3 [dead pirates]

4/16/2009 1:40:20 PM

on a dead man's chest? yo ho ho?

4/16/2009 1:48:55 PM

good job seals of course

but for those that are congratulating obama for doing this....didnt he have to be presented the situation and possible solution at least twice before OK'ing it?

from what little i understand, he was worried about the legal aspect, blah blah blah

idk, just sayin...this should have been done first time the mayday went out

oh well

BOOM HEAD SHOT!

4/16/2009 6:26:29 PM

no, it shouldn't. a peaceful, non-deadly negotiation where the hostages are released without harm is preferable. they tried that route, it didn't work out, and the next step was taken.
Going in guns a' blazin at the drop of a hat will only lead to more trouble.

4/16/2009 6:54:11 PM

Quote :

"a peaceful, non-deadly negotiation where the hostages are released without harm is preferable"

Yeah, and so is getting all members of Al Queda to peacefully surrender

But neither will happen

4/16/2009 7:20:35 PM

and if it doesn't happen - fine. shoot them in the head. that's not the point.

I'm just saying it would have been imminently foolish to start shooting them without even talking. You know, kind of like how they deal with any hostage situation, like at banks, schools, etc.

4/16/2009 7:23:45 PM

^^ These people's motivation was money, not ideology. It's MUCH easier to negotiate with someone like that, evident in them releasing the crew for the captain, not killing the captain sooner, and not flipping out when we had to tow them around. I'm sure they were shitting their pants when a US warship sails up on them, and the only reason they didn't surrender sooner was because their bosses would have killed them when they return back to Somalia.

4/16/2009 7:32:41 PM

neither of those motivations is all that excusable for what those men were doing. They put themselves in that situation, so please forgive me for not crying a river for them when they get shot. They put plenty of people's lives in danger when they do what they do.

4/16/2009 11:02:20 PM

I'm not asking you to excuse them, or cry a river for them.

But it's obvious why the Navy didn't feel the need to just kill them from the get-go. And really anyone with a tiny bit of sense could see why this isn't the best approach.

4/16/2009 11:11:55 PM

Phillips' daughter is kinda hot

4/17/2009 11:01:47 PM

But is she legal?

4/18/2009 6:58:31 PM

Quote :

"These people's motivation was money, not ideology."

They've taken flak from other muslims for hijacking muslim owned ships and have ceased doing so. I really don't see it being much of a stretch for the piracy to turn into a war against the economies of the west, if only for the purpose of justification.

Ideally their thinking would be to associate hijacking american ships with death at the hands of navy SEALs, but I'd say its just as likely to foment anti-american sentiment amongst pirates.

4/18/2009 8:12:54 PM

Doesn't matter what their sentiment was once their brain is turned into a greasy slick floating on the waves.

and what you are talking about is not the same is being motivated by ideology, although I see where you're going. Emphasis on the "if only for justification" part.

4/18/2009 9:25:40 PM

one thing to pay attention to though is that as we remove their source of income, it can very easily become about ideology.

4/18/2009 9:28:36 PM

Or it could lose its profit and largely cease to be a viable business, just like every other business that chronically fails to be profitable.

...assuming that we could ever make piracy not profitable. I'm not sure that's possible. I think that we can make it a generally very unattractive business to be engaged in, though, via a variety of different means.

4/18/2009 9:32:10 PM

Duke can you guys Jam 1 ship's surface search radar w/o jamming the rest. And can you guys see who's squalking down there?? (might be class.)

4/18/2009 11:08:01 PM

It all depends. A significantly more detailed answer on an UNCLASSIFIED forum is probably possible, but I don't know for sure what would and wouldn't be OK, so I'll just leave it at that. Once I get my SIPR set up again back here in the States, I can give you a good explanation if you want.

4/18/2009 11:19:26 PM

It should somewhat easily be possible to jam one ship without jamming others, as well as intercept communications and determine it's source... i'd be surprised at least if our military DIDN'T have this technology. I guess a better question is how available is this on a Coast Guard ship?

4/20/2009 11:44:02 AM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8008835.stm

Quote :

"Pirate mother's Obama mercy plea The mother of a teenage alleged pirate held over the hostage-taking of a US sea captain this month has appealed to US President Barack Obama to free him."

4/20/2009 8:03:28 PM

is he any different than an American gang member?

4/20/2009 8:10:39 PM

he's a black Muslim.

you know.... Obama's people.

4/20/2009 8:18:13 PM

i suppose

4/20/2009 8:20:43 PM

4/21/2009 4:08:42 PM

for page 3

4/22/2009 10:30:16 AM