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Huge victory for America, and therefore for Obama.
Eat , shelshor and similar ilk.
Technically, terrorism is usually performed as a the means of furthering a political or ideological goal.
Huge victory for America, and therefore for Obama.
Eat , shelshor and similar ilk.
Yeah, the initial reports in the moments after it was announced he was free, I read something saying they were out of everything, but I subsequently haven't seen much along those lines. So it was misreported and thus misreported by me.
But check this out:
Awesome.CNN is reporting that Navy sharpshooters were secretly parachuted onto the fantail of the USS Bainbridge and hid there, out of view of the pirates. When their commanders determined that Captain Phillips was "in imminent danger," the snipers went into action. At the moment that two of the pirates came into view with one aiming an AK-47 at Phillips, the sharpshooters shot each of them in the head. The USS Bainbridge was about 25-30 meters away from the 18-foot lifeboat holding the pirates and Phillips, according to the Armed Forces Press Service.
During a Pentagon briefing in Bahrain, Vice Adm. William Gortney, head of the U.S. Naval Central Command, said:
"The snipers positioned on the fantail of the Bainbridge observed one of the pirates in the pilot house -- and two pirates with their head and shoulders exposed -- and one of the pirates had the AK47 (assault rifle) leveled at the captain's back."
will crookshanks retract the bull she spewed about obama in this thread?
April 13, 2009
Rescue Fuels Debate Over Arming Crews
By KEITH BRADSHER
HONG KONG — A spate of attacks on ships off Somalia and the rescue Sunday of an American captain held hostage by pirates have reinvigorated a long-simmering debate over whether the crews of commercial vessels should be armed.
While the arming of merchant vessels was commonplace for centuries, it faded in recent decades because of ship owners’ concerns about liability and the safety of their sailors.
Despite repeated problems with pirates in the Strait of Malacca between Indonesia and Malaysia and now in the waters of the Arabian Sea, ship owners worried that their crews would be killed instead of held for ransom if the crews tried to defend themselves and failed.
But the expanding range and seafaring skills of Somali pirates are prompting some experts to start calling for changes. The killing by United States Navy sharpshooters of three Somali pirates during the rescue on Sunday of Richard Phillips, the American captain of the container ship Maersk Alabama, has further raised the stakes, with at least one Somali pirate on shore threatening vengeance on the next American seafarer captured.
Barry Parker, a shipping consultant in New York and former ship broker, predicted that an international agreement would be drafted to allow captains to keep firearms and distribute them to crew members during times of potential danger from pirates. International rules pushed through by the United States after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, authorized captains to monitor maritime security in their vicinity and maintain their vessels at elevated levels of vigilance in response to dangers.
If that an errorism system were expanded to include piracy and ships were armed, Mr. Parker said, captains could be authorized to take greater measures. “The captain declares there’s some elevated level and they open up the gun locker,” he said.
But many ship owners, including those with vessels that regularly ply the waters off East Africa, remain deeply reluctant to allow any weapons on their ships, said Matthew Flynn, a shipping consultant in Hong Kong who works closely with ship owners in Asia and East Africa.
“I’m not sure people are convinced at all it’s going to make ships or crews safer,” he said.
Arthur Bowring, the managing director of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, said that if ships carried weapons, they might draw attacks around the world from people seeking to steal the weapons.
Ship owners also do not want crews to be armed because few merchant sailors have combat training and because pirates with deep pockets from ransom payments will always be able to buy larger weapons than ship owners in any maritime arms race, said Mr. Bowring, who is also the chairman of the labor affairs committee of the International Shipping Federation, a trade group representing employers.
“If we arm our crews with light machine guns, they can probably buy heavy machine guns,” Mr. Bowring said. “And if we buy light rocket launchers, they can buy heavy ones.” The answer to piracy, he said, was better law enforcement ashore.
Most ports severely restrict vessels from having weapons on board, and changing those regulations in each country would be difficult, Mr. Flynn said. The United States Coast Guard has been especially wary, fearing that the weapons could be used for terrorist attacks.
Because a commercial vessel might stop in a dozen countries during a voyage, it would be hard for it to carry weapons if any port along the route forbade that, Mr. Flynn said.
International regulation of shipping has shifted heavily away from the countries that register vessels and toward the local and national governments at the ships’ ports of call. This has made it even more complicated to come up with common international standards, because so many countries are involved.
Protecting tankers from pirates is especially difficult. They are a favorite target in Asia and Africa because they are relatively slow moving and may carry valuable cargo like gasoline and diesel, which are easily unloaded and resold.
Accidental fires are a constant worry for tanker crews, which train for them constantly. A tanker crew that is exchanging gunfire with pirates could run the risk of igniting vapors from the cargo, or the cargo itself, shipping executives have said.
Several safety features that have become widespread during the past decade could help lessen the danger from pirate attacks, ship security experts said.
For instance, large freighters are now required to carry devices that continuously transmit their position, a precaution that may reduce the risk of collision as well as make it easier for naval forces to keep track of the ships. Also, many commercial vessels are equipped with a panic button on the bridge that the officer on duty can hit at any time to start automatically broadcasting a distress call with the vessel’s location and description.
Sailing through the Strait of Malacca on a moonless night aboard a small tanker six years ago, Fong Chung-chen, the tanker’s chief officer, recalled how he had hit the panic button and watched as pirates giving chase in a small boat left immediately, having heard the call on their radio. “All of them were squatting, coming very close in masks and full black body suits” until the distress call went out, he said.
Because it is often easiest to board a vessel from the stern, where the wake provides relatively calm water for a pirate boat, crews in piracy-prone waters have also for many years sprayed water from fire hoses down the stern and kept fire axes at hand to sever any grappling hooks used by the pirates.
John S. Burnett, who was himself attacked by pirates in 1992 and wrote the book “Dangerous Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas,” said piracy currently poses an irresistible economic temptation to Somali fishermen, increasing their earnings from perhaps $50 a month to many thousands of dollars.
“Poor fishermen know now that hijacking ships is far more lucrative than hauling up a half-empty fishing net,” Mr. Burnett said in a telephone interview from Zurich. The Internet, he said, has ensured that word of the success of some pirates in collecting large ransoms has spread to the entire fishing community, whose livelihood has already been threatened by overfishing.
Preventing commercial shippers from paying ransoms is almost impossible, he said, because shipping officials are determined to avoid violence. “The ship companies don’t want blood on the decks, so they pay,” Mr. Burnett said.
He said the rash of piracy in the strait near Indonesia in the 1990s had been ended by a combination of measures. They included increased patrols, partly by an Indonesian fleet modernized with American and Japanese financial support, a crackdown on piracy by the Indonesian government and the use of technology like radar and
drones, he said.
He said he hoped the attention given to Captain Phillips would cause more attention to be focused on piracy and other crew members being held, but warned against the use of military force. Because of Somalis’ resentment of foreign incursions, Mr. Burnett said, “any boots on the ground would be a fight to the death.”
Scott Shane contributed reporting from Washington.
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Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
For further reading, including the origins of piracy in Somalia:
Pirates Holding Saudi Tanker Dismiss Islamist Threats Nov 2008
Very basic background briefing from globalsecurity.org
Somali Pirates Target New Area, Adopt Tougher Tactics for Hijackings
Interesting bit of personal background, and some insight into the "world" of the pirates from Vanity Fair. Apr 2009 (long article, but worth reading)
There is a lot out there.
Way to go Seals. Ballsy decision, but it worked out. Obama would've roasted if it didn't work out, but it did, so everyone's happy.
The Navy pulled some Hollywood moves with the three simultaneous head shots. Impressive doesnt do the situation justice. The targets were on a boat that is rising and falling, the snipers on a boat that is rising and falling and the three targets are moving.
Thats just sick...I dont think the article I read gave a distance, but regardless, just the conditions I named say youre going to miss at least one of the three shots. Amazing.
Why is there even a discussion about arming crews? Just go back 200 years ago and think about how those ship captains had to defend themselves. Not much has changed since then right? Just mount a few 50 calibur machine gun on board and problem solved. Give the crew some AR-15's.
To bad the same cant be done with thread hijackers.
NYT:
Acting with President Obama’s authorization and in the belief that the hostage, Capt. Richard Phillips, was in imminent danger of being killed by captors armed with pistols and AK-47s, snipers on the fantail of the destroyer Bainbridge, which was towing the lifeboat on a 100-foot line, opened fire and picked off the three captors.
Two of the captors had poked their heads out of a rear hatch of the lifeboat, exposing themselves to clear shots, and the third could be seen through a window in the bow, pointing an automatic rifle at the captain, who was tied up inside the 18-foot lifeboat, senior Navy officials said.
It took only three remarkable shots — one each by snipers firing from a distance at dusk, using night-vision scopes, the officials said. Within minutes, rescuers slid down ropes from the Bainbridge, climbed aboard the lifeboat and found the three pirates dead. They then untied Captain Phillips, ending the contretemps at sea that had riveted much of the world’s attention. A fourth pirate had surrendered earlier.
Are you happy now?It is kind of depressing to see America apparently does not have any delta force to find its way to this lifeboat and take care of business Rambo style
Where are the 7 Navy Seals popping up from beneath the waves and taking the tangos down
Do you like how *pussy Americans* handled the drama?
Reconsider, in light of actual events?
Man - why is it that I'm the one getting all the criticism? That's the ONLY critical thing I posted in this thread. Hilary was the one who said they were waiting on the international community to help them resolve the situation.
And let's get the facts straight - Obama never even made a statement about the situation. Everytime he was asked about it, he refused to answer.
But I will say I'm very pleased that Obama realized he couldn't negotiate with them and gave the order to take them out. However, all the credit goes to the Navy - way to go guys!!! All Obama did was give the authorization - he's no hero.
In the midst of an ongoing operation, this may have been the prudent thing to do.
Defense asked for and received the authorization. Lion's share of the credit goes to the Navy for the amazing rescue, but they wouldn't have done it without the go-ahead from the President. Obama gave them the authority they needed to do the job.
Because you were so obviously and entertainingly wrong.
Mind boggling hateful that woman is.
I always thought Captain had a secret stash for emergencies......at least a taser or something.
But you and many others specifically said he wouldn't give such an authorization, and would simply do the wishy washy thing.
You aren't the only one being criticized either.
Personally, it rubs me the wrong way to see myths like "Democratic presidents are wussies" be repeated in the face of a lot of contravening evidence.
When it comes to a lot of foreign policy there is much less difference between the parties than many, including you it seems, think.
yeah, that's all.
how very wild cobra of you
Just heard about this.
Unbelievable sharp-shooting skills.
Just goes to show you what can happen when only the criminals are armed.
EDIT> And kudos to Obama for putting his rubber stamp to good use.
Are you packing right now, Darrin?
I don't own a gun.
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