Manhattan would be seen as a viable solution to that problem.

If you want to remain stuck fighting WWII then use convoys - they were effective in reducing merchant shipping losses to the U-boats.

Moving into the current century, we now have unmanned drones, which have proved useful in surveillance and attack in Afghanistan.

And developing a marine equivalent - small, fast, unmanned, heavily-armed boats - would be relatively quick, and dozens could be deployed for a fraction of the cost of one destroyer.


However, the bottom line remains that you can't sail your private yacht into a war zone and expect the U.S. Navy to come steaming in to save you, guns blazing. This is the real world, not a John Wayne retrospective. A certain amount of common sense and personal responsibility has to be exercised.

[LittleDog]

I didn't read all the posts in this thread but probably what I am about to say is not mentioned previously. What is the Navy going to do with the 6 dead bodies they have? I really don't care what they do with the 2 Somalis but what of the Americans. Will they bury them at sea? Will they embalm them? Will they be flown to the US? Just wondering. I would not like to think of decomposing bodies on a warship. Also what do you think they will do with that sailboat?

John

[ajdeck]

Originally Posted by spk7951

Well I would suspect that the presence of the Navy vessel helped to keep the hijackers at sea and prevented help from shore from getting to them. Whether or not that is sound strategy is beyond me.
But in my opinion the killing of these four innocent people should have been a death sentence to those pirates.

The world is starting to see how weak the U.S. has become and know we won't do much of anything anymore.

Us old vet's are really discussed after fighting and losing our friends and family for this country and now the young don't care or even want to stand up for the country. Country is now turning into a bunch of wimps and it's not going to get better so best watch out.

aj

[l2ridehd]

It is not the young who don't care, it's our leaders. I was recently at a place where I had the honor to meet several of our young service men and women. Yes they were young and yes they were all willing to stand up and fight for our freedom and our stature in the world. And many of them do it every day.

Our leadership is a completely different story. Not only do they apologize for us, but they refuse to enforce our laws. It is OK to disagree with our laws, but to refuse to enforce them is treason. And our wonderful media doesn't even take notice. That is why we are doomed as a nation, not because of our young people.

[ajdeck]

Originally Posted by l2ridehd

It is not the young who don't care, it's our leaders. I was recently at a place where I had the honor to meet several of our young service men and women. Yes they were young and yes they were all willing to stand up and fight for our freedom and our stature in the world. And many of them do it every day.

Our leadership is a completely different story. Not only do they apologize for us, but they refuse to enforce our laws. It is OK to disagree with our laws, but to refuse to enforce them is treason. And our wonderful media doesn't even take notice. That is why we are doomed as a nation, not because of our young people.

Your perfectly correct, the leaders are the problem. My comment are for those young ones that don't step up but... in life.

We have many many young great service people and I'm proud to say it to them any time I come across one.

aj