They are no Captain Jack, nor are they Captain Morgan - Shoot them

Pirates are not a bunch of misunderstood poor fishermen who have been put out of business fishing and with no choice, have resorted to hijacking boats.

Pirates are not simply criminals behaving badly.  They are not guilty of being bad and consequently need punishment in a jail cell.

Pirates are really bad bad people who need to die.  I don't want them in jail in Mali, Kenya, Sudan, or Yemen.  I want them to die and not just die, die a horrible death - shot and then fall into the ocean to be consumed by the sea, later to become a waste product on the bottom of the sea after a shark digests them.

But they have rights, however bad - we are told.  I suppose.  They have a right to put their weapons down, surrender, and accept arrest by the military and transport to the Hague where they will be tried and imprisoned for no less than 10 years, and where they are not given any right to claim refuge status (I do not want a pirate simply exchanging water for soil and getting into the kidnapping business with a green card).  They may not be taken to the US - Obama would most likely accept their claim for refuge status and give them all citizenship, after which every pirate would be surrendering.   Perhaps the Russian military should be given control of the seas in which they operate - pirates from Africa imprisoned in Siberia.  Not a bad resolution.

Otherwise - arm the ships.  Some ships now have panic rooms, hire 2-3 Israeli special forces, and give them a hose.  Instead, hand them RPGs, grenades, M15s, and provide the best radar equipment (capable of picking up a dolphin).  When the small boat chasing the large ship is spotted, shoot across the front of the pursuing boat as a warning.  If the boat continues - blow it up and sink the boat with all on board. 

Since 2007, pirates have increased their attacks and hijackings - the numbers have risen every year for the last four years.   In 2006-2007, approximately 180-200 people were held for ransom.  In 2010, more than 1000 were held for ransom.  The initial sums paid back in 2007 were several hundred thousand - today, millions per hijacking.  With their illegal and criminal gains, they buy new boats, new weapons, and plot out further efforts to hijack shipping.  This is not a crime like burglary.  This is not like someone stealing your car.  This is terrorism.

The law recognizes (in the United States) that a crime committed at night, in the dark is a qualitatively different crime than one committed during the day, and what is not permissible during the day - shooting someone carrying a plastic gun, would be permissible at night - it is dark.  The ocean is that darkness, perpetual darkness.  One cannot escape from the ocean nor from the consequence of jumping into the sea - shark food.  No policemen or detectives investigating and collecting evidence.  Shoot them.  These ocean terrorists know that if the military are upon them, they throw their weapons overboard.  When the warship stops them, they laugh and say they are fishermen. 

They are terrorists, who, with reasonable evidence - should be treated as such and not released to do it again, but shot and thrown overboard for the sea to recapture.

Captain Jack would expect no less. 
















pirates

Somali Pirates Attack Cruise Ship - Fended Off by Israelis

Cruise ship fends off pirate attack with gunfire

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press
4/26/09

ROME – An Italian cruise ship with 1,500 people on board fended off a pirate attack far off the coast of Somalia when its Israeli private security forces exchanged fire with the bandits.

Six men in a small, white Zodiac-type boat approached the Msc Melody at about 1730 GMT Saturday and opened fire with automatic weapons, Msc Cruises director Domenico Pellegrino said. They retreated after the security officers returned fire and sprayed them with water hoses.

The ship continued its journey with its windows darkened.

"It felt like we were in war," the ships commander, Ciro Pinto, told Italian state radio.

None of the roughly 1,000 passengers and 500 crew members was hurt, Pellegrino said. The passengers were asked to return to their cabins and the external lights on board turned off.
Pellegrino said all Msc cruise ships around the world are staffed with Israeli security agents because they are the best trained.

The attack occurred about 200 miles (325 kilometers) north of the Seychelles, and about 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of Somalia, according to the anti-piracy flotilla headquarters of the Maritime Security Center Horn of Africa.

Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet, said that last fall after the attack on a Saudi tanker more than 400 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia there had been "a definite shift in (the pirates) tactical capabilities."

"It's not unheard of to have attacks off the coast of the Seychelles, we've even had some in the past month," he said. "But at the same time, it is a sign that they are moving further and further off the Somali coast."

Separately Sunday, four Yemeni tankers escorted by a Yemeni coast guard boat on their way to Aden were attacked by pirates. Three of the ships escaped and coast guards captured five pirates and wounded two others, said Mohammed Abdul-Rahman, a senior official at the Overseas Shipping and Stevedoring Company. Pirates could only seize one of the tankers, the Qana. The Yemeni Interior Ministry said coast guards were trying to free it.

And the Turkish cruiser Ariva 3, with two British and four Japanese crew aboard, survived a pirate attack near the Yemeni island of Jabal Zuqar, said Ali el-Awlaqi, head of the Yemeni El-Awlaqi Marine company said.

"Pirates opened fire at the cruise ship for 15 minutes then stopped for no reason," he said, adding that the cruiser was heading to Aden, Yemen, to fix a broken engine.

International military forces have battled pirates, with U.S. Navy snipers killing three holding an American captain hostage in one of the highest-profile incidents.

But Saturday's exchange of fire between the Melody and pirates was one of the first reported between pirates and a nonmilitary ship. Civilian shipping and passenger ships have generally avoided arming crewmen or hiring armed security for reasons of safety, liability and compliance with the rules of the different countries where they dock.

Pellegrino said the pistols on board the Melody were available to the commander and security agents. He said they were used as a deterrent, "in an emergency operation."

It was not the first attack on a cruise liner. In November, pirates opened fire on a U.S.-operated ship, the M/S Nautica, which was taking 650 passengers and 400 crew members on a monthlong luxury cruise from Rome to Singapore. The cruise liner was able to outrun the pirates. In early April a tourist yacht was hijacked by Somali pirates near the Seychelles just after having dropped off its cargo of tourists.

The Melody was on a 22-day cruise from Durban, South Africa, to Genoa, Italy, when the pirates attacked late Saturday, slightly damaging the liner, Pinto said.

"After about four or five minutes, they tried to put a ladder up," Pinto told Sky TG24. "They were starting to climb up but we reacted, we started to fire ourselves. When they saw our fire, and also the water from the water hoses that we started to spray toward the Zodiac, they left and went away."

"They followed us for a bit, about 20 minutes, and continued to fire," he said.

Cruise line security work is a popular job for young Israelis who have recently been discharged from mandatory army service, as it is a good chance to save money and travel.

"We have always had great faith in their capacity, they have always been very qualified," Pellegrino said of the Israelis, though he declined to give the name of the firm.

The Spanish warship SPS Marques de Ensenada met up with the Melody to escort her through the pirate-infested northern Gulf of Aden, the Maritime Security Center said. The cruise ship was headed as scheduled to the Jordanian port of Aqaba, returning to the Mediterranean for spring and summer season cruises.

Meanwhile, Somali pirates on Sunday demanded a $5 million ransom for the release of two Egyptian fishing boats hijacked earlier this month, and the safe return of their crew, Egyptian Foreign Ministry official Ahmed Rizq said in Cairo.

"Tribal sheiks are trying to mediate to convince the hijackers to release the boats and the sailors, but it's clear to everybody that we are dealing with piracy that has no other purpose but money," he said, adding that the negotiations were between the hijackers and the boats' owners.

Pirates have attacked more than 100 ships off the Somali coast over the last year, reaping an estimated $1 million in ransom for each successful hijacking, according to analysts and country experts.

Another Italian-owned vessel remains in the hands of pirates. The Italian-flagged tugboat Buccaneer was seized off Somalia on April 11 with 16 crew members aboard.

On Saturday, the Foreign Ministry dispatched a special envoy, Margherita Boniver, to Somalia to try to win the release of the tug and crew. In a statement, the ministry also denied reports by relatives of the crew that an ultimatum had been issued by the pirates.





pirates

Pirates

Interesting story from AFP, 4/5/08.

The French military is trying to show that it is capable of doing something.



Pirates head for Somali lair as France plays waiting game

MOGADISHU (AFP) — Pirates who seized a French luxury cruise yacht and its 30-member crew in the Gulf of Aden were headed Saturday for their Indian Ocean lair off Puntland, northeast Somalia, local officials said.


UPDATE: 4/11/08

Exclusive: Six pirates detained after French luxury yacht freed with crew
April 11, 2008, 9:01 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile’s shipping correspondent reports that the CMA-CGM company, owners of the luxury yacht Le Ponant seized in Somali waters a week ago, did not deny paying ransom for the release of the 32-member crew and yacht. At the same time, the elite French GIGN force was able to capture 6 of the 10 pirates after a brief exchange of fire on the shore near the Somali town of Garacad and put them aboard the French helicopter carrier Jean d’Arc, which was standing by.

Missing Ship

Feb 5, CAIRO - AP: Egypt Searches for missing cargo ship en route for Sudan. It was carrying cement - 1700 metric ton ship, missing. Hmmm.

Captain Jack is at work or even worse. For the 14 aboard it doesn't matter - they are dead, but for tens of thousands of others, it could be worse.