I'm not opposed to trying negotiation, but after days with no resolution something else needed to be done.
What am i missing here? He authorized used of force on Saturday, the hostages were killed on Tuesday, was the delay because they were trying to negotiate during those 4 days? Who had the final say on when to use the authorized use of force? No matter now, nothing cane change the events at this point, 2020 hindsight as they say, but it is such a sad tragedy
I believe they were negotiating during those 4 days. I'd like to know how many days the military would have gone on negotiating, what the protocol is. You're right, nothing can be done. It breaks my heart. I just hope that if there is another event like this we will learn from this one what to do or not to do.
If Obama gave the order to use force and then the military continued to negotiate anyway.... how is this being put on Obama? In addition, with all this tought talk, exactly how many military actions would youlike to see the US involved in? Perhaps reinstitute the draft? Let's add on a few more expenses ....after all, we're rolling in money. what happened to those people was tragic, but if I choose to boat into those waters or walk around in Iran or Yemen with a "**** Mohammed" sign or some other such stupidity, I have to accept the fact that I have a chance of getting killed.
While I'm about to make a statement that is not going to be positive in many eyes it is how I feel and is the same way I would feel if it were my family. Based on reports of how many people the pirates have taken hostage over the last few years and with how many have actually been returned to their prospective countries due to the ransom being paid, here is my thoughts on how this should be handled moving forward. Issue a general statement that while saving human life is of utmost importance it has become apparently clear that these pirates understand nothing but force. That being said we as a country will no longer stand for the piracey and that any attempt to take an American based ship/yacht/boat or to hold any American Citizens hostage will not be tolerated and any force up to and including deadly force will immediately be authorized and expected to be used in the immediate recovery of Americans and American property. There will be no negotiations period. Furthermore with the news media coverage that this has been broadcast in the past, that any Americans traveling in this area do so at their own risk, with the above statement in mind. I also believe that policies similar to this should be instituted in situations where Americans are urged/ordered to evacuate hostile areas and refuse to do so (such as Libya, and Egypt)
What they were saying last night was that there were 19 pirates on board the yacht - so there was really no way that they/the seals could've approached and boarded the boat w/out there being some sort of shoot-out, so they were hoping to negotiate w/ them. And, as someone else said - there was probably some sort of discourse between the pirates as they found 2 (I think?) also dead on the boat.
But they DID board the yacht and two pirates were killed by the SEALS, two were already dead and the rest were arrested. There was no loss of American lives other than the hostages who were shot before they got there. So they COULD have boarded the boat prior to the hostages being shot and had a similar outcome only the people would have had a better chance of being rescued alive, but they didn't. And the SEALS are trained to approach a boat without being detected so I'm not sure if that was an issue or not. My issue is how long we waited and didn't think that at some point our luck was going to run out. As it did.. Ultimatly, I just feel like something more COULD have been done and wasn't. That's all. Details may emerge that prove otherwise, but so far I haven't seen anything.
to Craig...I'm not trying to pick a fight but how do we tell Americans that they go to places like this at their own risk when it's no secret going there under the circumstances is just plain stupid.... and at the same time say we'll use any immediate force necessary to save these people. I feel for them and their families in particular but I also think that sort of behavior qualifies a person for Darwin Award status. Again, I'm not trying to pick a fight, I'm asking how you reconcile these two things.
Steve, What I'm proposing is that you make it known to the Americans who travel abroad that this is what can happen in these areas. You make it known to the pirates/terrorists who have you, that in the event such actions happen this is the outcome you will face. No quarter, no shelter, no negotiations. Cut and dried black and white. Pretty soon Darwinism has weeded out the population of both involved.
The main issue I have is why were there any pirates alive. I say start using drones also and if mother ship is spotted unloading pirates send them a missile package. Several unmanned and ARMED drones could knock down the success of these pirates drastically.
I would add to that, if someone is foolish enough to enter an area where they could be killed, and the military rescues them and kills the pirates or whoever in the process (which I have no problem with) that the rescued folk whose idiocy caused the military to use resources to save them pay a fine.
We have seen this movement more and more across the country as far as search and rescue teams needed to go get thrill seekers that are lost or hurt in remote areas. They get billed for rescue. Good, you play you pay.
In this article and on the news yesterday they said that the pirates have 660 hostages and 30 ships. Are we going to rescue those people. Yesterday was the first time that I have heard of them having 660 hostages. Does anyone have anymore info on this. thanks http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/piracy
What about commerical vessels? should we re-route every ship? because if there are no personal vessels they'll just go after the commercial. What then? You think we should keep running away until the pirates just give up and go get jobs as law abiding citizens? The pirate problem is not going to go away just because foolish people don't take their boats into those waters.
It's been on the news for a while and if one is going to travel somewhere you'd think they would check these items out before going, in my opinion. Sherry The Quest's hijacking came two days after Somali pirate Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse was sentenced to 33 years in prison by a New York court for the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama. Muse was arrested after U.S. Navy sharpshooters killed his comrades and rescued the ship's captain. A pirate in Somalia told the Associated Press last week that pirates were more likely to attack Americans because of the verdict. MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR RANSOMS FUELLING BOOM IN PIRATE ATTACKS Multi-million dollar ransom: An armed pirate stands on the Somali coastline Pirates have increased attacks off the coast of East Africa in recent years, despite an international flotilla of warships dedicated to protecting vessels and stopping the pirate assaults. Some 53 vessels were seized worldwide last year, all but four off the coast of Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau, and there was a total of 1,181 hostages. Multi-million-dollar ransoms are fuelling the trade, and the prices for releasing a ship and hostages have risen sharply. Somali pirates were paid more than £60million in ransoms last year, with the average payment rising from £100,000 in 2005 to £3.3million in 2010. Pirates currently hold 30 ships and more than 660 hostages, not counting the attack against the Quest. International calls to stay out of the pirates' range have been repeatedly given to both commercial and private mariners. It is not known whether the Adams knew of the danger or simply ignored it. The Adams kidnapping also came as Interpol said it would spend $2.17million to help African nations fight piracy. The first phase of the EU-funded programme would include Interpol providing Seychelles with a digital fingerprint identification system to make it easier to identify pirates and share information on them. Other countries to benefit from the 20-month programme are Djibouti, Kenya, Mauritius, Somalia, Tanzania and Yemen. Kenya and the Seychelles have more than 100 Somali pirates in their custody. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-claim-US-Navy-fired-first.html#ixzz1EoKrN8JR
:lol: From what I've seen, most of these pirate boats are like john boats compared to commercial vessels. Give them some guns of their own, run the pirates over and kill them. Game over. We don't the military for that. I'm sure there are some mercenaries that could be hired to ride on commercial vessels and kill pirates and they'd consider it good sport. Maybe Sgt. Fury /Tom/Panther/Stinger/Barry would volunteer.:lol:
You need to quit the DJ gig and become a consultant for the commercial vessel industry. I bet they haven't thought of the "run them over" idea yet because surely they would be using it successfully if they had :lol: Did it occur to you that the small "john boat" is what makes them able to sieze these large vessels in the first place and that if it were as easy as running them over or just shooting them that they would be doing that and there wouldn't be a problem?
While the smaller boats are more manuverable than the larger commercial vessels it also makes them more vulnerable in other ways. As for hiring Mercs. to offer protection/security services, more companies who do have trade routes in that area are starting to do just that, however it's not as simple as just owning a gun and being hired. There are certain laws internationally that differe from country to country concerning gun ownership.
