Poll - What Does the US do to rescue the Maersk-Alabama Captain

[garyd]

Sounds like a plan to me Ravi. Oh wait then we'd have President Biden... a word and a name that in combination ought spark fear and trembling in the hearts of every rational American.

 

[editec]

Is it a US flagged ship?

NO?

Then it's not up to us to solve the problem, is it?

it is a us flagged ship with a home port of norfolk, va.

it is owned by a danish corp and operated by a us based subsidiary

MV Maersk Alabama - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Okay then it IS our problem.

 

[Otter_Creek]

Hmm, Are there any aspirin factory's in Somolia ?

 

[Skull Pilot]

they had their chance to take those savages out when the captain made a break for it.

It's called target separation. When he has swimming for it, the crew of the destroyer had a chance to light up those scurvy dogs and send them straight to Davy Jones' locker in a hail of 50 cal machine gun shells

Why do you suppose they didn't. Were they unprepared? Did they not think to anticipate such an opportunity?

Or were our sailors and Marines aboard that destroyer ordered not to save a fellow American and to spare the lives of the criminals?

Guess where I stand.

Unless a special detail was assigned Marines do NOT serve aboard Destroyers normally.

Don't pick nits with me over this.

 

[strollingbones]

it is up to the dutch shipping company to pay the ransom....that is how it works and has worked...now if the us goes in and moves to kill the pirates...not only will this captain die but the fates of the other 200 men/women being held is in danger... the pirates have the upper hand...the governments of these countries are not going to do a thing....the pirates are bringing money into the country...now ships can avoid this totally by what....sailing around southern africa and avoiding the suez canal....longer and more costly but much safer...so who is suffering....well the cost is added to oil shipments...takes 15 or so days longer and adds maybe 20% or more...to costs....

Major Shippers Skirt Gulf Of Aden To Avoid Pirates - World - Javno


now i wonder how many americans are being held hostage in other countries etc...and how much effort is being made to get them back...

may the fates and muses be kind to this man....

much kinder than the people who should have blown that dingy to hell and back the minute the captain hit the water.....i wonder how he feels at this point..knowing he cant depend on anyone to help him..he gave it his best and was let down

 

[midcan5]

These people are simple crooks, like the mafia or others who use force and fear to ransom money. It is a bit amazing that the ship had no protection and a small craft could take it over. Those posters above who raise it to a political issue are simple minded, it is just the work of petty criminals in a nation where law is meaningless and the gun is the law or at least power. I vote wait them out with options. So long as this is an easy way to get rich in a place like this, it will always happen. Next make it uneasy.

 

[Harry Dresden]

I think we should give Obama a cutlass and a pair of speedos, drop him in the drink from a helicopter and watch him single-handedly defeat the pirates on prime time news.

might work.....the pirates might be so busy laughing,the capt. can jump off the boat and get away,for real this time.....of course unless the capt. is laughing along with them......

 

[editec]

Pirates!

In the XXIst century and we're still dealing with pirates.

I'm sorry, I know a lot of you are outrged, but I honestly think this is sort of funny.

All those super duper weapons and a couple guys in dingey with a couple hundred bucks worth of automatic weapons have got the combined Navy's of the world on hold.

Am I the only person here who sees how ironic this all is?

 

[Toome]

We have the military capability to successfully rescue the captain.

We no longer have the national will to do so.

This is "change" you can believe in.

 

[garyd]

Only because all the world's navy's appear to be no longer willing to deal with Pirates as they used to deal with pirates, which is to say kill the bastards and be done with it. All paying ransom does is insure an increase in the number of pirates and more paracy.

 

[editec]

We have the military capability to successfully rescue the captain.

Do we?

We no longer have the national will to do so.

Don't we?

This is "change" you can believe in.

I believe in change.

I also beleive the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Reading too much history and then listening to the news of the day obsessively will do that to you.

Mothers, take my advise --- don't let you children grow up to be historians.

When you see your kid picking up a history book ~ smack him! ~ and put him in front of the TV.

That way he won't be one of those people damned to watch as people who didn't read their history are doomed repeat it.

 

[American Horse]

Pirates!

In the XXIst century and we're still dealing with pirates.

I'm sorry, I know a lot of you are outrged, but I honestly think this is sort of funny.

All those super duper weapons and a couple guys in dingey with a couple hundred bucks worth of automatic weapons have got the combined Navy's of the world on hold.

Am I the only person here who sees how ironic this all is?

Part of the reason I posted this poll was to see how well informed the respondants would be, and to see if they would put their vote on an option in advance of it being determined by events. So far the number of people who posted far exceeds the number who chose one of a set of options varying from very reasonable to ridiculous.

If piracy, brigandage, highway robbery, terrorism can flourish there can be no trade, transportation, or communications on the most important infrastructure asset we all have; the sea lanes.

The Romans dealt with this problem, and established laws like the law of the sea, and the law of nations to deal with "issues" like this one. To them pirates were known as enemies of the human race. America had to deal with it, and it was the first action our Navy and Marine Corps saw, not on our own shores.

Today shippers are discouraged from carrying weapons on board their ships because they cannot enter most ports or territorial waters with those weapons. They risk imprisonment. The Irony is that for a livelihood people risk their lives to oblige nations who would harbor those who would kill them in a moment for convenience sake.

They could, it seems, have armed guards, and place them on "life-boats" before entering coastal waters, but who can be certain that they wouldn't still be called violaters of some state's sovereign territorial waters as soon as the life-boat seperated from the mother ship? Certainly Iran is not above such spurrious charges, or such strategy.

So why not show your hand and vote one of the options above? Need more time to think about it?

 

[garyd]

Funny the lessons of history on this particualr subject - Piracy on the high seas - is quite clear. Pay ransoms get more pirates less trade and poorer economies. Kill the miserable curs and be done with it more trade, and richer economies.

 

[YWN666]

Pirates!

In the XXIst century and we're still dealing with pirates.

I'm sorry, I know a lot of you are outrged, but I honestly think this is sort of funny.

All those super duper weapons and a couple guys in dingey with a couple hundred bucks worth of automatic weapons have got the combined Navy's of the world on hold.

Am I the only person here who sees how ironic this all is?

The 9/11 hijackers took control of those planes with boxcutters.

 

[Just A Man]

Here's my plan to end the situation: Come midnight set 12 Navy seals into the ocean with scuba tanks. They swim underwater to the life raft and they will have the tools to put a hole in it and it starts sinking. The seals remain underwater so as not to be fired upon. The rats will "abandon ship" as will Captain Phillips. Two seals grab one leg each of the four pirates and pull them underwater until they drown. Drowning rats can be fun. The other four seals attend to Captain Phillips because his hands and feet may be tied. These seals keep his head above water and untie him. Then all 12 seals leasurely swim over to the USS Bainbridge for a celebration. By daylight the Bainbridge will have left the area and all is settled. No information is ever released as to how the seals pulled it off. When the media asks about the pirates the Navy will say they don't know what happened, just that the raft sank and Phillips swam to the Bainbridge. They may want to use the same tactic later if there is a need.

 

[YWN666]

If we pay the ransom, that will only encourage other pirates to hijack other ships. i think we have to attempt the rescue but if the captain gets killed along with the hijackers, at least that will serve as an example to others who might be planning to do the same thing.

 

[NOBama]

they had their chance to take those savages out when the captain made a break for it.

It's called target separation. When he has swimming for it, the crew of the destroyer had a chance to light up those scurvy dogs and send them straight to Davy Jones' locker in a hail of 50 cal machine gun shells

Why do you suppose they didn't. Were they unprepared? Did they not think to anticipate such an opportunity?

Or were our sailors and Marines aboard that destroyer ordered not to save a fellow American and to spare the lives of the criminals?

Guess where I stand.

I can only imagine what was going through the Skipper's mind as he realized the Navy wasn't going to do anything to help him when he made his getaway attempt.

 

[xsited1]

Obama is being tested and so far he's failing miserably. At least Hillary laughed about it.

 

[Ravi]

they had their chance to take those savages out when the captain made a break for it.

It's called target separation. When he has swimming for it, the crew of the destroyer had a chance to light up those scurvy dogs and send them straight to Davy Jones' locker in a hail of 50 cal machine gun shells

Why do you suppose they didn't. Were they unprepared? Did they not think to anticipate such an opportunity?

Or were our sailors and Marines aboard that destroyer ordered not to save a fellow American and to spare the lives of the criminals?

Guess where I stand.

I can only imagine what was going through the Skipper's mind as he realized the Navy wasn't going to do anything to help him when he made his getaway attempt.

Way to hate on the Navy.

 

[editec]

So why not show your hand and vote one of the options above? Need more time to think about it?

Okay, you got me fair and square, matie.

I'll run this up the mainmast and see who salutes...

​