A salute to my fellow Americans

[puffer]

GO NAVY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well done lads. It's time to arm those cargo ships with deck guns and blow those scum bags out of the water. The only thing that pirates respect is someone with a bigger gun than they have.

The ARMING of AMERICAN FLAGGED MERCHANT SHIPS ( EVEN SMALL ARMS ) is PROBLEM.
1. It is against the law, as I understand it, for them to even carry small arms on board. Not only in US ports but Internationally.
( note - there is an exception for a VERY FEW )
2. The Companies also forbid it for "liability" problems

Puffer

[kilty]

The ARMING of AMERICAN FLAGGED MERCHANT SHIPS ( EVEN SMALL ARMS ) is PROBLEM.
1. It is against the law, as I understand it, for them to even carry small arms on board. Not only in US ports but Internationally.
( note - there is an exception for a VERY FEW )
2. The Companies also forbid it for "liability" problems
Puffer

That's the way things are now. The international community is racking their brains for a solution. All they have to do is change the "rules", arm the ships off the Somaly coast and problem solved.

If they don't want to arm the ships, hire mercenaries to go on board.

"Liability"? What about the $80 million dollars paid by ship owners last year to pirates? And what about the 200 hundred or so hostages still being held?

As long as we pussy foot around with these thugs, things will not change. It's time to fight fire with fire.

[Bigkahuna]

Peace through superior Firepower!!

[KFCarter]

A French helicopter, responding to a distress call, drove off a pirate attack craft, then followed it back to its "mother ship." The French frigate, Nivose, attacked the mother ship the next morning and took 11 pirate prisoners.
The French will be trying the pirates in French courts, unlike the US and other EU members who have signed a memorandum saying they'll turn captured pirates over to a Kenyan tribunal set up for that purpose.
I've never been much of a fan of French foreign policy, but in this instance, it sounds like their more pro-active stance is getting some good results.

[macwilkin]

A French helicopter, responding to a distress call, drove off a pirate attack craft, then followed it back to its "mother ship." The French frigate, Nivose, attacked the mother ship the next morning and took 11 pirate prisoners.
The French will be trying the pirates in French courts, unlike the US and other EU members who have signed a memorandum saying they'll turn captured pirates over to a Kenyan tribunal set up for that purpose.
I've never been much of a fan of French foreign policy, but in this instance, it sounds like their more pro-active stance is getting some good results.

http://www.brushfirefilms.com/Kolwezi/pages/index1.html

'nuff said -- Vive la France!

Todd

French Cajun by the ring and back door.

[piperdbh]

This story ended well, but there's still the problem of the so-called government in Somalia which holds its citizens hostage by wasting the international food aid (and other stuff), instead of giving it to the people who need it. There's no telling what goes on behind the scenes, with the powerful expoiting the weak and children starving while the "fat cats" live like kings.