Somali Pirates Kill 4 Americans on Hijacked Ship

American Forces Press Service ^ | 02/22/2011 | DoD

[Allthegoodusernamesaregone]

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2011 – Somali pirates killed all four Americans they had held hostage aboard a sailing vessel in the Indian Ocean this morning, U.S. Central Command officials announced.

U.S. officials were negotiating with the pirates for the safe return of the captured Americans when the murders took place, officials said.

Centcom officials said that in the midst of negotiations, U.S. forces responded to gunfire aboard the S/V Quest. When the forces reached the boat, officials said, they discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately died of their wounds.

During the boarding, the Somali pirates fired on the U.S. forces, who killed two pirates and captured 13 others. U.S. forces already had captured two other pirates, and the servicemembers boarding the Quest found the remains of two other pirates.

“In total, it is believed 19 pirates were involved in the hijacking of the S/V Quest,” Centcom officials said.

“We express our deepest condolences for the innocent lives callously lost aboard the Quest,” said Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, Centcom’s commander.

The pirates seized the boat Feb. 18 off the coast of Oman. Somali pirates -– often operating from mother ships far out to sea -- have captured scores of ships and generally have held the ships and crews for ransom. News reports indicate Somali pirates currently hold 29 ships with more than 660 hostages.

Piracy in the region occurred originally off of Somalia’s east coast for several years. In August 2009, the pirates extended their attacks to the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia’s north coast. The pirates since have ranged farther out to sea -– up to 600 miles –- and now affect more than a million square miles in the Gulf of Aden, the west Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

The United States has worked closely with regional and international partners to attack the problem. In this case, American forces closely monitored and tailed the Quest. Four U.S. Navy warships made up a response force dedicated to recovering the S/V Quest: the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf, the guided-missile destroyers USS Sterett and USS Bulkeley.

[Allthegoodusernamesaregone]

This is just heartbreaking.

[silentknight]

Four more or is this the same four as the other thread in breaking news.

[thethirddegree]

We need to bring all these pirates back to the U.S., give them a fair trial and set them on fire.

[samtheman]

killed two pirates and captured 13 others

ImamObambam will send money to the families of the 2 dead and will higher the 13 others to union organizing positions in states with Republican governors.

[DonaldC]

Personally, I think a burial at sea is sufficient for the pirates. I find it hard to believe we don’t know where they launch from and that place should incur significant damage as well.

[justice14]

It’s sad that 4 American citizens being murdered will get less coverage than if we absolutely demolished any pirate boat that was found in the open sea or at port.

[livius]

The same four.

[samtheman]

killed two pirates and captured 13 others

ImamObambam will send money to the families of the 2 dead and will higher hire the 13 others to union organizing positions in states with Republican governors.

(I wish I would learn to proof-read before I post!)

[CondorFlight]

Teddy Roosevelt would know exactly what to do.

So would Vladimir Putin.

[Aldebert]

18 U.S. Code § 1651. Piracy under law of nations

“Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, shall be imprisoned for life.”

[dila813]

They need to stop waiting and trying to negotiate with these crazies, just attack.

If I was on that boat, I wouldn’t want them to wait.

These people were spreading the gospel and they had bibles on board. This was more than the pirates could stand.

I need to know more, but they appear to be modern Christian martyrs.

[dalereed]

Why waste the money and time, just obliterate Somalia and turn it into a parking lot!

[Truth29]

Four major US warships trailing a small civilian yacht while we negotiate. Now we have 13 prisoners who we will spend millions on to try and put them in prison. We need to contract this out to the Russians if we will not do what is obviously needed.

[Oldexpat]

NPR,this am, attempted to minimize the loss of American lives because the leader was a Christian distributing bibles around the world.

[samtheman]

I agree with burial at sea. Live burial at sea. With lots of floating chunks of bloody meat in the water with them to keep them from going hungry as they float there on the waves waiting for local wildlife to swim by and check them out.

[Col Frank Slade]

I wonder what kind of rules of engagement orders that level of massive Naval firepower was operating under ?

Against 19 pirates.

[Texas Fossil]

Personally, I think a burial at sea is sufficient for the pirates.

Seems like I remember the Russians turning some loose in a small boat, no water, no motor and then something happened like the boat sank. All pirates died at sea (shark bait?).

Ivan is good at some things, returned brutality is one.

[Bringbackthedraft]

13 pirates should be listed as KIA.

[Colonel_Flagg]

During the boarding, the Somali pirates fired on the U.S. forces, who killed two pirates and captured 13 others.

Show trials and examples made. No mercy for pirates.

[headstamp 2]

“During the boarding, the Somali pirates fired on the U.S. forces, who killed two pirates and captured 13 others.”

Kill the rest of them, send their boat to the bottom and then bomb their ports on the coast.

[Allthegoodusernamesaregone]

Four more or is this the same four as the other thread in breaking news.

Nothing about the killings popped out upon a search for "Somali". Now what? Do I pay a fine or go to posting school?

[screaminsunshine]

Sink everything in all of their ports and mine the whole coast.

[RetroSexual]

Teddy Roosevelt would know exactly what to do.

So would Vladimir Putin.

Even Jimmy Carter would know.

Seriously.

[Liberty1970]

These people were spreading the gospel and they had bibles on board. This was more than the pirates could stand.

I need to know more, but they appear to be modern Christian martyrs.

That's my guess as well. I imagine the pirates were Not Happy when they found the Bible stores on board.

The failure of civilized nations to deal swiftly and conclusively with what should have been a trivial piracy problem is another symptom of our societal moral collapse.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Terrible, and also a good time to watch how our “allies” react.

[bvw]

Dead is dead. Don’t play games.

[Mouton]

Exactly my thought. Set them free in a zodiac after disabling the motor. Give them a pint of water each. If that vessel was flying the US Flag, that is an act of war at sea.

After the zodiac gets a few hundred yards out, time for some small arms target practice. Hate to lose a raft but what the hell.

[jennings2004]

Based on 20 years of experience, your solution is exactly what should be done!

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

higher hire

You, my friend, are an unfortunate victim of Spell Check Syndrome. Symptoms include a false sense of well-being when one fails to see any squiggly lines under the text he just typed. :-)

[C210N]

18 U.S. Code § 1651... shall be imprisoned for life...

Doesn't appear to render any particular length of stated "life". I'd recommend whatever time "for life", as per underwater imprisonment allows.

[AnalogReigns]

Actually, I saw an article a while ago which stated that historically, in the heyday of 17th Century piracy, the only effective means of stopping it was conquering or destroying their home ports/LAND bases. Piracy has historically only been successfully stopped when the ports were controlled and/or destroyed, because, unlike in the movies, ships must go in to dock.

Such was EXACTLY the case in Tripoli, when President Jefferson had the Marines literally take over that country. Europeans had suffered in slavery for literally millennia--constantly paying bribes--yet constantly being hijacked and enslaved in the Muslim's galley ships of the Mediterranean until the USA cleaned it up.

Another element in this is (OF COURSE) Islam, which fully authorizes and exemplifies piracy--as that's exactly, in a land based form, how Mohammed lived...

If we put a battleship offshore and used 16' guns to wipe out that rich town on the coast where the Somalis operate out of--there would be no more piracy.

Unfortunately, I'm sure the O doesn't have the guts to order this...

[Sophia777]

exactly

[ReverendJames]

Well it was a good thing that a warship was shadowing them. Imagine what would have happened if it wasn’t. /s

[piytar]

“Kill the rest of them, send their boat to the bottom and then bomb their ports on the coast.”

Exactly. When the cost to the ports of harboring the pirates exceeds the benefit, they’ll clear out the pirates themselves. Or we just kill them all first.

Unfortunately, America is too overrun with the mental illness called “liberalism,” part of which is a fantasy view of the worls and a softness about international issues.

More unfortunately, such delusion and softness ALWAYS ends in the same place: A miserable place where the necessary realism and hardness are forced upon people by some horrific occurrence, usually involving one or more of mass poverty, starvation, and wide scale war.

That’s where we’re heading. Period.

[ccmay]

How long would it take the Navy to sink every boat in every Somali harbor?

[Fresh Wind]

I agree with burial at sea. Live burial at sea. With lots of floating chunks of bloody meat in the water with them to keep them from going hungry as they float there on the waves waiting for local wildlife to swim by and check them out.

Any form of burial is acceptable as long they are covered with pig entrails and pig excrement before being buried.

[screaminsunshine]

Since this turned out badly and does not make obama look good the MSM will bury the story at sea.

[baddog 219]

Tow the boat with the remains of 13 dead hamburgered pirates wrapped in pig skins to a somali port with a sign saying."SEND MORE MEAT" signed The U.S.Marines.

[mewykwistmas]

“Sink everything in all of their ports and mine the whole coast.”

That would only improve that area. You need to drag the pirates 300 miles from the shore and leave them in a small boat—alone, no water, no navigation, no food. A week later grab one and send him back home to spread the word. But we can’t (legally) do it.

[upchuck]

Do I pay a fine or go to posting school?

Both :)

[John O]

I agree with burial at sea. Live burial at sea.

Force feed them a pork sandwhich (so they don't die hungry) and then cut off their feet so they don't hurt themselves by kicking too hard. It's the only merciful thing to do.

[Logical me]

We need to bring all these pirates back to the U.S., give them a fair trial and set them on fire.

Our King communists black Muslim occupier of the White House will bring them here and set them free.

[libertarian27]

OK, someone help me with this sentence.

During the boarding, the Somali pirates fired on the U.S. forces, who killed two pirates and captured 13 others. U.S. forces already had captured two other pirates, and the servicemembers boarding the Quest found the remains of two other pirates.

The article said there were 19 pirates - so who, pray tell, killed the 'remains of two other pirates.'

Sort of looks like possible infighting between pirates doesn't it? Since US forces responded and didn't engage an attack until fires were shot... 4 pirates dead but US taking responsibility for 2 shot....what am I missing here?

[CanaGuy]

This is just heartbreaking.

No it's not. It's the logical outcome when stupid people do really dumb things. I have no sympathy for stupid people!

Furthermore, the families of stupid people should be billed for the services of professionals who end up being dragged into their stupidity. Like the idiots who try to row across the Atlantic, or a teenage girl trying to sail around the globe solo, or mountain climbers, or north pole expeditions, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

Our taxes bail these people out. It makes me wanna puke.

[LeonardFMason]

Obama does nothing to help.

That should be a tagline on every failure the “IM”POTUS racks up.

[dfwgator]

Remember the sign from the Spanish Civil War....”If you tolerate this, your children will be next.”

This must not be tolerated.

[BuffaloJack]

Obama strikes again.
This would not have happened it Obama would allow our people to do their jobs in the manner in which they were trained.
Instead Obama and his minions impose “be nice” rules that wind up getting people killed for stupid reasons.
The Navy should have just gone in without hesitation and without worrying about injuring or killing the pirates.

4 Americans are dead; Obama’s Fault !!!

[bgill]

killed two pirates and captured 13 others

That should have been 15 - 0.

[livius]

These people were not in Somali waters or even that near to them. The pirates have captured ships and crews simply going about their business of shipping goods. This must be stopped...unless you’re willing to simply hand over a large swath of the seas to Muslim control and pay the price, not only in the lives of sailors of those seas, but in economic terms.

A surcharge that will have to be added to shipped goods and commodities to compensate for raids where the pirates collect as much as $9,000,000 in ransom per ship and are now estimated to have killed numerous crews and collected some $300,000,000 in ransom of people and cargos. They have also started capturing oil tankers and now apparently are considering reselling the oil to other terrorist states.

Before you start blaming the victim, think about the total picture.

And it is heartbreaking. We don’t need any “no-go” places in this day and age, but unfortunately the US and other countries didn’t step in to stop this when it got started and now it’s only extending itself further every day.

[1066AD]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359000/Somali-yacht-pirates-killed-4-US-citizens-held-captive-hijacking.html