Posted on 01/09/2009 11:31:01 AM PST by gleeaikin
MOGADISHU (Jan. 9) - Somali pirates released an oil-laden Saudi supertanker after receiving a $3 million ransom, a negotiator for the bandits said Friday. The ship owner did not confirm it. The MV Sirius Star, a brand new tanker with a 25-member crew, was seized in the Indian Ocean Nov. 15 in a dramatic escalation of high seas crime. Dangerous WatersHandout / AP15 photos Somali pirates released a Saudi supertanker for a $3 million ransom on Friday, according to an associate of the pirates. The Sirius Star, possibly the largest ship hijacked, was seized along the Kenyan coast Nov. 15. A maritime group confirmed that the ship had been released, but did not confirm the ransom
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this is sirius.
Thomas Jefferson had this problem...amazing how the edges of Africa still have morons.
They lowered the ransom from $10 million to $3 million.
Lucky them, the oil onboard was about to become worthless with the price plunge.
In the pictures they show the weapons the pirates were using, the things are a bunch of rusted junk.
Looks like they soaked them in seawater for a several days.
Unless a few Saudis are the backers of the pirates..
The backers of the pirates may be OPEC members themselves...
The pirates seem to be very selective on which ships to attack..
Once the Tanker is on the open sea, reduce the pirate port to ashes.
Thomas Jefferson had this problem...amazing how well he solved it. Here is an excerpt from Derek Leebaert’s book (2006), “To Dare & To Conquer: Special Operations and the Destiny of Nations, from Achilles to Al Qaeda”. A read I highly recommend.
“Without British protection, American ships were now thoroughly exposed to Barbary. Washington and Adams paid tribute, following tradition and because it was cheaper than war to keep these outlaws’ predations in some sort of bounds. Jefferson was a harder case. He was a bad man to cross, and a deadly enemy. Since his diplomatic days...in Paris...he had been insisting that the civilized world put an end to the piracy, proposing in 1786 a Barbary Fund for the purpose, which might underwrite a perpetual blockade by an international fleet—a pioneering, but fruitless, initiative of international security. Once president in 1801, he acted.”
In 1803 the Philadelphia, in hot pursuit, struck a reef, was captured, ungrounded, taken to Tripoli harbor and 307 American sailors held hostage. Feb. 1804, 25 year old Lt. Stephen Decatur Jr. trained 84 carefully selected and rehearsed raiders. They successfully boarded the Philadelphia and burned her, denying her to use by the pirates, without loosing a man.
In 1805, 18 year old William Eaton, conceived and was White House authorized to conduct a raid whose purpose was hostage rescue and also regime change, which added “shores of Tripoli to the Marine Hymn. With a wildly international troop of cutthroats, adventurers and mercenaries, and supported by several US warships he planted the flag in the well-fortified Tripolitan port city of Derna. Action against Banghazi and Tripoli was thwarted by “an utterly unnecessary and all-too-temporary peace agreement... between eager U.S. negotiators and a ruling tyrant held by the throat.” The Philadelphia’s brutalized crew was ransomed.
Finally, in 1815, Decatur was back, which emboldened European powers to take more effective action.
Either a $3 million ransom or a fraction of that for some well armed retired seals and marines to transit on board the boat via the Somali coast.
Then catch another ship headed the other way.
Use pilot boats for the transfer so the tankers do not have to even stop.
Put together a list of people who have posted pirate stories, saw you on it george. Good info about how American will probably be involved in the UN efforts.
I believe they should equip the ships with an M242 Bushmaster. It would slice up the pirates REAL good.
They can mount one on a hummer and drive it on the deck; instant mounting!
Thanks for sharing that.
A parachute dropped by a small aircraft drops over the MV Sirius Star at anchor in this U.S. Navy photo, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009, following an apparent payment via a parachuted container to pirates holding the ship. (AW2 David B. Hudson / AP)
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