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DOD won’t re-route ships
Stars and Stripes ^ | November 21, 2008 | Jeff Schogol

Posted on 11/20/2008 4:22:21 PM PST by Jet Jaguar

ARLINGTON, Va. — To hell with pirates: The Defense Department isn’t going to re-route ships to avoid the Gulf of Aden.

"We’re not going around the Cape of Good Hope," Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said Wednesday.

Several shipping companies this week announced they would do just that, in an effort to avoid pirates lurking in the waters off Somalia. But the U.S. government is not considering such an option for its ships.

"Ultimately that’s not the solution to this," Morrell said. "And that, to me — in scenarios like that, the pirates win. And they should not be allowed to win."

Twice this year, security teams aboard Military Sealift Command ships have fired warning shots at perceived attackers.

This year, 39 ships have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, eight in the last week. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that pirates off Somalia had taken in an estimated $25 million to $30 million in ransom in 2008. Recently, pirates seized a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks.

Morrell dismissed a reporter’s question about why the U.S. Navy was not doing more to confront pirates, noting that the British recently killed several pirates and the Indians sank a pirate dhow.

"And I also take issue with this whole notion that it’s incumbent upon the armed forces of the world, the navies of the world, to solve this problem," he said.

"We have an obligation to protect international shipping lines, but the companies ... also have an obligation to secure their ships to prevent incidents such that we’ve been seeing at alarming rates over the past several months."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: africa; gulfofaden; islam; jihad; jizyah; maritime; piracy; sealift; somalipirates; supplylines; thomasjefferson; usnavy
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1 posted on 11/20/2008 4:22:21 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
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To: Jet Jaguar

You make sure your ships are WELL ARMED and you SHOOT FIRST and ask questions later!


2 posted on 11/20/2008 4:24:29 PM PST by teletech (Friends don't let friends vote DemocRAT)
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To: Jet Jaguar
Send a carrier battle fleet by there...Let see them try and take that on...


3 posted on 11/20/2008 4:27:02 PM PST by darkwing104 (Lets get dangerous)
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To: Jet Jaguar

Any aggressive action should be met with sufficient fire power to sink the pirate vessels with all hands lost at sea.


4 posted on 11/20/2008 4:27:38 PM PST by MIchaelTArchangel
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To: darkwing104

Sounds to me like all it would take would be a few patrol drones with hellfires.


5 posted on 11/20/2008 4:28:05 PM PST by Tarpon (America's first principles, freedom, liberty, market economy and self-reliance will never fail.)
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To: Jet Jaguar
"We have an obligation to protect international shipping lines, but the companies ... also have an obligation to secure their ships to prevent incidents such that we’ve been seeing at alarming rates over the past several months."

Interesting take, one I tend to agree with. Who owns most of the ships that transport Saudi oil? US ships? Greek ships? Whoever it is needs to obtain protection. If US ships are highjacked, then I expect the US will exact it's revenge several times over.

6 posted on 11/20/2008 4:28:33 PM PST by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
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To: teletech; Stonewall Jackson; Jeff Head; FreedomPoster

Maybe something like this is in order:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4TCqcWkDM0&feature=related


7 posted on 11/20/2008 4:30:20 PM PST by SLB (Wyoming's Alan Simpson on the Washington press - "all you get is controversy, crap and confusion")
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To: Jet Jaguar

Looks like the Navy and the whole DOD has gone wussy!


8 posted on 11/20/2008 4:31:44 PM PST by Don Corleone (Leave the gun..take the cannoli)
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To: Jet Jaguar

Unlike private ships, I’m guessing DOD ships are rather well-armed, at least compared to pirates in speed boats.


9 posted on 11/20/2008 4:33:23 PM PST by Tribune7 (Obama wants to put the same crowd that ran Fannie Mae in charge of health care)
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To: mlocher

There are US flag ships? Really? Your’e sure?

Maybe a few, but AFAIK not many.


10 posted on 11/20/2008 4:34:24 PM PST by NathanR ( Drill here. Drill now. Pay less.)
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To: Jet Jaguar

The whole Somalia problem is going to have to be erradicated permenantly and soon.

I didn’t catch the whole report but I did hear on the news that an Al Qeada backed group is poised to sieze control of the country. As much as I dislike the idea of getting involved in African wars I suspect we’ll need to get involved there only seriously this time.


11 posted on 11/20/2008 4:34:51 PM PST by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: Jet Jaguar

Doesn’t the country that these pirates call home have some responsibility for this? Something needs to be done with that cesspool.


12 posted on 11/20/2008 4:37:16 PM PST by shorty_harris
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To: Jet Jaguar
The U. S. Navy needs a modern version of the SMS Seeadler.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Seeadler_(Windjammer)

13 posted on 11/20/2008 4:37:55 PM PST by Does so (Schumer, with IndyMac, precipitated bank failures BEFORE the 2008 election.)
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To: Does so

Simple solution is to arm these ships with point defense .50 caliber weapons. And trained crew to operate them.


14 posted on 11/20/2008 4:42:34 PM PST by TheOgre
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To: mlocher

I just caught a whiff of another mercenary market opening....


15 posted on 11/20/2008 4:46:23 PM PST by Salvavida (Restoring the U.S.A. starts with filling the empty pew at a local Bible-believing church.)
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To: shorty_harris
Doesn’t the country that these pirates call home have some responsibility for this?

Normally yes but there is no really effective working government in Somalia. Basically it's pure anarchy. (A lesson for American anarchists if they cared to learn it)
16 posted on 11/20/2008 4:49:58 PM PST by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: NathanR
There are US flag ships? Really? Your’e sure?

No, I am not sure and think they belong mostly to other countries. My belief is that the US should not be the world's police. We have an obligation to protect US ships, and that's all.

17 posted on 11/20/2008 4:56:23 PM PST by mlocher (USA is a sovereign nation)
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To: Jet Jaguar

and Q-boats, lots of Q-boats. Let our SEALS bark! Even the baby ones will get to do some clubbing for a change! :)


18 posted on 11/20/2008 4:56:48 PM PST by NonValueAdded (once you get to really know people, there are always better reasons than [race] for despising them.)
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To: Don Corleone
Looks like the Navy and the whole DOD has gone wussy!

Not at all. It is not the Navy's job to spend millions of dollars patroling waters to protect any and all international shipping, especially when the merchantmen could protect themselves very cheaply. The pirates depend on the their victims being completely helpless.

Go here to see what a little backbone can do.

19 posted on 11/20/2008 4:57:19 PM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (The Democratic Party strongly supports full civil rights for necro-Americans.)
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To: mlocher

The big tanker that is “detained” is a Liberian flagged ship. But geez, one of the ships that’s been seied is a fishing boat. What do they expect to get out of them?


20 posted on 11/20/2008 4:57:37 PM PST by NTegraT (Ready to RULE on Day One.)
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