US Held at Bay by Four Somali Pirates

[Scarecrow]

3 head shots by three SEAL snipers, can't wait for the left to make hay out of this one, it'll be interesting.

just heard about that.. shot at the same time from what I heard.. very nice! well done.

[Debray]

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Navy SEAL snipers on the fantail of a destroyer cut down three Somali pirates in a lifeboat and rescued an American sea captain on Easter Sunday. The surprise nighttime assault in choppy seas ended a five-day standoff between a team of rogue gunmen and the world's most powerful military.

Just think what they could do if the seas weren't choppy.

Now they need to go in and finish the job and put an end to this nonsence.

Debray

[Debray]

In Washington, President Barack Obama appeared to move the piracy issue higher on his agenda, vowing "to halt the rise of piracy" and saying the United States would work (with nations elsewhere in the world).

"I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region and to achieve that goal, we're going to have to continue to work (with our partners) to prevent future attacks," Obama said at a news conference Monday.

Is this guy starting to show some guts or is this just another ploy for Global togetherness.

The US doesn't need help.

If he wants it done right he needs to turn it over to our Military and get out of the way

If you arn't part of the solution you are part of the problem.

Debray

[toreskha]

In Washington, President Barack Obama appeared to move the piracy issue higher on his agenda, vowing "to halt the rise of piracy" and saying the United States would work (with nations elsewhere in the world).

"I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region and to achieve that goal, we're going to have to continue to work (with our partners) to prevent future attacks," Obama said at a news conference Monday.

Is this guy starting to show some guts or is this just another ploy for Global togetherness.

The US doesn't need help.

If he wants it done right he needs to turn it over to our Military and get out of the way

If you arn't part of the solution you are part of the problem.

Debray

This piracy thing is a big deal for the administration primarily because it affects trade. The last thing they want during a period of poor economic growth is some raggedy pirates scaring away billions of dollars in shipping trade.

Actually though, we do need a lot of help on this. Patrolling the entire western portion of the Indian Ocean is not the primary role of the US Navy. It's a good job for a bunch of different navies that have shipping interests in the area. Many nations can probably spare a gunboat or two to hang out in the area and look for suspicious-looking speedboats.

In any case, all the force in the world won't solve this. Somalia is basically a lawless cesspool run by gangs of criminals. Even bombing it to ashes wouldn't solve the problem, because ships need to go through the area without obstructions. Someone needs to take the place over, bulldoze the corruption and most of the buildings, and start with a clean slate.

[wolfhunter]

One Navy LHD and a battalion of Marines = 0 Somali pirate problem.
Last time around, in 1805, this tactic stopped pirate attacks on US flagged ships.

[toreskha]

One Navy LHD and a battalion of Marines = 0 Somali pirate problem.
Last time around, in 1805, this tactic stopped pirate attacks on US flagged ships.

During the Barbary Wars, we were able to twist the arm of an actual government that had an organized pirating operation. Now we're dealing with many different independent operators. There's 9.5 million people in Somalia, and every one probably wants to be a pirate. That would be quite an impressive helicopter assault, and a boon for the ammo industry. The sheer quantity of metals (brass, copper and lead) being imported into the country would be the biggest introduction of commodities to Somalia in a long time.

The best way to solve this problem is to first get someone in charge, and then make them do what we want. The problem is that no reasonable person wants to be in charge of Somalia, and anyone who is "in charge" could expect to be killed and eaten by an angry mob in an hour. Maybe in lieu of that, we could pick the largest gangs, and support their brutal consolidation efforts. Once we end up with two or three big ones that are cooperative, deal with them and forcibly get them to quit the piracy crap.

[wolfhunter]

Propping up the "larger gang" is how we got Noriega and Sadam.

[toreskha]

Propping up the "larger gang" is how we got Noriega and Sadam.

The only complete military solution I can think of would be to set fire to the entire place and execute the survivors - assuming we don't consider nuclear weapons as an option.

[wolfhunter]

Some guys named Sherman and Sheridan thought that was the way to accomplish US security...