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Cruise ship fends off pirate attack with gunfire
KOMONews.com ^ | 04/26/09 | RUKMINI CALLIMACHI AND NICOLE WINFIELD

Posted on 04/28/2009 9:55:47 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - The small white skiff approached the Italian cruise ship Melody after dinnertime as it sailed north of the Seychelles, the pirates firing wildly toward the 1,500 passengers and crew on board.

What the pirates didn't expect was that, in the darkness, the crew would fire back.

In a new twist to the increasing scourge of Somali pirate hijackings, the private Israeli security forces aboard the MSC Cruises ocean liner fired on the pirates Saturday with pistols and water hoses, preventing them from clambering aboard, the company's director Domenico Pellegrino said.

"It was an emergency operation," Pellegrino told The Associated Press. "They didn't expect such a quick response. They were surprised."


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
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But analysts say the unprecedented use of weapons by the ship's security force could make things worse in the pirate-infested waters off the Horn of Africa.....

Well yeah!...for the pirates!

1 posted on 04/28/2009 9:55:47 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

But, but guns are bad!


2 posted on 04/28/2009 9:57:14 AM PDT by bgill (The evidence simply does not support the official position of the Obama administration)
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

Why does an Italian cruise ship have Israeli security?


3 posted on 04/28/2009 9:57:14 AM PDT by ontap (Just another backstabbing conservative)
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To: AngelesCrestHighway
private Israeli security forces aboard the MSC Cruises ocean liner

Interesting.

4 posted on 04/28/2009 9:58:39 AM PDT by Charles Martel ("Endeavor to persevere...")
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

Right on...take that you ‘freedom fighters’.


5 posted on 04/28/2009 9:58:54 AM PDT by lesko
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

The pirates attack with rocket launchers, and the Israeli security force defends with pistols and water hoses?!

Surely the world can mount a more vigorous defense than that and discourage this plague of piracy.


6 posted on 04/28/2009 10:00:49 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

Pistols and a water hose? Damn.....I guess it is a start.


7 posted on 04/28/2009 10:01:14 AM PDT by mosaicwolf (Strength and Honor)
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To: DannyTN
The pirates attack with rocket launchers, and the Israeli security force defends with pistols and water hoses?!

Line up those hoses to a fuel header and then drop some magnesium flares....go a little medieval.

8 posted on 04/28/2009 10:03:04 AM PDT by AreaMan
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To: mosaicwolf

It was apparently sufficient ... but it strikes me as a bit marginal.

7.62mm rifles and 12 ga shotguns would seem more appropriate.


9 posted on 04/28/2009 10:03:51 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: mosaicwolf

The freakin’ pirates use rocket launched grenades. Ships in the area should use them as well. Or better. A nice .50 would come in handy, too.


10 posted on 04/28/2009 10:03:55 AM PDT by jdsteel (CONGRESS: Take it again in twenty ten.)
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To: mosaicwolf

The freakin’ pirates use rocket launched grenades. Ships in the area should use them as well. Or better. A nice .50 would come in handy, too.


11 posted on 04/28/2009 10:03:57 AM PDT by jdsteel (CONGRESS: Take it again in twenty ten.)
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To: AreaMan

>Line up those hoses to a fuel header and then drop some magnesium flares....go a little medieval.

Good idea.
Of course, I think Phosphorus or Sodium cored bullets would be pretty effective, interesting, and awesome.


12 posted on 04/28/2009 10:05:36 AM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

Time for a Soldiers of FoRTune cruise or what?


13 posted on 04/28/2009 10:07:26 AM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed.)
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To: OneWingedShark
Of course, I think Phosphorus or Sodium cored bullets would be pretty effective, interesting, and awesome.

True, but sometimes you just gotta go with what you have on hand. If you don't have magnesium flares you can just go to the "rag in a bottle of Bacardi 151" route.

But it seems a shame to waste good booze on criminals.

14 posted on 04/28/2009 10:08:13 AM PDT by AreaMan
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To: DannyTN
Dang, how ‘bout a good ole M-60 mounted on the ships rail?
A Barrett .50 cal, anything bigger, badder more whallop than an Israeli 9mm???

(Before you flame me, I carry either 9MM or .45. Comfortable with both as CCW.)

Semper Fi, USMC....”Prepare to repel boarders!)

15 posted on 04/28/2009 10:10:31 AM PDT by Tahoe3002 (Politicians = Proof Positive that Crime does Pay.)
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To: ontap

Why do they have Israeli security on an Italian cruise ship?
Here’s the answer from the article:

Pellegrino said MSC Cruises had Israeli private security forces on all their ships because they were the best.


16 posted on 04/28/2009 10:11:44 AM PDT by JoanOfArk
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To: ontap

Because they were hired by MSC to protect the vessel.


17 posted on 04/28/2009 10:12:02 AM PDT by stationkeeper
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

Handguns? Why not rifles????


18 posted on 04/28/2009 10:14:46 AM PDT by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
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To: ontap
Why does an Italian cruise ship have Israeli security?

For the same reason Israeli cruise ships have Italian chefs.

19 posted on 04/28/2009 10:16:31 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (The age of 0bama: the transient ischemic delusions of adequacy decade.)
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To: AreaMan

no no no.. you drink the bacardi, then fill the empty bottle with diesel and oil- easily found in the engine room- then molotov it.


20 posted on 04/28/2009 10:17:07 AM PDT by absolootezer0 (thank God for Chicago: makes Detroit look wholesome by comparison.)
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