U.S. warship watches Somali pirates with U.S. hostage

Idiots! With a crew like this who needs a captain? This is exactly what the navy doesn't need. The ship should have been in convoy especially since they know the price of a US crew in the region.

They can "watch" til the cows come home; that won´t stop the new Barbary Pirates. It is long time since the days of of "To the shores of Tripolis". This time around, we think political correctness and singing kumbayah will stop the jihad...

LOL, now the pirates are on a jihad, apparently.

Anyway, blow the whole thing up, just to show them we mean business.

Well, this is what you get from being too afraid to act to defend life and property on the basis of how much bad public relations will be seen in the eyes of the world on the U.S.

Altria,

they certainly are on a jihad, and following a centuries old tradition, in that. Remember: “it was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave,” but he also told them that for what they considered outrageous sums of money they could make peace." (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja)

But no, this time around, nobody is going to blow them up. Because Western self-confidence has been replaced by political correctness.

The history of jihad through piracy may well exists but has nothing to do with what is happening here, this is just simple piracy as was practiced all over the world by any number of different people of no particular religion. This lot happen to be Muslims, but that is because they come a Muslim country & for no other reason.

The reason the pirates are having such success is because of Western values that are being used against the shipping companies by the pirates. The pirates know that the West will pay to get their people back & as such the saga will go on & on &on. If anything what we have seen is that these pirates are not in any way stupid, they have avoided real violence as much as possible, they have not mistreated the crews under their control & they haven’t even tried to convert them to Islam. It’s a business for them & they are going to spoil it with violence or religion.

The French are the only ones so far to make any attempt at dealing them in a positive way. The French have made it dangerous for the pirates to take French ships. Going in after the ransom has been paid & the hostages have been released was the best move. Fine, that may not get the money back, but really that shouldn’t the objective, the objective should be to make that money as expensive as possible for the pirates. If costal villages feel that they are in danger because of the activities of the pirates they will not be supportive & more information will become available.

Putting guns on any of the ships isn’t the answer so long as ships crews are badly paid. Just look at the make-up of the crews we have so far seen taken hostage, they are from some of the poorest countries around the world, they are sea labours on very basic wages with two or three officers operating the ship. Why should they risk their lives given how little they are paid? There is a mechanism by which arm security could be put on ships, but it would be expensive because the guards would need to be transferred from other ships out at sea. Must countries don’t want armed men in their ports & for most it would be illegal. Guards would need to be put on & taken off ships outside territorial waters. The logistics & expense is simple too much given the number of ships at sea.

There is an answer but Western values play no part in it, send small hard hit squads into the villages, frighten the locals. With their wives, children & old people at risk pirates might think twice about piracy as a career. Go for their soft spot the way that they have gone for the Wests.

grafton:

" The history of jihad through piracy may well exists but has nothing to do with what is happening here, this is just simple piracy as was practiced all over the world by any number of different people of no particular religion "

Aha. Now what do you make of this:

Andrew Mangura:

"According to our information, the money they make from piracy and ransoms goes to support al-Shabaab activities onshore."

(http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSLO00572320080824)

Al Quaeda:

"Fighters who aspire to establish the caliphate must control the seas and the waterways". "The enemy will not be able to protect its bases scattered on land in the Arabian Peninsula, and subject to mujahideen attacks, if its waterways were weakened by acts of piracy".

(http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JI25Ak02.html)

Madverts:

Putting things in context is not "hate". The Somali pirates are not a politically correct rand assortment of people, they share an ideology.

willi,

The day everyone of your posts refrain from shreiking abut Islam, I'll believe you. Just have a look in your posting history.

You're obsessed with it man.

Whether you wish to bash your head against the wall of Reality makes no difference to me. Somali pirates are pirating boats for money.

No god.

You can´t separate the two, and wishful thinking is no substitute for education.

I'm not so sure that the pirates are busy being jihadists. I think they are trying to make a buck and survive; like pirates everywhere. If they are jihadists in public that's as likely to be posturing as much as anything else. They probably have to pay al Quaida taxes on the loot and I imagine they think of their tax collectors the same way the rest of us think of ours....

But I would expect some Seals to be practicing for a night assault in case the "negotiations" don't go well. I don't expect things to go well for the pirates in any case.

Well, it is amazing how most of the experts and the word coming from the CIA and the White House is that these guys are in it simply for the money. There is no evidence to support that they are on a Jihad nor are they linked to Al Queda. They are crooks, plane and simple. Greedy, risk taking thieves. These guys are not jacking these ships for a Holy War against the west. They are simply taking advantage of an opportunity to exploit money in a region where such a commodity is scarce. But despite 99.9% of every expert from both the left and the right saying this, I am willing to bet that Will will continue to clammer on about a Jihad and how Islam is out to destroy everything. This is why the president had to go back and tell everyone that we are not at war with Islam. It is a few bad apples outta 700 million decent people who are out there causing trouble.