Obama vs. Pirates...

[RobsanX]

Capt. Richard Phillips of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama was taken hostage in a botched hijack of his ship off the Somali coast. Currently Capt. Phillips and four pirates are adrift in one of the ships lifeboats. Last night Capt. Phillips briefly escaped his captors, and despite the monitoring by a U.S. destroyer and an unmanned drone, the captain was recaptured.

The latest news is that Pres. Obama is sending in FBI negotiators to talk to these pirates. Now is it just me, or does anyone else suspect that there are a lot of Navy Seals sitting on that destroyer very pissed that Obama is bringing in the FBI to negotiate, rather than ordering the Navy to mount a rescue?

I mean Capt. Phillips escaped on his own already, and for some reason there were no sharpshooters nor 50 caliber machine guns ready to blast those pirates to bits while they had an opportunity. What gives?

Please vote and discuss...

[bakerbarber]

I recommend strapping plastic explosives hidden under Hilary Clinton's pantsuit.

Then dropping her off via helicopter as an exchange for the Captain. Most likely the pirates would take her, due to the perceived value of having the secretary of state as a hostage.

Next when the captain is safely away Hilary would start with, "mad as a shithouse rat" (as phile would say), cackling and laughter. When the right frequency of annoying nervous giggling was attained the explosives would detonate.

Thus solving several problems at one time.

Win - Win

[superdevil]

Sometimes I wish James Bond was real.

[lxskllr]

I haven't been following the story closely, but with more than 1 pirate on the life raft, it would be difficult to launch a rescue that would end with the captain staying alive. Being on water complicates the situation considerably.

[Quemador]

Just a matter of time before some Navy SEALs... We'll never hear what exactly happened on the news other than the situation is suddenly over.

[Xobeloot]

We need to send ninjas. Everyone knows that Ninjas > Pirates.

For this, I voted "Other"

[Skimo]

The only negotiating to be done in this situation is to tell the pirates to go ahead and kill the captain, tell them that some non US citizens will torture them for as long as humanly possible until they die and that thier familys homes and villages will be completely and utterly destroyed.

just kidding, although I could see a really pissed off mofo out there willingto do it.

the best thing to do is neutralize the situation completely, tell 'em it's great that they got our attention, and that reguardless of thier actions we will not change our mind, kill the captain and face retribution for piracy, or release the captain and give them 24 hours to run and hide.

"walk softly and carry a big stick" media blackout, the pirates WANT the attention for whatever reason... that's why they have a hostage.

media blackout, they kill the captain, we drop bombs. they release teh captain we let them hide from judgement.

this also brings up the subject of it being ILLEGAL for crew and captains to be armed, these ships are unarmed and unescorted, we made this happen.

at best SOME ships may have non-lethal defenses like the super megaphones etc.

only 4 pirates... seriously... give me a m-16 and guaranteed no morons in a zodiac will be riding up on me. heck a .50 semi auto rifle and I'm good to go, no need for a scope

[lxskllr]

this also brings up the subject of it being ILLEGAL for crew and captains to be armed, these ships are unarmed and unescorted, we made this happen.

at best SOME ships may have non-lethal defenses like the super megaphones etc.

As I said, I haven't been following this closely, but is that true?!?!

I thought ships were almost like sovereign nations, and could do almost anything they pleased.

[Condor]

this also brings up the subject of it being ILLEGAL for crew and captains to be armed, these ships are unarmed and unescorted, we made this happen.

at best SOME ships may have non-lethal defenses like the super megaphones etc.

As I said, I haven't been following this closely, but is that true?!?!

I thought ships were almost like sovereign nations, and could do almost anything they pleased.

HIGHLY illegal. Put an AR15 into your boat and go out and putt around and see what the Coast Guard says. It is effectively illegal to have a defensive solution.

[Premium Parrots]

this also brings up the subject of it being ILLEGAL for crew and captains to be armed, these ships are unarmed and unescorted, we made this happen.

at best SOME ships may have non-lethal defenses like the super megaphones etc.

As I said, I haven't been following this closely, but is that true?!?!

I thought ships were almost like sovereign nations, and could do almost anything they pleased.

HIGHLY illegal. Put an AR15 into your boat and go out and putt around and see what the Coast Guard says. It is effectively illegal to have a defensive solution.

...........by the same theory and for the same reason the government wants to unarm our citizens.

[Quemador]

this also brings up the subject of it being ILLEGAL for crew and captains to be armed, these ships are unarmed and unescorted, we made this happen.

at best SOME ships may have non-lethal defenses like the super megaphones etc.

As I said, I haven't been following this closely, but is that true?!?!

I thought ships were almost like sovereign nations, and could do almost anything they pleased.

HIGHLY illegal. Put an AR15 into your boat and go out and putt around and see what the Coast Guard says. It is effectively illegal to have a defensive solution.

That's correct... but I think the key is, arms are legal in international waters, the problem comes from the gun laws present in the country of the ship's origination and then again at the country of destination.

[amorican]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7996087.stm

All done now. All safe too.

[ShaulWolf]

Captain jumped boat again, and this time one of the pirates aimed his weapon at the captain. US commander of forces told snipers to open fire, and the snipers dropped three pirates and the fourth was captured. And go figure, one of the pirates was busy talking through negotiations when the captain jumped ship. Good timing on his part, and bad decision for the idiot who pointed his weapon at the captain.

I was wondering when a sniper team would take them out, I guess I got my answer. Good marksmen considering the movement of both vessels and the small window of opportunity to take a shot.

Now that this situation's resolved, I wonder what's going to be done to prevent future ones, if anything happens. A short term solution would be to destroy the local pirate groups. A long term solution would be to clear up Somalia, put in an effective government, and make sure they can keep their own territory clear of lawlessness. Good luck on that...

[Skimo]

you heard of course that a somali pirate said that they will now start killing hostages because of this...

wipe 'em out, take our troops from Iraq and have them guard ships, at least there's a point to that, right?

kill pirates, put bounties on thier head and let armed civilians hunt them down

[RobsanX]

you heard of course that a somali pirate said that they will now start killing hostages because of this...

wipe 'em out, take our troops from Iraq and have them guard ships, at least there's a point to that, right?

kill pirates, put bounties on thier head and let armed civilians hunt them down

How are they going to get money if they kill hostages?

I'm glad they got this resolved! Good job Navy!