Somali Pirates seize Americans and ship

While I don't like the guy myself they said he personally approved the attacks.

Now how true that is is anyones quess.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/piracy

 

The standing authority gave them clearance to engage the pirates if the life of the captain was in imminent danger. The on scene commander deemed this to be true and gave the order to fire. All three bad guys were taken out and then a rigid inflatable boat went to the lifeboat to retrieve Phillips. This was not a rescue attempt ordered by National Command Authority i.e. the President. It was a reaction by the on scene commander under standard authority to safeguard the life of a hostage.
Obama did affirm the military's authorization to use force if the captain's life was in danger, but they already would have had that authorization as part of their standard rules of engagement. If there are innocents about to be slaughtered the same reasoning that authorizes self defense also covers an imminent execution unless the ROE specifically forbid it.

The SEAL team parachuted to the Bainbridge in the middle of the night. It seems Captain Phillips needed to take a wizz and was out of line of fire, when the snipers popped the bad guys.

 

absolutely true, i hope this also causes a chain reaction on the other hijacked ships. these "pirates" are kind of a bunch of idiots, they have boats from china, russia, and some other countries that really surprised me.... i would think that they would be leaving at least the communist countries alone for possible alliances.... dumb pirates, they are gonna piss off the whole world.

 

Just reading an update on this.

The ship was delivering FOOD AID TO THE SOMALI PEOPLE.

so the pirates were stealing a gift from the US to their own people.

Yet one of them was quoted as saying "America is our new enemy."

That is the dangerous kind of logic we are dealing with here.

 

Remember the Cole?

 

The pirates have no interest in the cargo . Their intent is to hold the ship and crew for ransom then release the ship after the ransom is received . On some ships they may take money and jewelry from the crew and passengers .

 

Ya mean they can't take it home with them?

(...it followed me home ma, kin I keep it?)

 

Negotiate HELL!!! If I were the captain, I'd be standing on the #### lifeboat screaming at the warships to fire a GD missile at me!

 

The reason there is so much piracy is because the ship owners have been far too willing to negotiate . They don't want intervention by force . They encourage the pirates . We need a few Cobra gunships patroling those lanes with authorization to blow away threatening boats . But then the pirates would probably bring their wives and kids along for the ride .

 

somalia is run by warlords, the government is in disaray and has been for quite some time. i could right a long post here, but it would be easier explained by watching the movie "blackhawk down" that movie will give you the skinny on somalia. no pun intended........