Posted on 02/22/2011 7:33:13 AM PST by Allthegoodusernamesaregone
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2011 – Somali pirates killed all four Americans they had held hostage aboard a sailing vessel in the Indian Ocean this morning, U.S. Central Command officials announced.
U.S. officials were negotiating with the pirates for the safe return of the captured Americans when the murders took place, officials said.
Centcom officials said that in the midst of negotiations, U.S. forces responded to gunfire aboard the S/V Quest. When the forces reached the boat, officials said, they discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately died of their wounds.
During the boarding, the Somali pirates fired on the U.S. forces, who killed two pirates and captured 13 others. U.S. forces already had captured two other pirates, and the servicemembers boarding the Quest found the remains of two other pirates.
“In total, it is believed 19 pirates were involved in the hijacking of the S/V Quest,” Centcom officials said.
“We express our deepest condolences for the innocent lives callously lost aboard the Quest,” said Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, Centcom’s commander.
The pirates seized the boat Feb. 18 off the coast of Oman. Somali pirates -– often operating from mother ships far out to sea -- have captured scores of ships and generally have held the ships and crews for ransom. News reports indicate Somali pirates currently hold 29 ships with more than 660 hostages.
Piracy in the region occurred originally off of Somalia’s east coast for several years. In August 2009, the pirates extended their attacks to the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia’s north coast. The pirates since have ranged farther out to sea -– up to 600 miles –- and now affect more than a million square miles in the Gulf of Aden, the west Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
The United States has worked closely with regional and international partners to attack the problem. In this case, American forces closely monitored and tailed the Quest. Four U.S. Navy warships made up a response force dedicated to recovering the S/V Quest: the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf, the guided-missile destroyers USS Sterett and USS Bulkeley.
“...summarily executing them and documenting it and publicizing it...”
Interesting...hanging them on deck, videotaped, with a sign strapped to their chest “PIRATE”, then literally throwing them overboard to the waiting Tigers, Makos, and Hammerheads swimming below (after suitably chumming the water).
Then posting it on Youtube...sorta like those animals did to Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl.
But do all this AFTER a summary trial so it’s “fair and balanced” for the media assjackets...
I like it!!
And for the record brother Hiredhand, I WOULD want to see you run for President, with good buddy Squantos as VP!!!!!!! I’ll be yer damned Campaign Manager (as long as I get the Secretary of Defense job after the win), and ol’ Gilbo can be our Media Consultant (and then UN Ambassador)!!!!
Heheheh...One HELL of a campaign, I’d say!!!
Since you bring up the PRC I have to change the subject enough to wonder out loud who are the more evil villains, the Somali Pirates, the PRC commercial operations in Africa that use slave labor, or the African countries that allow the PRC to operate their slave-labor enterprises.
I’ll be as happy as the next guy if the PRC massacres a few tens or few hundred or few thousand pirates... but I’ll also always remember that the PRC has many thousands of Africans in chains on the African continent. They are not good people.
Hey, I’ll vote for that ticket. Though I don’t like the idea of hanging the pirates before throwing them to the sharks. That’s veering dangerously close to soft-on-crime.
The US should set the standard and allow commercial shipping with militia type weapons on board, even small cannon -- 30 mm.
UN ambassador ??? hell talk about easy money for no work, after we nuke em outta NYC anyways 8^}...
“...hanging the pirates before throwing them to the sharks...”
Well, there’s something MORE gruesome about seeing a lifeless, flopping, linp body thrown overboard like just so much trash, to waiting eating machines below.
Throwing them ALIVE to the sharks is sorta barbaric...that’s something THEY’D do, and we’re not them, ya know?
And besides...the Mooj have this thing about hanging...it bugs the sh*t outta them for some reason...”common criminal” deal or something insulting.
But it’s all just pissing in the wind right now. We’ve got no one with any balls in command positions to take these kinds of actions to make a statement to these animals.
We have a Feckless Douchebag sockpuppet running around apologizing for us instead.
I’d rather run the Christians in action....
:o)
I’ll vote for you! I promise! I WANT that SecDef job!!!
OH-OH, I was thinking those PRC bastards were smart for taking care of themselves first. Maybe not the ideal model for us, but certainly a contrast to a certain country that appears to have it’s head.....
Heck, we go into Somalia on a humanitarian mission and get out butts kicked by a few lowlifes, and they (PRC) are in Africa buying off the leaders, taking over the country and using the people as servants getting $$$ for it.
But then again Cartman was always my favorite South Park character.
You’ll be the FIRST to know if I decide to run, but honestly it sounds like more fun to work for Squantos. :-)
Aw, C’mon Squantos...you’d be a GREAT VP. You could get to take some choice Senators or COngressmen hunting...sorta like Dick Cheney did...
Just THINK about the possibilities! :^)
Would you prefer Analartica or Armpitalaya?
Equally Third Worldish!!!
It’s a sh*tty place, though...not a nice place to visit, and wouldn’t want to live there...
3) Pirates have yet to kill a single hostage, so most nations consider ransoming to be a valid alternative to a potentially lethal fightBut even that that cocksure SOB of an answerer, promethius9594, got his facts wrong and wrong again.
The Somali pirates have killed a number of hostages. They claim they that "die in captivity". The idiot's answer is wrong that no hostage has been killed and wrong to suggest by his friggin DEADLY pacifistic answer that none will be killed. As The Economist reports a week ago, ""Piracy off the coast of Somalia is getting worse. Time to act" :
LAST year, pirates took 1,181 people hostage off the Somali coast. About half were released after the payment of ransoms, a few have died of abuse or neglect and around 760 are currently in captivity. They are usually held prisoner on their own hijacked vessels, some of which are employed as mother-ships from which the pirates stage further raids. So far this year, there have been 35 attacks, seven of them successful. In March, when the monsoon abates and the Arabian Sea grows calmer, the pace of the attacks will quicken.NO ONE KNOWS what the fate of the nearly 800 still in captivity. Every single man, woman and child held hostage is in fear for their life every minute of every day.
I know....accidents happen but I’d rather go on safari per se with UCAVs with hellfires etc per se !
PULL !
This is what decades of liberalism brings you. We can’t even figure out how to take care of 4 Americans at sea held by a bunch of “boyz in the hood”. How pathetic we’ve become. Sorry. I’m just really angry over this travesty.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.