Piracy pays -- for now

[seamusTX]

The Spanish government paid Somali pirates more than US$3 million to ransom a Spanish trawler and its crew.

The pirates then had a gunfight over the money, leaving two pirates injured.

Somali pirates currently have about a dozen ships and their crews in captivity.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=11 ... =351020501" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... wD9C1HBOG1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The U.S. had this problem a while back. President Thomas Jefferson solved it by sending in the Marines ("The shores of Tripoli").

While I'm not as cynical about government as some of y'all, I am disgusted that the U.S. and every other country in the world has let this problem fester for almost 20 years now.

- Jim

[Skiprr]

While I'm not as cynical about government as some of y'all, I am disgusted that the U.S. and every other country in the world has let this problem fester for almost 20 years now.

Fester and grow worse.

I did enjoy the news coverage last April of the Richard Phillips rescue, though...

[seamusTX]

That was heart-warming, but it just removed some of the competition for other pirates.

This thing needs to be cleaned out like the nest of rats that it is. Piracy was treated as a crime against humanity before anyone had formulated that concept. Pirates were subject to seizure, trial, and execution by any country.

- Jim

[Aggie_engr]

Speaking of the Maersk Alabama, it got attacked again recently. This time they were armed with private security guards and a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). Needless to say, the efforts taken by Maersk to arm the ship thwarted another hostage situation.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,575529,00.html

[AEA]

Yes, that is great news and all other ships in the area should do the same.

What I don't understand is why the US Navy is not more active in the area. After all, it is pretty obvious to me that all the ransom money goes to Taliban and AlQeda to support their causes/operations against us. How hard is it to figure that out?

After all, you don't see any money being spent in the villages where these pirates are operating from.......

[seamusTX]

What I don't understand is why the US Navy is not more active in the area.

I think the problem is that the pirates avoid naval vessels; and once the pirates take a ship, they say they will kill the crew if they are attacked.

It's sort of like police patrol cars. No criminal commits a robbery or car break-in in view of a patrol car, but as soon as the car is out of sight, it's show time.

- Jim

[Purplehood]

Taking a wild guess, the big shipping companies are probably hard-pressed to find willing sailors to sail unarmed through that part of town...

[steking]

What I don't understand is why the US Navy is not more active in the area.

I think the problem is that the pirates avoid naval vessels; and once the pirates take a ship, they say they will kill the crew if they are attacked.

Some do, some don't. I'm sure there are other folks that remember this recently.

PARIS (Oct. 7) - Somali pirates in two skiffs fired on a French navy vessel early Wednesday after apparently mistaking it for a commercial boat, the French military said. The French ship gave chase and captured five suspected pirates.
No one was wounded by the volleys from the Kalashnikov rifles directed at La Somme, a 3,800-ton refueling ship, said Rear Admiral Christophe Prazuck, a military spokesman.
La Somme "was probably taken for a commercial ship by the two small skiffs" some 250 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, said Prazuck.
"They understood their mistake too late," Prazuck said.
One skiff fled, and La Somme pursued the second one in an hour-long chase.
"There were five suspected pirates on board. No arms, no water, no food," Prazuck said.
France is a key member of the European Union's naval mission, Operation Atalanta, fighting Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. It has aggressively tracked and caught suspected pirates and handed over at least 22 to Kenya. An additional 15 suspects were brought to France for prosecution after allegedly seizing French nationals' boats.

http://news.aol.com/article/somali-pira ... hip/446496

[seamusTX]

PARIS (Oct. 7) - Somali pirates in two skiffs fired on a French navy vessel early Wednesday after apparently mistaking it for a commercial boat, the French military said. The French ship gave chase and captured five suspected pirates.

I suppose every branch of crime has its bozos.

- Jim

[5thGenTexan]

With what these bozos of the world have paid out in ransom you would think they could figure out a way to pool resources and convoy ships through that area with some heavily armed security forces.

Sounds like a plausible option, unfortunately for me I couldn't even fund the business study to check feasibility.

[seamusTX]

The ransom is small potatoes compared to the hundreds of millions or billions that the ships and their cargoes are worth. Some of these ships have disappeared and presumably been sold, renamed, and reflagged.

I think the decisions being made in this area are morally, economically, and politically unsound.

- Jim

[surprise_i'm_armed]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/piracy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's another heartening story of how good guys with guns thwarted evil.

The UN quote enrages me. "Bringing guns on board could encourage violence."
The pirates are the ones starting the violence, not the good people on the ships,
just trying to make an honest living far from home!!

Maersk Alabama was boarded by pirates once.
Add an LRAD (Long Range Acoustical Device)
and some guns - no more pirate boardings - what a concept!!

SIA

[Lodge2004]

Per the consitution, congress has the power to: "define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas" and "...grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water."

Granting "letters of marque and reprisal" to private shipping companies might be interesting.

[57Coastie]

That was heart-warming, but it just removed some of the competition for other pirates.

This thing needs to be cleaned out like the nest of rats that it is. Piracy was treated as a crime against humanity before anyone had formulated that concept. Pirates were subject to seizure, trial, and execution by any country.

- Jim

True, Jim, and true even today, with a caveat. As a matter of international law the pirates, to lawfully be seized, tried and punished by any country, must have occurred on the high seas outside the territorial jurisdiction of some other country, to paraphrase a bit. Somalia and neighboring coastal states are a real problem in that respect. I, as I think you know, have had some troublesome experience with this problem.

Jim, too

[Purplehood]

Does the Anarchist state of Somalia actually have any territorial jurisdiction?