Defense secretary: Killed Somali pirates were "untrained" teenagers ("No Military Solution")

China View ^ | 4/13/2009 | Mu Xuequan

[tobyhill]

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Monday that three Somali pirates who were killed by the Navy's Seals to end a hostage crisis were "untrained" teenagers.

Addressing an audience at the Marine Corps War College in Quantico, Virginia, Gates said that the slain pirates, aged at between 17 to 19, were heavily armed but inexperienced.

They were shot dead on Sunday at the end of a five-day standoff with the U.S. military after they attacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship about 400 kilometers away from Somali and held an American captain as hostage.

"As long as you've got this incredible number of poor people and the risks are relatively small, there's really no way in my view to control it unless you get something on land that begins to change the equation for these kids," Gates told students and faculty members.

[pissant]

Rummy, we need you back

[pennboricua]

well they will now not grow up to be trained killers

[junta]

Lead changes equations especially from well trained American Military experts. Bill Ayers weeps.

[rightwingextremist1776]

Midnight basketball.....yea, that will fix everything!

[OneWingedShark]

>Defense secretary: Killed Somali pirates were “untrained” teenagers.

Can we impeach him?

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

You play, you pay.

[marron]

Good. As they say, if you’re in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

[9YearLurker]

Sounds like we just need to raise the risks for them...

[t1b8zs]

whats the point???

[bill1952]

that three Somali pirates who were killed by the Navy's Seals to end a hostage crisis were "untrained" teenagers.

LOL! Oh, we have trained pirates now, do we?

[Bertha Fanation]

Maybe US taxpayers (or the UN, funded there from) can pony up the $$ to bring the pirates up to snuff, and that’ll make it fair.

[Dallas59]

Good gawd...does it matter?

[tobyhill]

Gates says there is no military solution and Obama says he will combat them. I guess our military needs their bucket of spitballs back.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9uo98lORhw&feature=related

[Prophet in the wilderness]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9uo98lORhw&feature=related

[Enterprise]

Dear Mr. Gates:

We have lots of untrained teenagers with guns here too. They're called GANG MEMBERS! And they regularly KILL PEOPLE!

[blam]

"Defense secretary: Killed Somali pirates were “untrained” teenagers."

Poor babies.

The mean ol USA shouldn't have had our dangerous ships out there in the first place. Afterall, Black (and Islamic) youts were playing there.

[americanophile]

"untrained teenagers"

Consider them schooled.

[Interesting Times]

Does this make Obama a war criminal?

[engrpat]

""As long as you've got this incredible number of poor people..."

Why do I see a new welfare program compliments of the American public? Sorry they are poor, that doesn't give them the right to commit piracy. As far as being young, it would seem they are beyond their years compared to our pampered teens.

[catbertz]

What about the pirates that the French killed? Were they untrained? Do we care? When does a bad man with a gun pointed at your head suddenly require training to be considered legitimate?

They should shut up and tally the win.

[Dallas59]

When do we get to see the videos of the grieving parents, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers?

[bluejay]

> “As long as you’ve got this incredible number of poor people and the risks are relatively small, there’s really no way in my view to control it unless you get something on land that begins to change the equation for these kids,” Gates told students and faculty members.

Well that makes sense. Why don’t we send some troops to distribute food in Somalia?

Oh right, now I remember.

[tobyhill]

Ask Gates who brought it up and then claims there is no military solution for the problem.
Teach them Ebonics and build rec centers will keep them from a life of piracy. /sarc

[La Lydia]

What, as opposed to highly trained teenagers? Would it be OK then, or not? Or worse? I do not understand the point he is trying to make.

[Never on my watch]

What's the point, Gates?

Are we over trained and too qualified to compete with these thugs? They are the enemy - we don't need to empathize with them, we need to kill them. That is what the military does. Let the U.N. wring their hands and put warriors in charge of the military.

[trisham]

I loved Rumsfeld, and I was shocked at how much criticism he received here. I wonder how his detractors feel now?

[jazusamo]

And that matters?

Gates needs to go!

[Kansas58]

“Momma don’t let your babies grow up to be pirates-—

“So its up against the wall Muslim pirates”

Any other lyrics in this mess?

[South40]

A dead muslim terrorrist is a dead muslim terrorist, regardless what age.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

( Defense secretary: Killed Somali pirates were “untrained” teenagers ):

SO what they are saying IS ??
That they shot 3 untrained children ? .... Obama sent out orders to shoot 3 untrained innocent children ?

[Thommas]

If you put a gun to someone's head, don't expect my sympathy because you hoped for a different outcome than your death...

As for being teenagers, so what?

[tobyhill]

Interesting Point. Obama was quick to take the credit for “allowing” the rescue attempt, like any other CIC would have done, so he should answer to the possibility.

[pissant]

There were things that Rummy did that I did not agree with. I remember Duncan Hunter tussling with him a couple of times. However, the one thing that was so refreshing was his utter lack of political correctness and his handling of the fools in the media.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

BOO FREEPIN’ HOO!!

[mainestategop]

One of these thugs had a weapon to the back of the captain. A weapon that could have been armed. Don’t tell me it was unnecessary to take him out! Anyway I don’t remember the left having that problem with the Waco siege.

[Kansas58]

Libs think that guns kill people, and want gun control in America.

But, in the rest of the world, they concentrate on the PEOPLE with guns, and not on the guns!

[Will88]

"As long as you've got this incredible number of poor people and the risks are relatively small, there's really no way in my view to control it unless you get something on land that begins to change the equation for these kids," Gates told students and faculty members.

Well, Gates has become a card carrying member of the "root causes" school of criminal and terrorist action. And the fact that these guys were 17 - 19 is not all that remarkable. The average age of Americans who served in Vietnam was 19.

I wonder just what point he was trying to make, and why he thought it worth mentioning at this stage in this incident?

[Wissa]

"As long as you've got this incredible number of poor people and the risks are relatively small, there's really no way in my view to control it unless you get something on land that begins to change the equation for these kids," Gates told students and faculty members.

Very simple solution to the problem. Take the actions needed to make the risks relatively large instead of relatively small and the problem disappears.

[Yorlik803]

Thats a slap in the face of all those who took part in this.
My God, what have we done.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

“Well, it got so that every piss-ant prairie punk who thought he could shoot a gun would ride into town to try out the Waco Kid. I must have killed more men than Cecil B. DeMille. It got pretty gritty. I started to hear the word “draw” in my sleep.

“Then one day, I was just walking down the street when I heard a voice behind me say, “Reach for it, mister!” I spun around... and there I was, face-to-face with a six-year old kid. Well, I just threw my guns down and walked away.

“Little bastard shot me in the ass.”

— An important lesson about “kids with guns”, from the movie Blazing Saddles.

[Kansas58]

Schooled in the KORAN!

(Which tells these Muslim kids to KILL and to PLUNDER the infidels)

[paul51]

"As long as you've got this incredible number of poor people and the risks are relatively small there's really no way in my view to control it unless you get something on land that begins to change the equation for these kids,"

Isn't the obvious answer to make the risks relatively large, as in shooting them dead?

[tobyhill]

Gates basically made that case as if it does matter. He almost excuses their behavior being they were teenagers and poor.

[bushwon]

On the Job Training?!

[Tallguy]

In the sense that there probably is no ‘school for piracy’, then Gates is probably right. It is still an idiotic statement, however. A fast boat, an AK, and a will to commit mayhem is all that is required. It’s also time to consider what would have happened, Sec. Gates, if 1 of our highly trained snipers had missed. You would probably have been thrown under Obama’s bus.

[llevrok]

These pirates need midnight basketball....

[OneWingedShark]

>Thats a slap in the face of all those who took part in this.
>My God, what have we done.

The guy’s statement, or my suggestion of impeaching him?

[marron]

the one thing that was so refreshing was his utter lack of political correctness and his handling of the fools in the media.

Yes, I miss Rumsfeld.