Today, Somali pirates killed four Americans taken hostage Friday off the coast of Oman. President Barack Obama authorized the use of force in the case of an imminent threat to the hostages Saturday. CENTCOM reports that during the course of negotiating the hostages' release, gunfire was heard aboard the captured yacht. The pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the USS Sterett, the closest U.S. naval ship, and small arms fire was heard on the yacht. U.S. forces responded immediately by boarding the ship, but discovered that the Americans had been shot.
Piracy has thrived off the coast of Somalia despite an international anti-piracy naval operation because of land-based conditions. Somalia's long coastline is essentially ungoverned -- the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) does not even have full control over the capital, Mogadishu. Armed groups have taken advantage of the lack of a sovereign government. Al Shabaab, a radical Islamist group with ties to al Qaeda, controls the coastline south of Mogadishu and has extended its control northward, further into the territory where the pirates operate. Last week, in the al Shabaab-controlled pirate town of Harardhere, al Shabaab and the pirates cut a deal for the release of pirate gang leaders: The pirates agreed to pay al Shabaab 20 percent of all future ransom payments and al Shabaab opened a marine office to coordinate with the pirates. Ransom payments run into the millions of dollars, which will serve as a significant source of funding for the terrorist group.
Al Shabaab uses the funds it secures to finance the insurgency that it is currently waging against the TFG. The past four days in Mogadishu saw a spike in violence. Monday, al Shabaab suicide bombers detonated a truck laden with explosives at a police training station in a government-controlled district. Newly trained TFG police were set to arrive at the police station that day. The peacekeeping force in Mogadishu, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), does not have sufficient forces to carry out its limited mandate of protecting primary government infrastructure. Of the 12,000 authorized troops, only 8,000 peacekeepers have been deployed.
The murder of four Americans should call attention to the increasingly dire situation in Mogadishu, which exacerbates the piracy problem. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted that those concerned about piracy should "contribute to AMISOM by providing material, financial, and logistical support." The current situation in Somalia creates ripe conditions for piracy. These conditions have also contributed to the growth of al Shabaab, which has executed an international attack and threatened many more.
Katherine Zimmerman is the Gulf of Aden team lead for the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute.
The first time the US sold weapons to a hostile Arab state was in exchange for prisioners captured by the Muslim pirates (I believe it was Pres. Jefferson who made the deal - someone correct if I am wrong).
Hundreds of years later of looking the other way or outright appeasement, NOTHING HAS CHANGED. This is not news. It is just distrubing that people think it is.
And, it seems that in a pissing contest between 13 Somali pirates and the US Navy, the US Navy should win.
a negotiation say lasting anything from a month to a year - followed by a ransom payment of say two million dollars and the hostages being released alive and well ?
OR
What happened yesterday ?
How exactly do you negotiate from a a warship standing off from the yacht so close that small arms fire can be heard? What exactly was the motive of the pirates? Did they really travel out into the ocean about a thousand nautical miles to capture some US citizens , and then sail them back to the Somali coast...in order.. to kill them? Does not make sense.
The initial reports from the US military raise more questions than they answer. The story as told is too convenient. The facts will come out. It may take time. But they will emerge.
Another scenario might be that the pirates decided to fire a warning shot at the US ship and the hostages decided to make a break for it thinking that the yacht was being boarded by rescuers.
The most interesting mystery is the 2 pirates who had been dead for a couple of days, they might have been the victims of a pirate leader whose anger was out of control against any perceived insubordination.
Otherwise, instead of strafing and napalm runs, maybe a team of "SEALS" or should we call them "WALRUSES"!? be sent in. Then, alternatively, and instead of the mad circus that this planet has become, the UN (and obliging countries) collectively placates the Somali's and their pirates with oodles of cash (treasure) or else the Brit's re-instate the might of the U.K. Royal Navy (Admiral Horatio Hornblower) to go and get the job done. No wannabe Johnny Depp's allowed! This is not a Disney fantasy.
Well, what does one do to deter the marauding pirates? How about taking a fleet of Huey (or Apache/Blackhawk/ or the defunct Comanche) helicopters and strafe the entire coastline of Somalia and also doing a Napalm run. That would soon get the pirate's attention - [sort of like that scene out of "Apocalypse Now"] and then (whomever!) stand on the beach and say "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning."
OK, maybe some innocents will be affected. Maybe some of the captured crews will suffer. But if action, a much needed international action, was to take place one can only hope that a determined and winning scenario ends in victory - unlike the morass (i.e. confused situation) that the USA had in Vietnam or the ignominous failure and fiasco that ended with "Blackhawk Down."
Sometimes it becomes necessary, whether moral or not, for action against a situation that requires a more catalytic outcome to deter those who prey upon others whether their actions are ill-begotten or financially motivated/determined due to conditions that have been thrust onto them through lack of government and/or stability or sheer starvation.
Letting the matter get out of hand, and from lackluster international bureaucracy by other hierarchies (UN) has led to the unwanted escalation of piracy off Somalia not only affecting merchant ships and their crews but also smaller vessels like the yacht sailing around the globe with silly people trying to convert people in a variety of countries to Christianity.
Here's a thought: if God had wanted the entire world to be Christian he/she would not have created a Muslim or other race. The world would then be in harmony, everyone would feast off the land, pestilence and hunger would not exist, and wars between nations would be deterred and banned. So, so much for the Bible, the Vatican, and so much for God! and Allah!
The other issue that never gets focused on, is many (most) of these guys are Jihadists and a percentage of their take goes to support terrorism.
Start sinking these boats on site, we have satelites, drones and GPS guided rockets.
No boats, no pirates, problem solved.