DOD won’t re-route ships

Stars and Stripes ^ | November 21, 2008 | Jeff Schogol

[teletech]

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

[darkwing104]

Send a carrier battle fleet by there...Let see them try and take that on...

[MIchaelTArchangel]

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

[Tarpon]

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

[mlocher]

"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.

[SLB]

Maybe something like this is in order:

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

[Don Corleone]

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

[Tribune7]

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

[NathanR]

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

Maybe a few, but AFAIK not many.

[cripplecreek]

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.

[shorty_harris]

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

[Does so]

The U. S. Navy needs a modern version of the SMS Seeadler.

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

[TheOgre]

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

[Salvavida]

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

[cripplecreek]

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)

[mlocher]

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.

[NonValueAdded]

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

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

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.

[NTegraT]

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?