by Confucious 32 Replies latest jw friends
Didnt play a set in Somalia during the Clinton years? I thought that last intervention neutered all the warlords and paved the Somalian streets with gold.
Guess I was wrong. I guess some of those merchant crews need to arm the ship's company and repel borders...
Hill
Not so much a debate as a chance for some chest beating on the part of our more neanderthal posters.
I fail to see how arming a merchant crew is going to help when dealing with Somalian mercenaries who have spent a lifetime at war, they are not amateurs. Whilst it may be comforting to assume that these pirates are not highly paid, highly motivated professional soldiers and sailors, it might be better to deal with this problem armed with facts rather than empty bravado.
Caedes... most bullies dont handle being shot (back) at very well. Maybe Belguim or Poland or Saudi Arabia should put a few light cruisers off the Horn Of Africa. The USA is plumb out of those ships... and we dont want to be accused of being a superpower bully nation by say...the French.
According to most of what I hear on NPR regarding this sea faring thugs is that they are out of work fishermen... not some "trained force". So what it it... poor folks making an international statement or just some sea-going carjackers?
Hill
I fail to see how arming a merchant crew is going to help when dealing with Somalian mercenaries who have spent a lifetime at war, they are not amateurs. Whilst it may be comforting to assume that these pirates are not highly paid, highly motivated professional soldiers and sailors, it might be better to deal with this problem armed with facts rather than empty bravado.
It is a simple fact that an armed target is far less palatable to an aggressor than an unarmed victim. This is simple brutal logic. It was only after the high seas were cleared of large scale piracy by the armed navies of the world that merchant vessels stopped being armed and lightly armed vessels used to be painted with false portholes to appear more armed than they were. A number of vessels operating in the area are employing security provided by a British company for just these sorts of reasons. Those are facts, and a deck gun is no respecter of a speedboat full of AK wielding Somalis be they skilled or not.
BTS
It is a simple fact also that an armed but poorly motivated civilian crew are going to be mincemeat when faced with people who have spent a lifetime fighting. This is simple logic, an armed ship may be less palatable to the pirates but once you arm all the merchant vessels in the area what do you think will happen? You think the pirates are going to go home and give up the income? No, they will just buy more guns and shoot first rather than simply taking hostages. I suppose it's easy to be gung ho when it's someone else who will be under fire.
As ever, Mr Burns your grasp of history is tenuous, large scale piracy ceased when governments stopped funding it.
...poorly motivated civilian crew are going to be mincemeat when faced with people who have spent a lifetime fighting~Ceades
Nothing like a few minutes of fighting for your life to improve the motivation factor. I would rather be poorly motivated with a chance to improve my motivation than dead.
Caedes.. I wont speak for anyone else.. but having been in the bight a few times (near death, accidents, failed equipment , horse wrecks guns pointed at me) I can assure you of this;
If you have time for your life to flash before your eyes ...you dont understand the gravity of the situation.
Hill
As ever, Mr Burns your grasp of history is tenuous, large scale piracy ceased when governments stopped funding it.
Apparently, yours still more tenuous, as what you describe is known as privateering, not piracy. Piracy is independent of government funding. Being that there is basically no functional national government in Somalia, this is what we are seeing there.
Again, to say that armament is not a deterrent is to betray a very peculiar mental block that I attribute to a generalized hoplophobia that seems to affect a great many people on the other side of the pond from here.
BTS
Well the "Islamic Courts" faction in Somalia has said they'll crack down on the piracy, and we seem to be looking the other way as they take control of the country.
Where's Johnny Depp when he's needed?
Does anyone else believe that if the U.S. had any interst in those ships, that the Navy Seals would board them and handle this situation is about 15 minutes?
