Somali Pirates in for a Smackdown
Picture yourself in this scenario, you are driving down the interstate in a rented moving truck like U-Haul, Ryder, or your brother in law is helping you move with his company truck. You get cut off and forced off to the side of the road by not just one car or pickup truck but several. They pull guns on you and decide that your personal belongings are now theirs unless somebody pays the thugs aka highway pirates off. A ransom so to speak. You are now a hostage till somebody pays the ransom or your dead. The scary part of this whole scenario isn't that the ransom will be paid to save your life, it will be paid to save the truck. There is no help coming even if you called 911 that instant, help is one, two days, or even a week away. That is what is going on off of the coast of Somalia in the high seas shipping lanes and enough is enough.
I’m thinking that President Obama should cash in some of his world rock star tour chips and talk to his new friends in Europe, China, and the Middle East to see if they can offer some military help with this pandemic piracy problem. When you think about it, its their produced products heading through the area that needs protection so why the hell wouldn’t they offer assistance? I’m as liberal as the day is long but I can’t stand silent while our shipping lanes of the world are fair game for pirates. I can’t be silent when our merchant marines are attacked and they have no weapons to defend themselves with other than water cannons.
Doing nothing about the blatant theft and hijacking on the high seas is as bad as walking away from someone about to be murdered or raped. Yes the U.S. Military already has a presence in the area but try driving across Texas in a car at seventy miles per hour and see how long it takes you to get to the other side. Now try it at ten miles and hour in a war ship displacing thousands of tons of water! That is the area that our military is patrolling right now. More nations besides the United States and Great Britain need to step up to the plate or we need to deal with the source of the problem immediately. Over at the Daily News they have this to say on plans to fix the piracy problem on the high seas…
U.S. military already prepared with battle plans for Somalia pirates, say intelligence sources
I’m thinking that President Obama should cash in some of his world rock star tour chips and talk to his new friends in Europe, China, and the Middle East to see if they can offer some military help with this pandemic piracy problem. When you think about it, its their produced products heading through the area that needs protection so why the hell wouldn’t they offer assistance? I’m as liberal as the day is long but I can’t stand silent while our shipping lanes of the world are fair game for pirates. I can’t be silent when our merchant marines are attacked and they have no weapons to defend themselves with other than water cannons.
Doing nothing about the blatant theft and hijacking on the high seas is as bad as walking away from someone about to be murdered or raped. Yes the U.S. Military already has a presence in the area but try driving across Texas in a car at seventy miles per hour and see how long it takes you to get to the other side. Now try it at ten miles and hour in a war ship displacing thousands of tons of water! That is the area that our military is patrolling right now. More nations besides the United States and Great Britain need to step up to the plate or we need to deal with the source of the problem immediately. Over at the Daily News they have this to say on plans to fix the piracy problem on the high seas…
U.S. military already prepared with battle plans for Somalia pirates, say intelligence sources
BY James Gordon Meek
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Thursday, April 9th 2009, 5:06 AM
WASHINGTON - U.S. military commanders have already prepared battle plans for ending the scourge of piracy on the high seas off Somalia if President Obama pulls the trigger, sources told the Daily News Wednesday.
The Navy sent a warship to intercept Somali pirates Wednesday who hijacked a U.S.-flagged freighter, as commanders weighed military options for nailing the brigands' bases.
Retired U.S. Ambassador Robert Oakley, who was special envoy to Somalia in the 1990s, said U.S. special operations forces have drawn up detailed plans to attack piracy groups where they live on land, but are awaiting orders from the Obama national security team.
"Our special operations people have been itching to clean them up. So far, no one has let them," Oakley told the Daily News.
The veteran diplomat, who also was ambassador to Pakistan, said teams of Army Delta Force or Navy SEALs "could take care of the pirates in 72 hours" if given the order to strike. - Daily News
I hate to say it but this is the first test of President Obama and his diplomacy skills. He needs to take the lead where others are looking the other way. He can try to form an immediate world coalition to end piracy from Somalia or he can just deal with it using existing military plans and our own special forces. Either way, the shipping of commerce around the world and past the Somalia coast needs to be safe and free of gang like tactics.
Our merchant marines do not carry weapons on board these large ships transporting every possible product known to mankind. They are civilians just doing their job. Piracy anywhere in the world places an additional strain on the markets of free trade that in this point in time can be highly destructive to the recovery of the world markets. The clock is ticking for action President Obama. Tick, tock, tick, tock…
Papamoka
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Thursday, April 9th 2009, 5:06 AM
WASHINGTON - U.S. military commanders have already prepared battle plans for ending the scourge of piracy on the high seas off Somalia if President Obama pulls the trigger, sources told the Daily News Wednesday.
The Navy sent a warship to intercept Somali pirates Wednesday who hijacked a U.S.-flagged freighter, as commanders weighed military options for nailing the brigands' bases.
Retired U.S. Ambassador Robert Oakley, who was special envoy to Somalia in the 1990s, said U.S. special operations forces have drawn up detailed plans to attack piracy groups where they live on land, but are awaiting orders from the Obama national security team.
"Our special operations people have been itching to clean them up. So far, no one has let them," Oakley told the Daily News.
The veteran diplomat, who also was ambassador to Pakistan, said teams of Army Delta Force or Navy SEALs "could take care of the pirates in 72 hours" if given the order to strike. - Daily News
I hate to say it but this is the first test of President Obama and his diplomacy skills. He needs to take the lead where others are looking the other way. He can try to form an immediate world coalition to end piracy from Somalia or he can just deal with it using existing military plans and our own special forces. Either way, the shipping of commerce around the world and past the Somalia coast needs to be safe and free of gang like tactics.
Our merchant marines do not carry weapons on board these large ships transporting every possible product known to mankind. They are civilians just doing their job. Piracy anywhere in the world places an additional strain on the markets of free trade that in this point in time can be highly destructive to the recovery of the world markets. The clock is ticking for action President Obama. Tick, tock, tick, tock…
Papamoka
Labels: cargo ships, High Seas Piracy, Hijacked, Military Action, Piracy, Pirates, Preventing Piracy, Ransom, shipping, Shipping Lanes, Shipping Lines, Somali Pirates, Tanker Ships, War Lords
posted by Papamoka at
7:49 PM
1 Comments:
I think the French have the right idea about this problem. Make whatever deal they need to in order to get their hostages back, then send commandos after the pirates.
Or, more immediate action when necessary, as with the recent yacht hijacking.
The US Navy should be able to deal with this problem on its own. All they need are the orders to do so.
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