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Defense secretary: Killed Somali pirates were "untrained" teenagers ("No Military Solution")
China View ^
| 4/13/2009
| Mu Xuequan
Posted on 04/13/2009 3:27:57 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.xinhuanet.com ...
TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antiamerican; ashoura; bho44; bhodod; bhosecdef; hateamericafilth; liberals; maritime; pirates; quantico; robertgates; rop; somalipirates; trop
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To: tobyhill
""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.
21
posted on
04/13/2009 3:33:29 PM PDT
by
engrpat
(A village in Kenya is missing their idiot...lets send him back)
To: tobyhill
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.
22
posted on
04/13/2009 3:34:00 PM PDT
by
catbertz
To: tobyhill
When do we get to see the videos of the grieving parents, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers?
23
posted on
04/13/2009 3:34:18 PM PDT
by
Dallas59
("You know the one with the big ears? He might be yours, but he ain't my president.")
To: tobyhill
> “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.
24
posted on
04/13/2009 3:34:18 PM PDT
by
bluejay
To: t1b8zs
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
25
posted on
04/13/2009 3:34:43 PM PDT
by
tobyhill
("Hope and Change" is so overrated!)
To: tobyhill
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.
26
posted on
04/13/2009 3:35:33 PM PDT
by
La Lydia
To: tobyhill
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.
27
posted on
04/13/2009 3:35:37 PM PDT
by
Never on my watch
(True diplomacy is a well-placed bullet.)
To: pissant
I loved Rumsfeld, and I was shocked at how much criticism he received here. I wonder how his detractors feel now?
28
posted on
04/13/2009 3:35:46 PM PDT
by
trisham
(Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
To: tobyhill
And that matters?
Gates needs to go!
29
posted on
04/13/2009 3:36:09 PM PDT
by
jazusamo
(But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
To: tobyhill
“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?
30
posted on
04/13/2009 3:36:12 PM PDT
by
Kansas58
To: tobyhill
A dead muslim terrorrist is a dead muslim terrorist, regardless what age.
31
posted on
04/13/2009 3:36:26 PM PDT
by
South40
(Obama lied; the economy died.)
To: tobyhill
( 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 ?
To: tobyhill
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?
33
posted on
04/13/2009 3:37:25 PM PDT
by
Thommas
To: Interesting Times
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.
34
posted on
04/13/2009 3:37:29 PM PDT
by
tobyhill
("Hope and Change" is so overrated!)
To: trisham
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.
35
posted on
04/13/2009 3:37:30 PM PDT
by
pissant
(THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
To: tobyhill
36
posted on
04/13/2009 3:37:39 PM PDT
by
ButThreeLeftsDo
(FR. ....Monthly Donors Wanted.)
To: tobyhill
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.
37
posted on
04/13/2009 3:37:55 PM PDT
by
mainestategop
(MAINE: The way communism should be)
To: bill1952
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!
38
posted on
04/13/2009 3:38:01 PM PDT
by
Kansas58
To: tobyhill
"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?
39
posted on
04/13/2009 3:38:04 PM PDT
by
Will88
To: tobyhill
"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.
40
posted on
04/13/2009 3:38:31 PM PDT
by
Wissa
(I despise the liberal media.)
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