Somali Pirates
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Does this chap anybody else’s tail as badly as it does mine? I know it’s a big ocean out there, but how hard would it be to station some multi-national AC-130 gunships on a racetrack pattern at about 10,000 feet and light up anything that didn’t squawk ‘I’m your buddy.’ A few smoking holes in the water might make our less civilized mariner adventurers think thrice about it. Or maybe the Saudis would float a dummy ship that’s really armed to the teeth and take care of it that way. Maybe it’s just cheaper to pay the ransom and look the other way. Seems to work for the UAW.
If I ran a tanker company I’d put a few large guns on the rails and paint in kind of small letters on the side, “If you can read this, you’re f**ked!”
two wheel, you put it so poetically, but we live in a world where oil costs more than blood. I have a feeling they’ll be waiting this one out.(i was looking for a pirate face!)
Pirates are cool.... Anyway, that tanker was bigger than an aircraft carrier, with a crew of only 25, most of them Thai nationals, probably making whatever minimum wage is in that part of the world. So that's why a small gang in a speedboat can take over a tanker. .... And heck, in Somalia, the pirates are the entrepeneurs with the gumption and imagination to go out and make some money and not wait for a UN shipment of food. ..... Pirates or Saudi oil princes? I'm for the pirates.
Maybe (thanks to the Bushies) we are still in the wrong war. Instead of pursuing terrorists, we have several thousand soldiers tied up in Iraq. Bin Laden has got to be loving this. he sits in some cave giving out orders and we are trying to defeat one of his worst enemies for him…Iraq.
the pirates’ area is 4 times the size of texas. thats a big track to run on. put some navy seals on the tankers with some LAW’s and say “ARRRRR matey”
How do we recapture the ships they already have? I think paying the ransom with chests of gold just further encourages them. What kind of mees could they make is they blow up a supertanker?
Listening to Obama, it seems like we should be fighting two wars right now, one against conservatives and against capitalism.So what’s the right war?
Ok, let me open up a can here. If we can agree that there is right and wrong, good and bad, yes and no, than that pretty much precludes that there is always some grey area, or wiggle room. Would we agree that a lawless hellhole such as Somalia is currently a “bad” place? If so, (and I’m not trying to be Abram negotiating for sparing Sodom for 40 righteous souls…), how about some good folks wipe out the bad folks, colonize the place, subjugate the lawless masses by force, establish some sort of rule of law, use whatever natural resources are there and introduce a new, productive country to the League of Nations. How 'bout them apples?
As much as I support my bretheren serving currently, we all know that the purpose of our military is to break things and hurt people, not to build nations. That's a diplomat's job. This is WAY politically incorrect, but I don't think we'd have what we know as Western Civilization if it was up to us to do it today.[quote=Spaceman Spiff]
So what's the right war? It was never Iraq and never will be. It should have been Afghanistan and terrorism worldwide and still is. We wasted our manpower on a dictator we put into power instead of the Islamist terrorists. Is it the war on ozone killing CFCs? A good start to correct some environmental problems. Is it the war on energy companies who refuse to accept alternative energy sources? No. It is a war for the future of our planet for your children and mine. Alternative energy sources are a must. Not tomorrow, but today. Is it the war against those fundamentalist christians who believe that life is sacred at the point of conception? No. It is the what the founding fathers believed in, a separation of church and state. Abortion is not a religious issue. It is a human rights issue and women should have the right to make a choice. If you think abortion is wrong, then don't have one. Do you agree with Obama that we should shrink the military, stop spending money on defense, and pretty much just curl up in a ball while the entire muslim world runs right over us? No. But 8 years of what we got ain't getting us to where we need to be. Let's let other ideas and ideologies try to fix what has been broken. We need a very strong military and Obama agres with that. He just disagrees with what the direction of the last 8 years. As a Republican, I have been very dissapointed in the direction Bush has gone. I am ready for change and Obama had a better vision than McCain, You know what Bin Laden loves? A weak military leader. We just hired one. He was not hired, he was elected by a majority of the voters in this country. Can you support him as our president and help this country move forward or are you going to continue to be stumbling block in the way of progress? Unless Obama grows a pair He must have them, he certainly showed McCain who the country wants. and figures out that the world is not a nice place and we can't play fair with them any longer (I might as well wish for that 67 Shelby I've always wanted to be in my driveway after Santa delivers it) we are going to see a lot more of this stuff. This is all on Bush's watch. You can't blame Obama yet. Rush L already tried to blame the economy on Obama...what an idiot. Bush should step down early and give the new government a chance. [/quote]Noble suggestion beemer, but it’ll never work. There was one word that ruined the thought for you. Diplomat. Anytime politicians, whether they are US, UN, or otherwise get involved, we’re screwed. They’d be arguing about borders, supply lines, economic systems, and probably the color of the flag. While I’m not a big fan of the scorched Earth scenario, sometimes I think that might actually be the best way to get some things done. Can we start with Washington, DC? Wouldn’t it be nice to just hit the do over button on our political machine? Our military is the best in the world at doing their job if left alone to do it. They don’t often have that luxury these days. There always seems to be some politician, excuse me, diplomat standing in their way. Don’t cross the border into Syria to get those terrorists. Don’t cross some arbitrary latitude line to chase down some bad guys. Don’t use lethal force unless fired upon. Sheesh. Why don’t we just give them all pillows and let them fight it out.
I think that since this oil tanker is as big as Kuwait and full of oil, it presents a good exit strategy for W to take over the tanker, liberate it of pirates, and put a “Mission Accomplished” sign on the bridge after the pirates have been sent to Gitmo or to Davy Jones’ locker.
Wow! And I thought members of Congress were know-it-all blowhards when it comes to foreign policy! Those dolts don’t have anything on the brain-trust at the RegisteredRep.com Advisor forum. You guys really do know everything! All you’re missing is Putsy’s two cents.
Why don't you just fucking shut up. Everything is Bush's fault? Even pirates in Somalia. I bet you blame your short erections and lack of nooky on Bush too.Maybe (thanks to the Bushies) we are still in the wrong war. Instead of pursuing terrorists, we have several thousand soldiers tied up in Iraq. Bin Laden has got to be loving this. he sits in some cave giving out orders and we are trying to defeat one of his worst enemies for him…Iraq.
BTW: Bin Laden is dead.
[quote=iceco1d]I agree with the pillows Spiff. This “war” was and is bullshit. Reporters riding along with our military convoys. Don’t fire unless fired up. Blah blah eff’n blah. Why do we spend all this money on big ass bombs and jets if we aren’t going to use them.
The next time we get in a "war" it should be just that. Level the enemy. Sorry, I don't want to come across as something I'm not, but war is war. WWII didn't have these bullshit rules. And I can GUARANTEE you, that if it were another country invading us, they wouldn't have those bullshit rules for our benefit. It would be chemical/biological, maybe even nuclear...whatever it took to wipe us out.[/quote] Ice, chill. The tide turned in Iraq when we STOPPED trying to waste everybody never mind the collateral damage and instead chose the diplomatic approach of wasting the really bad guys, helping the good guys and befriending the ones in the middle. You know who came up with that approach -- not the Ivy League diplomats at State but the gold ole U.S. Marines on the ground in Anbar Province. ... To me the great unsung story of the war was how high school educated, gung ho Marines from Texas and Alabama sat down one-on-one with Sunni tribesman and drank their tea and took off their damn boots to parlay.Let Davy have em. If we send them to Gitmo so namby pamby Dem will want to give them constitutional rights. We'd hate to resort to torturing a known terrorist.
[quote=Spaceman Spiff]
Let Davy have em. If we send them to Gitmo so namby pamby Dem will want to give them constitutional rights. We’d hate to resort to torturing a known terrorist.
[/quote]Arrrrr! I hear yah Spiff. Arrrrr!
[that’s as “pirate” as I can get]
Hey, It’s a Saudi owned boat. Maybe they can rustle up a dozen or so citizens to hijack a few Somali airliners (if there were such a thing) and crash them into the bridge of the boat. That way, when the boat sank, it would be Bush and Cheney’s fault and a “Controlled Demolition”.