Pirates take American yacht...what to do?

[ScubaSteve]

Chuck norris

Chuck might be overkill for this situation

 

[vladimir]

This is an example of the recurring problem we have dealing with non-state actors, or failed-state actors. Basically, there's no one to bomb, they have nothing to lose, and supporting special ops missions costs a fortune. What we can't do is spend a billion dollars and contort our foreign policy every time some stupid American decides to go sailing or hiking in what amounts to a war zone.

Here's a hint guys: Fedex the bibles.

 

[ramasule]

Auto Assault 12 Combat Shotgun - Bring the Smoke!

 

[terrylowe]

The first thing you do is to deny insurance coverage to any vessel that is taken by pirates. No insurance from Lloyds, not much further use for the vessel. It will get the owner's attention.

Second, do not pay any ransoms and make it a criminal offense to do so. The hostages can explain to the pirates that it is a tough sell to get someone to help if they are going to spend a lot of prison time for doing so.

Third, fit an amphibious assault ship with Apaches and systematically take out any boat capable of carrying a squad of pirates. Call it 7m or larger and make it a free fire zone so we are not concerned with civilian casualties. Yes, that means all the fishing trawlers.

Fourth, mandatory life sentence for any person convicted of piracy. Work out a nice treaty with Russia where they house the Somali's in a very cold place. My choice would be Magnitogorsk, a true frozen hell on earth. Force the prisoners to write home regarding their prison (that's an easy one, just open the window). The pirates we kill, drop the body from a couple hundred feet into a town square or market (proper labeling is required). That should deter all but the most determined spirits from attempting a "get rich quick scheme".

A nice brutal and direct approach to dealing with piracy in that part of the world. Not a chance of it being implemented.

Wow! I think this would work! It might be a bit expensive and of course some actor would say we are violating the pirate's "human rights".

Remind me to never every get you mad.

 

[terrylowe]

Auto Assault 12 Combat Shotgun - Bring the Smoke!

:ar15: Good grief! I couldn't afford to fire this thing for one minute! But I sure would love to have one!!

 

[EmptyTank]

Actually we should do nothing, they knew the risks and they are on their own.

 

[terrylowe]

Actually we should do nothing, they knew the risks and they are on their own.

So we give the pirates both their coastline and international waters? How many miles of international waters do we give them? 200 miles? What if they go 201 miles to hijack another ship? International waters are just that....international. Not Somalian.

 

[Tao of the Dive]

Well, the problem is, they have gone to attacking commercial ships, to attacking and kidnapping American Citizens. While they have known the risk at the time, our government is still obligated to protect it's citizenry. It's the one responsibility, I beleive they are empowered to handle above all else (although not at the cost of our rights) Even if they knew of the risk, the chances to individual civilians was minimal, becuase there had only been one other instance where they had attacked and kidnapped civilians. So it's easy to see where they may have through they could slip through. The odds were by most accounts, in their favor. Unfortunately, they were wrong.

So now that the pirates have stepped up their efforts, I think our government should do its job, and protect those citizens, and take measures to insure it doesn't happen again.

 

[grf88]

Sadly all four hostages have been killed during negotiations.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Sadly all four hostages have been killed during negotiations.

What is sad is that people like EmptyTank believe this would be OK because they knew the dangers