Somali Pirates Hijack More Ships in Gulf of Aden

Mombasa, Kenya (AP) - Undeterred by U.S. and French hostage rescues that killed seven bandits, Somali pirates brazenly hijacked three more ships in the Gulf of Aden, the key waterway that's become the focal point of the world's fight against piracy.

The M.V. Irene E.M. was hijacked early Tuesday, but it was not immediately clear where the ship is based or who owns it, two maritime security contractors said, speaking on condition of anonymity because it is a sensitive security issue.

The ship put out a distress signal shortly after midnight "to say they had a suspicious vessel approaching. That rapidly turned into an attack and then a hijacking," one of the contractors told The Associated Press. "They tried to call in support on the emergency channels, but they never got any response."

On Monday, Somali pirates also seized two Egyptian fishing boats in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's northern coast, according to Egypt's Foreign Ministry. It cited a Somali diplomat in Cairo as saying there were 18 to 24 Egyptians onboard at the time.

Sharpshooters have standing orders granting the authority to shoot when a hostage is about to get killed. They do not need any authorization to fire. What you are saying is that we should applaud Obama for NOT explicitly restricting the sharpshooters from saving a hostage's life?

Because that is exactly the extent of his role in this scenario. He allowed standard rules of engagement to apply, as anyone in the world would do. I understand your point, but when we allow the bar to be set so low when it comes to strong leadership, we all suffer.

I don’t necessarily trust the LA Times as a source of information on how many clear opportunities the SEALs had to take out the pirates. And we also just don’t know what was going on behind the scenes. This was a very sensitive incident, and there was certainly a lot of highly classified intelligence info involved in all the decisions. It’s not a good idea to assume we know what should have been done, when we have only a very small portion of the information available to the decision-makers.

I don’t think there was any “kumbaya goal of not killing pirates” here. President Obama knew that he was facing the first pirate seizure of a crew member of a US flagged ship, and having the situation end with the ship’s captain dead was certainly at the top of his “Don’t let that happen” list. We may not agree with many of his political views, but the man is not stupid. He wants to be a two term President.

Remember that they’d already gotten one of the pirates off the lifeboat and discovered he was a very young man who didn’t want to go back to his fellow pirates. I’m sure they were interviewing him intensively to try to find out more about the other pirates on the lifeboat and their psychological profiles and positions in the piracy organization. One thing that may have been considered is whether taking one or more of the remaining 3 pirates alive might have produced a treasure trove of intelligence that would help the US and international forces to put a serious dent in the Somali piracy industry. It was probably not a coincidence that these particular pirates (meaning the older ones) were the first to seize a US-flagged ship. If this was strategic decision by leaders of the piracy activities, to go after a US-flagged ship, they likely chose one or more very key people to participate in the mission, to maximize chances of a very high-profile success, and key people tend to have a lot of useful information in their heads.

Give him a chance.

As though there's an alternative?

My point was sound. This is Obama's war. It's not Iraq, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, the Taliban (although they are Muslim...); it's not a situation he inherited other than it has been going on perpetually. An American ship was boarded and the sailors taken hostage on his watch. What transpired over the weekend is only the beginning salvo aimed at America, and how he/America reacts will be shown by the outcome. But it's his war.

I pray America does well.

I don’t necessarily trust the LA Times as a source of information on how many clear opportunities the SEALs had to take out the pirates.

Why would they lie? In the kumbaya world of the LA Times, it was noble of Obama to try and save those poor misunderstood pirates. We also know the SEALs got there Saturday night, so they had all day to take a shot if it presented itself. IMO they should have had authorization to take the first clear shot, and not wait until the pirates were ready to kill the captain. And, once again, I was giving Obama the benefit of a doubt until the pieces came together that show a clearer picture of what went down on Sunday.

It escalated within days of Obama’s Appeasement Tour. He showed the world he’s weak....

True. Had it been the act of a government I'd say cause - affect. But Somali pirates are creatures of opportunity. And this American vessel was at the wrong place at the right time. This to me doesn't bode a reaction to his trip.

What is important is what comes now. How will this pirate issue come to an end? Will it come to an end? Will the World go on with this continuing as a side show?

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