I for one welcome our new pirate overlords.

This shit will not end until we begin to see routine footage of pirate vessels burning to the waterline.

Hang 'em from the yardarms!

Those pirates must be losing their self-esteem if they are going to seize a funky thang like a tugboat. No treasure chest. Perhaps they could get some whaling harpoons and latch onto other ships and drag them off in a really piratical manner.

And so it begins. More annoyances and distractions for Obama.

Life happens.

Is there a law against arming these boats?

Rasta - A lot of the ports that these vessels may go to won't allow a ship if there are guns on board, or if they are attached to the ship. Its fine in international waters, but its a pain when there are all sorts of different ports a ship needs to dock at.

It seems like it would take a lot of negotiation with dozens of nations to make it feasible to carry guns.

This shit will not end until we begin to see routine footage of pirate vessels burning to the waterline.

I have to agree. This won't end until someone starts feeding these pirates to the fishes. You wannabe a pirate? Fine, here's your free pass to Davey Jones' locker.

more f-22s, dammit. the military need new planes to deal with these pirates

Yes, Rasta, there is a problem with arming these vessels because of the ports of call forbidding them to have arms aboard. If not, this would be a non-issue, since you could pick 'em of before they get close enough to board.

"ports of call forbidding them to have arms aboard"

#10 | Posted by daprof at 2009-04-11 11:41 PM | Reply | Flag: sad but true, and stupid, too

"Kill 'em all" - Metallica.

I think these carriers need to contract with private security firms then to provide cover for them. That way they can be safely escorted to and from dangerous ports of call.

Like I said already, all we have to do is attach a fire hose pump to the MSD tanks and when they try to board release a shit storm on them. Once you do that, the only place they are going to go is in the drink.

Similar to the North Korea missile episode, my guess is the Obama administration will do nothing more than issue words of warning. Words of warning fall on deaf ears when they are not backed up with stern actions and serious consequences, something the current administration seems unwilling to do.

If there ever was a need for an embargo, this is it.

This goes to show you how far down the the democratic leaders of today have slipped since the days of Kennedy and Johnson. Kennedy would have ordered a couple of F-101's to do a dance around the f. pirates and then send them to pirate heaven. When Cambodian pirates seized the merchant ship Mayaguez, Johnson sent in the marines to get the ship out, and they did. The way our defenses are being handled now we may as well tell our Navy captains to bring down the American flags from the ships and replace them with white bloomers from Victoria's special sales.

Of course, nobody in the media has brought out the fact that these fools are...(gasp)...MUSLIMS! You think history doesn't repeat itself?

"One cannot get around what Jefferson heard when he went with John Adams to wait upon Tripoli's ambassador to London in March 1785. When they inquired by what right the Barbary states preyed upon American shipping, enslaving both crews and passengers, America's two foremost envoys were informed that "it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise."

Come back, Thomas, come back...

"When Jefferson became president in 1801 he refused to accede to Tripoli's demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000. The pasha of Tripoli then declared war on the United States. Although as secretary of state and vice president he had opposed developing an American navy capable of anything more than coastal defense, President Jefferson dispatched a squadron of naval vessels to the Mediterranean. As he declared in his first annual message to Congress: "To this state of general peace with which we have been blessed, one only exception exists. Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself to denounce war, on our failure to comply before a given day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer. I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean. . . ."

From the Jefferson Papers in the Library of Congress:

This goes to show you how far down the the democratic leaders

Could you clarify "democratic" in this sentence? It doesn't make any sense.

"Once upon a time we killed and captured pirates. Today, it's all more complicated. Attorney General Eric Holder has declined to say whether the kidnappers of the American captain will be "brought to justice" by the U.S. 'I'm not sure exactly what would happen next,' declares the chief law-enforcement official of the world's superpower. But some things we can say for certain. Obviously, if the United States Navy hanged some eye-patched, peg-legged blackguard from the yardarm or made him walk the plank, pious senators would rise to denounce an America that no longer lived up to its highest ideals, and the network talking-heads would argue that Plankgate was recruiting more and more young men to the pirates' cause, and judges would rule that pirates were entitled to the protections of the U.S. Constitution and that their peg legs had to be replaced by high-tech prosthetic limbs at taxpayer expense."

Mark Steyn

I can't seem to find Mark Steyn's stinging criticism of Bush and the Somali pirate situation. Did this piracy thing just happen the past 2 months? The rest of that quote reads like a bitter loser. Not a surprise.

Once upon a time we killed and captured pirates

The good ol' days when Bush was in office? No? Then lines like that are nothing but hyperbole. More jingoism, signifying nothing. Oh, but boy! Doesn't that make him feel like a MAN!

To Bush's credit, the last few months in office he worked hard on this issue. His Administration worked on a process with Kenya to hold and try pirates. It hasn't been nearly as successful as hoped, but it was a honest and earnest attempt. That's a hell of a lot more offered than Steyn's disingenuous attack on Holder.

- U.S. intelligence official tells the Associated Press Sunday that an American sea captain held hostage by Somali pirates has been freed and was safe aboard a Navy ship. Three of the pirates were killed and one was in custody, according to the official.

"Once upon a time we killed and captured pirates"

if true high five to all!

MUSLIMS!!!

Best way to handle the situation is like the Russian do. Find out who they are, then go to their relatives and start mailing their body parts to them-no need for torture-works every time

"works every time"

Prove it.

Post #19: If you do not know what party John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baynes Johnson belonged to, I am sorry to tell you that I cannot educate you as to what democratic meant in my prior post.

Now, I want to address the following: Congratulations to our PRESENT leaders for the resolution of the problem involving the captured American ship captain. In this instance, you have made our country proud and it has to be acknowledged. Kennedy and Johnson would have been proud. Kudos.

Maybe the captured pirate should be handed to Kenya authorities. That country would have been affected since the goods from the ship were headed for Kenya. A good doctrine: Captured pirates should be handed to countries to which the ship was headed to, period.

Hang 'em from the yardarms!

For most of the "pirate ships" you'd be hangin' them off the outboard motor throttle shaft.

Pirates are threatening retaliation, of course.

It's time to up the ante, and direct cruise missiles into the millionaire compounds where these pirates keep their stashes. Or a good run from an F-22.

It's time to up the ante, and direct cruise missiles into the millionaire compounds where these pirates keep their stashes. Or a good run from an F-22.

#30 | Posted by busterbrown

Apparently that is under consideration...

Once upon a time we killed and captured pirates.

Those good old days are back, Mark Whineysteyn. You man enough to admit it?

Didn't think so.

GOBAMA!!!!

Good job SEALs. Glad President Obama gave the field commanders the OK to do what needed to be done. Looks like everyone did well on this one.

Another non-story concluded.