Posted on 04/21/2009 5:40:26 PM PDT by peace with honor
US-flagged vessels operating in pirate-cruised waters should be required to carry armed security teams, Democratic Senator Feinstein Said Monday. Feinstein wrote to pres. obama last week urging him to deploy armed teams aboard such ships " until the international community can implement appropriate measures to stop the growing threat of piracy in the area
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Isn’t Blum also a major investor in shipping insurance?
Finally! Something sensible out of her.
Most cruise companies are not under US flag.
Prolly not,her husband most likely has a couple of security firms that need the work.
Yeah, there has to be money for her in it somewhere.
How about putting some of our Sailors and Marines on ships sailing in dangerous waters. It would still be military type service and it could serve as training for those who want to purse commerical or private shipping in their future.
broken clock, blind squirrel, etc.
Better to train and arm the crews.
Would these armed security teams somehow benefit her husbands company? That question has to be asked every time Feinstein votes.
There already are teams from the Maritime Expeditionary Security Force of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command that protect U.S. chartered ships that carry U.S. military equipment - when there was that unfortunate accidental shooting of an Egyptian from a warning shot at the Suez Canal, that was a US flagged vessel carrying military equipment with a MESF team on board.
However, those teams weren’t on the Maersk Alabama, presumably because it wasn’t carrying military cargo. Given how few US flagged vessels there are in the world, offhand, I would think MESF would have the forces to put a team on all ships near Somalia - it doesn’t take many of these guys per ship.
Why did it take so long to think of this?
...trying to distract from her corruption case eh?
I surprised Blackwater or some other private security firm hasn’t set up shop in Somalia. They could, for a fee, escort merchant ships through Somali waters and defend them.
It’s not like Somalia will refuse them access, what with their government being non-existant in the first place.
It sounds like a job for the classis of el Legio del Cid!
So they’ll put Blackwater type groups on board, they’ll shoot some attacking pirates, and then DiFi will call for them to be charged with murder.
You can write the entire script blindfolded.
Depends. If they are authorized from the get-go to defend themselves and the ship on which they are embarked, good. If they will be hung out to dry by the socialists and foreigners for any display of testosterone under any circumstance, then it is a bad idea. Were the United States to unilaterally declare that we will put guards on our merchantmen and use our naval assets as needed to defeat any pirate attempt at takeover, killing, preferably, all the pirates involved, then Feinstein would be making sense. If we are going to have the warriors second-guessed sooner or later by the political crowd looking for somebody to blame because some pirate with the proper profile got wasted, then Feinstein has a bad idea. Let’s have some detail. Used to be that pirates could be simply killed without the need for trial, etc. If judges and senators and other flakes are going to be allowed to interfere, put the judges and senators on the ships armed with writs, warrants, or other weapons of their choice and let them work it out over the next century or so that it would take them to do anything more complex than passing wind.
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