Posted on 04/10/2009 9:19:58 AM PDT by Scanian
As the US Navy moves additional ships to the Indian Ocean to attempt to free the American captain held hostage by pirates, some are criticizing Washington's tactics and calling for strikes on the Somali pirates' land bases.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the US is sending additional naval vessels to join the USS Bainbridge, which has been in a standoff with the pirates who took an American captain hostage Wednesday. But experts say that an increased US naval presence will not solve the ongoing issue of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean, writes The Wall Street Journal.
"I actually think this naval response is not the right thing to be doing at all," said [Peter Chalk, an expert on piracy at the Rand Corp.,] of the presence of the USS Bainbridge, a guided missile destroyer which reached the Maersk Alabama early Thursday morning. "We have ratcheted up the situation."...
"Governments like the US have little choice, given the public pressure and the political pressure," Mr. Chalk said. "I don't think that the naval presence out there has anything to do with the protection of ships. It's been politicized."
Rather, argues Mr. Chalk, the US needs to target the pirates' bases in Somalia, where they have had free reign to establish camps in various port cities of the failed state. In a commentary for CNN, Tom Wilkerson of the United States Naval Institute, a nonprofit professional association, also advocates targeting the pirates' home bases, which he says is a lesson "we seem unable to learn from our own history."
In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson said "Enough" to paying 20 percent of the US national budget as tribute to Barbary pirates.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Fewer pirates on land mean fewer pirates at sea ... take them out.
After we defeat them, we’ll bring in millions more of them as refugees.
Sounds like a perfect job for a battleship, if we still had them.
The pirates have a big problem now. The USS Boxer just showed up. It’s carrying a Marine Expeditionary Unit. Within that MEU is a Battalion Landing Team. Combined arms, air, helicopter assault and amphibious landing companies.
i agree, enough with the finger wagging and letter writing...good grief does this country not know how to stand up for itself anymore...??
The pirates will never release all their hostages because they’re the only thing keeping them alive. I just don’t see a way out that will save all the hostages without empowering the pirates.
The more we give them the upper hand, the more their demands will grow.
your point..??...do you really think we will unleash the dogs...??...
Serious.
We have “little choice”? We have as much “choice” as we want to take. It boils down to the fact that we no longer have leadership. Our government wouldn’t even shoot down a missile if it was launched against us.
“good grief does this country not know how to stand up for itself anymore...??”
Apparently the current administration is afraid to try. Ditto the majority of the world.
So we are going to send a carrier battle group to take on four guys in a life raft because a DDG wasn’t enough? This is a battle of political will not a battle of fire power. The moment the Bainbridge stood by and let the pirates recapture the captain after he escaped this morning it was over. They called our bluff and Obama was found wanting. Sending more ships won’t do a damn bit of good if Obama won’t let them fight. The war is over, we lost on a Tuesday last November.
The Boxer has arrived and Hellfire is a coming.
Not only that, but we should declare that we will destroy any boat from Somalia that is in international waters (greater than 12 miles from the coast).
its a shame to think of all the men and women that fought for this country...the mental and physical injurys and all that died and for what....so this asshat can apologize to world for our behavior and basically hand us over to the enemy.....sad sad state.....
The USS Boxer just showed up. It’s carrying a Marine Expeditionary Unit. Within that MEU is a Battalion Landing Team. Combined arms, air, helicopter assault and amphibious landing companies.
But why would we think that the appeaser in chief would actually permit them to do their job?
Even Jimmy Carter would have given it a go. Obama is worse than Jimmuh!
Well, at least he asked for the Boxer.
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