Coming soon, to Abdi Garad's house ....
Posted on 04/15/2009 4:29:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Somali pirates attacked an American freighter with rockets to “destroy” the ship in revenge for an operation that freed a U.S. captain last weekend, one of their commanders said Wednesday.
The freighter escaped the attack late Tuesday, but more vessels have fallen into the hands of marauding Somali bandits.
“This attack was the first against our prime target,” pirate commander Abdi Garad told AFP of the attack on the Liberty Sun late Tuesday. “We intended to destroy this American-flagged ship and the crew on board but unfortunately they narrowly escaped us.
“The aim of this attack was totally different. We were not after a ransom. We also assigned a team with special equipment to chase and destroy any ship flying the American flag in retaliation for the brutal killing of our friends.”
Pirates have taken four ships since losing two battles with US and French forces at the weekend.
Their latest target was the Liberty Sun which was heading for the Kenyan port of Mombasa with international food aid, the owners said.
The USS Bainbridge, which mounted the operation to rescue the captain of US cargo Maersk Alabama, came to the rescue of the Liberty Sun, officials said.
Crew members gave a dramatic account of the attack.
“We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets,” crewman Thomas Urbik told his mother in email messages, CNN television reported.
“We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt. (A) rocket penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire, too, but put out.”
Mr. Urbik said the US Navy escorted the ship to safety. “The navy has showed up we are now under military escort,” he wrote.
Garad said the attack was revenge for the weekend operation that freed Maersk Alabama captain Richard Phillips and killed three pirates.
Mr. Phillips was taken hostage on a lifeboat after his crew managed to overpower pirates who had hijacked the ship.
He was freed in a spectacular Navy Seals operation Sunday which prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to pledge tough action in the fight against piracy.
But pirates were swift to brush off their weekend losses and have attacked four more ships since.
The MV Irene, a 35,000-tonne Greek-operated ship, was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden. Its 22 Filipino crew are believed to be safe. The NATO naval mission in the area said another ship was seized but its identity remained unclear.
At least 18 ships and close to 300 crew are being held by Somali pirates. Ten of the ships have been taken this month.
Experts predicted that pirate attacks and hijackings in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean would continue at a similar rate for at least another two weeks on the back of calm sea conditions.
“The pirates have really upped the ante lately and we haven’t reached the peak of the calm season yet,” said Nick Davis, a maritime security expert who runs a UK-based private company.
According to sources close to the pirates, French ships were also prime targets following the weekend rescue of the Tanit yacht in which a hostage and two pirates were killed.
Three Somali pirates arrested during the French military rescue operation were taken to France on Tuesday and put in custody.
French commandos had already launched rescue operations in two previous cases over the past year, killing and capturing pirates.
In a statement, top UN envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, backed the operations saying they “are sending a strong message to the pirates and, more importantly, to their backers who are exploiting the poverty and desperation of their young, unemployed compatriots.”
UN International Maritime Bureau (IMB) head Noel Choong said: “We support the robust response against the pirates.” But he added that there are risks involved.
So far Somali pirates have sought to release ships for ransoms and have not killed any hostages. But their attacks have prompted naval powers to deploy ships to patrol pirate-infested waters.
Somalia has gone through close to two decades of war and lawless chaos which have made piracy one of the few viable businesses.
Send the Marines after these turds. And do it now.
Of course the youts are just doing this for food
Coming soon, to Abdi Garad's house ....
These are small boats with meager weapons that still require bases.
Where international resolve is concerned, this is the equivalant of the “$100 question”.
Unfortunately, we may have elected someone who thinks an elephant is bigger than the moon.
It’s not a declaration of war. It’s a royal temper snit because Mr. Pirate’s life is becoming risky.
How about a day long show of shock and awe? Live video from Predators as we blow one pirate ship after another out of the water. Clear out every likely pirate ship along the coast.
Three words:
DRIVE. BY. SHOOTING.
If I’m driving a big container ship what would stop me from just running the pirates over?
“It’s not a declaration of war. It’s a royal temper snit because Mr. Pirate’s life is becoming risky.”
Yeah. Sure. The part where it is declared that there will be specific targeting of US ships, special effort to destroy those ships, and slaughter is meant for the crews of such ships...
Just boys being boys.
Lets do it all kindly, gently. Be nice to them. Or, at worst, treat it as an international police issue. That worked sooooooo well through the ‘90s, didn’t it?
Destroy them now, or pay massive price in pain, death and economic loss later. Every single episode of history in such issues, ancient and modern point exactly to that being the case.
No exceptions, except in the minds of the sniveling, weak, stupid and enemy lovers.
the fact that they don't attack from the front but from the side or stern
I agree. I deny that these thugs can declare war.
The same thing that keeps an eighteen wheel truck rig from just running over a motorcycle, it's known as maneuverability.
“I deny that these thugs can declare war.”
I tend to disagree on that. Being at war is a mindset and a behavior. These particular scumbags may not be organized in the customary ways in which we, as Western Civilizationers tend to see things, but, their words and recent deeds identify them as having an At War posture.
The whole “Declaration of War” thing has been so morphed, twisted and trivialized in our society that real cause and effect are lost in heaping mounds of nonsense.
If we, as a nation, engaged those who take an At War stance against us properly, efficiently and aggressively, such stances would become real unpopular real fast. As it is currently done, our lack of full range, broad spectrum and aggressively lethal response only serves to encourage those who see us as weak enough to be worth preying upon.
Such weakness is as much a lure to predators as the stink of decayed flesh is to jackals and hyenas.
“If I’m driving a big container ship what would stop me from just running the pirates over?”
There’s also the potential to be the first ship crew to be kidnapped by Interpol and taken to The Hague to stand trial before the International Criminal Court.
You do not dare to be mean to the enemy. The ICC will get you for sure.
Yes, but you’re missing the point, not I. Being in state of war imposes obligations on both parties to fight according to a code of war. These seagoing criminals would pull out all the stops, but the laws of war would restrain us or force us into reprisal upon reprisal.
My way is simpler. They’re criminals and if they’re caught in the act of piracy can be killed. You can’t kill prisoners of war.
“Being in state of war imposes obligations on both parties to fight according to a code of war.”
Again, I disagree. The laws governing warfare in our culture and legal system, apply to all hostile confrontations between armed parties, regardless of what term the hostilities exist under for political purposes.
I do agree, at least in what I think is your implication, in that the laws of war are in desperate need of an overhaul. Too much of what is now in the books as law or rules concerning hostile engagements were designed by those who’s specific interest was in limiting the US in its ability to engage communist guerrillas during the cold war.
Everything 20th century euro or euroesques needs to be scrapped, dumped, banished and burned away. That is, if we ever want to end this current phase of the Caliphate Reborning without eventually having to resort to genocide.
I heard a pastor being interviewed today, he says Somalia is a Muslim nation, i did’nt know that.
They admit its war. Then lets give them WAR!!!!
Perhaps that explains why Obummer is handling these muslims with kid gloves!
why have we spent billions on US Navy, with many vessels nearby in Middle East, and we can’t take out a few criminals in speedboats?
this is not a risky mission. no risk of igniting a larger conflict, no helipcopter rides in the middle of mogadishu, just a few hundred criminals operating from well established ports.
at this point every boat should have marines from their home country aboard, with backup ships in the region. and shoot to kill orders.
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