Posted on 04/10/2009 4:45:16 PM PDT by BarnacleCenturion
Pirates on Friday sailed a hijacked German freighter and its crew toward a lifeboat off Somalia where an American hostage is being held.
They are reportedly doing so an attempt to help their comrades in a standoff with the US Navy.
Four pirates are holding the American captain of a cargo ship, Richard Phillips, in a drifting lifeboat and demanding $US2 million for his release and a guarantee of their own safety.
They have been holding him since a foiled attempt on Wednesday to hijack the 17,000-tonne, Danish-owned Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean.
A destroyer, the USS Bainbridge, is close by.
Another group that hijacked a 20,000-tonne German container vessel, the Hansa Stavanger, a week ago is reportedly heading to the scene of the standoff.
“when is the president going to send the 4 rescue hilicopters into the sand storm??”
Great post.
when is the president going to send the 4 rescue helicopters into the sand storm??
Ugh! I remember that!
I am hoping we don’t hear news of several dozen suicide bomber boats suddenly being launched against our ships.
Time to be VERY vigilant.
“There needs to be a malfunction with all communications.”
Your comment brings up an interesting point. Are we not capable of shutting down the pirates’ communication to their fellow pirates?
“FOX News (Greta Show..) said that the Captain made a second escape attempt withing the past 2-hours and was re-captured yet again.
Pirates also apparently fired some shots...”
Link? Any other sources?
It’s Good Friday, but it’s 11:09 pm here. I am so tempted to say sumpin’ I shouldn’t.
Yeah, this hostage crisis is likely to ruin his big puppy announcement this weekend.
I am just going to take a nap and hope when I wake up there will be a ton of good news.
>>Cargo ships need to be armed. Then this type of nonsense wouldnt happen.<<
The argument from the Loyd’s is twofold:
1. If the crews are armed the ship owners become liable for anyone they shoot.
2. Since the pirates know the crew is unarmed, they stop shooting once they are on board instead of treating the crew as a combatants.
Even if this is correct I still think the French solution of storming that yacht, losing one hostage, saving all the others and killing or capturing every pirate is a better governmental approach.
A could of M2 50 cals and some AR-15’s on each ship would stop this crap.
The pirate ARMADA is building!!! LOL.
Can you think of a good reason the crew of cargo ships aren’t armed? I can.
I believe the raft is enclosed.
One deck gun would prevent this from happening in a heartbeat.
‘life raft’ is misleading...it’s one of those pod-style lifeboats, so you can’t get a clear shot, I imagine.
Where’s Scott Waddle when you need him?
“This may actually be Obamas Katrina”.
From the American Thinker:
“Most historians agree when JFK first met Khrushchev in 1961, JFK’s abysmal performance emboldened Khrushchev to make increasingly aggressive moves culminating the Cuban Missile Crisis. This may be Obama’s Khrushchev moment”.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/04/sarkozy_engages_pirates_obama.html
Yep. They are getting ready to intimidate “The Depraved 0ne.”...0bama.
This is getting more disgusting by the hour.
No, Barry and Mrs. Clinton were playing a nice game of checkers and sipping iced tea under a sycamore tree.
_______________________________
The Bitch was giving him his orders.
The term “Pirates”has been ingratiated by Walt Disney and Johnny Depp. The reality in this case is that these pirates are actually Terrorists who just happen to be Muslims. Imagine that, Muslim terrorists, how new and unknown. Our Dear Leader has a special place in his heart for the Muslim King of Saudi Arabia to whom he has bowed to. \ This pretender to the presidency is a disgrace and the sooner America recognizes this the better.
Remember Lincoln’s speech “You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
Wake up America.
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.