Pirates take American yacht...what to do?

[ScubaSteve]

I do not think you are a Pirate Hugger . You just posted a sentence that started a fun discussion . I do not think that anybody here has solved the problem. The solution no doubt lies a bit in everybody's solution. I just get tired of the nicey nice approach that we take to terrorists like this when they deserve something very different IMO. An eye for an eye is not always the solution......we can all read between those lines.

Yeah, somehow I seem to have been identified as somebody who's against killing pirates. I'm not. I'm okay with killing pirates, sinking pirate ships, broadcasting executions--whatever works. I am just quite certain that none of that will work. Again, it's a million square miles of ocean. How many naval vessels does it take to police that? To know who the pirates are? I think it's a typical American knee-jerk reaction--let's kill some of them, let's bomb them, let's take our military off the leash. Well, nobody over there cares. Death is not a deterrent to desperate people--just look at Libyan rock-throwers facing off against Qaddafi's military. And Libyans are wealthy compared to Somalis.

The idea of never paying a ransom makes sense--remove that incentive, but that is almost as difficult to manage. When the Saudis had a supertanker worth a $100 million (or whatever it was) hijacked, you knew the ransom was going to get paid. But certainly no American vessel should pay a ransom.

Perhaps my idea of guarding individual ships is not workable, I don't know. The only argument I've read against it (from a credible source) is that they were reluctant to escalate the battle because thus far crews weren't being killed. I say, the battle has been escalated with these killings.

 

[BDSC]

If they want to live by the sword, let them die by the sword.

Now you're talking! You want to be a Pirate....then you die like a Pirate!

So if you take some of these MF'ers alive you line them up on the ship and have you a nice little plank built. You go to some shark infested waters and get a little chum going to get them in a nice feeding frenzy. Then the first one "walks the plank" while the others watch knowing they are next. Yea Baby! That's what I'm talking about!

:shark:

 

[terrylowe]

Just read where these hostages were killed. Thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends. Such a waste of life...

 

[EmptyTank]

I am amazed at all the keyboard warriors that all seem to have the perfect solution to the piracy problem. There is a whole lot of ocean out there. I have no problem with killing pirates or taking out ships in pre emptive strikes. Negotiating after the fact is a waste. We as a country were lucky the first time when the pirates were killed by snipers but such won't be the case every time. Refusing to negotiate is the only way to remove the incentive to commit acts of piracy in the first place. Paying ransoms will just embolden them further.

 

[robbcayman]

I am amazed at all the keyboard warriors that all seem to have the perfect solution to the piracy problem. There is a whole lot of ocean out there. I have no problem with killing pirates or taking out ships in pre emptive strikes. Negotiating after the fact is a waste. We as a country were lucky the first time when the pirates were killed by snipers but such won't be the case every time. Refusing to negotiate is the only way to remove the incentive to commit acts of piracy in the first place. Paying ransoms will just embolden them further.

Hey, this is a forum and a fun place to voice our opinions. This isn't about keyboard warriors, but people tired of injustice. Why don't other countries mess with Israel? Because they know they won't tolerate BS and will strike and strike hard. Israel isn't a big place, but they are hyper aggressive to any threat. This isn't about bravado; it's about doing the right thing. These thugs killed our citizens and we want justice. We want to ensure that this type of activity won't occur again.

Sometimes in life you have to take a hard stance to show others you aren't to be trifled with. People know if you mess with the USA or our citizens we are going to hammer you i.e. see Pearl Harbor we haven't been attacked again by a military force on our land. See 9/11.. right or wrong about WMD's, we killed a lot of terrorist leaders. Setting up a joint task force of like minded nations we can patrol a lot of the ocean. We can setup "soft targets" once the pirates move in for the kill we nail them. You don't wander into the vast woods and hope to find the critter; you bring it to you via irresistible bait. PS: I agree 100% about no negotiating with these thugs!!

 

[driftwood]

F*** that.... to hell with "life sentence". ......hang or shoot their asses.



Americans on hijacked yacht slain, defense official says - CNN.com

Apparently you have never heard of Magnitogorsk. A Soviet city on the Kola peninsula way above the Arctic Circle. They used to do a lot of nickle refining there. Air quality was so bad that the Soviets opened "oxygen bars". A life sentence there is much harder than simply killing them. I call it deterrence.

 

[driftwood]

Yeah, somehow I seem to have been identified as somebody who's against killing pirates. I'm not. I'm okay with killing pirates, sinking pirate ships, broadcasting executions--whatever works. I am just quite certain that none of that will work. Again, it's a million square miles of ocean. How many naval vessels does it take to police that? To know who the pirates are? I think it's a typical American knee-jerk reaction--let's kill some of them, let's bomb them, let's take our military off the leash. Well, nobody over there cares. Death is not a deterrent to desperate people--just look at Libyan rock-throwers facing off against Qaddafi's military. And Libyans are wealthy compared to Somalis.

The idea of never paying a ransom makes sense--remove that incentive, but that is almost as difficult to manage. When the Saudis had a supertanker worth a $100 million (or whatever it was) hijacked, you knew the ransom was going to get paid. But certainly no American vessel should pay a ransom.

Perhaps my idea of guarding individual ships is not workable, I don't know. The only argument I've read against it (from a credible source) is that they were reluctant to escalate the battle because thus far crews weren't being killed. I say, the battle has been escalated with these killings.

I outlined a four prong approach to deal with the problem. One, make the vessel owner hurt financially if the ship was taken. Two, no ransoms and imprison those who do negotiate with the pirates. Three, reduce the access the pirates have to shipping lanes (and cause a rise in food prices in Somalia by taking out the fishing fleets). Four, make getting caught much worse than death.

My first suggestion would make guarding individual ships perfectly workable. Not that expensive to protect a ship from pirates armed with light weapons. A M2 50cal machine gun will ruin their day at three times effective RPG range. There are American, Israeli, South African, British, Russian, and French companies perfectly capable of providing those services.

 

[mike_s]

I outlined a four prong approach to deal with the problem. One, make the vessel owner hurt financially if the ship was taken.

I wonder if their insurance pays if their ship gets seized?

the reason I say this is when I read my boat policy, "acts of war" were not included in coverage. Not sure if this could be considered an "act of war", but these ships are getting shot up when the navies open fire on them.

(and cause a rise in food prices in Somalia by taking out the fishing fleets)..

The people of Somalia can barely feed themselves now. Most of the people are just poor and living in dirt and are not part of the piracy issue.

no sense punishing the poor for the acts of others....

 

[ramasule]

They were killed by the pirates

 

[Tao of the Dive]

Mike, I think Lloyds of London does have an act of war clause in a lot of its commercial shipping policies. Hell, they may even have policies which cover acts of piracy. After further checking, they consider acts of piracy an act of war. So they do cover it.