Awesome :kewl:

:agree: great ending on a great day

FYI JD, a US flagged ship is only in one spot at a time.

Captain free, prayers answered, Seals had their way. :)

Look forward to the details.

Its amazing what can be accomplished with Patience and a Plan.

1 Live Captain, 3 Dead Dumb-ass Pirates, 1 Captured Pirate who is supposedly the Brains (and i use the term loosely) of the group.

Job well done by all....

So are you saying you want our tax dollars to be used to provide escorts for ships owned by private sector shipping companies......yeah like you guys wouldn't get fired up over in the political forum over that. :rolleyes:

Fiscal yr 2008 US aid to Somalia was $319 million. Cancel those checks right now and put it towards the naval efforts. I do not want a single boot on Somali soil. Got to shut down the entire economy that supports the pirate industry. Much of it is businesses, like restaurants, set up by the pirates with their booty, to support the pirate operation.

Excellent work by all parties in the rescue. (now if the press would stop publishing the minute details.... for the pirates to review and prepare for next time...) But you gotta like the odds of a Marine sniper with a 35yd. shot.

From one of the retired generals on CNN;

Fixing Somalia is a 10-15 year project. Fixing the piracy problem is something that can be done in the near term....

Yup.:nailem::nailem::nailem: "appropriate force"

Thank you. He's the first person to bitch about tax dollars being wasted, but he wants Navy escorts for every US Flagged ship near Somalia?

I'm glad they killed 3 of the pirates. Make an example out of them. This is exactly what I wanted to happen.

According to all the whiners, Obama was going to chat with the pirates and see how he can redistribute the wealthy's money so the pirates could stop with their pirating. However, the order to send in the Seals would have to have been approved by Obama.

Also, I believe my suggestion that the Navy act in this way was shot down:
Looks like my suggestions were right in line with what needed to happen.

Glad to hear the good news on the outcome of this.
:btu: thumbs up to the navy seals

Peace thru strength...not ransoms

You don't have to police the worlds oceans, you simply protect yourself...ie. kill those that appear to be coming aboard to do harm... ask questions afterwards.

CHECK!!!

I'm willing to bet the rescue was not done on the cheap. And yes. I want our defense $$$ spent on protecting AMERICAN interests abroad. I won't bitch a peep.

im on top of the world today. these are the things that separate Americans from the rest of the world, this captains courage should send a message to the world, minutes from being rescued he looked calm and collected as if it was only a matter of time until he was free. Very proud of my country today

Yes, we should be psyched to know that pirates now know that its not worth taking Americans hostage, just shoot them.

Egypt and Yemen make insane amounts of money from ships transiting the region, where are they? Why aren't they patrolling? Why are we ONCE AGAIN expected to fix everyone else's problems?

yeah, waa, waa, waa
How come a bunch of guys in sailing vessels and 9 iron cannons were able to wipe out pirates 300 hundred years ago and now it ssuddenly the biggest issue for the most technologically advanced nation in the world?

We can do this, we can stop it.
from what I saw on the news, a bunch of journalists are walking around talking to the pirtates, they know what ports they launch from. I think we need a little deterrent like this......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqoF-Xu4gIw

I agree with you 100% on this......I was very psyched when they got him out safely.

Ya, Italy is looking for our help with their piracy problems too.

Where are their ground troops helping us in Iraq and Afganistan??????

One way street.

Except for England, Ausrtralia, Poland and a few others we get nada, nothing
in support of our interests.

Let's not forget that the pirates still hold 100 hostages from previous raids.

It is annoying to me that the US is seen (by our politicians) as required to police the world. We should only be protecting our interests.

It would be significantly cheaper and more effective to place an armed security force on US flagged ships than to have battleships aimlessly patrolling over a million square miles of ocean.

I would like to see those pirates with their AK-47s and 15' tin attack boat try and board a vessel that has 2 sharpshooters and 2 other security personnel.

That nobody seems to care about.

Not only politicians but now the screaming right's desire to invade Somalia.

Now this is inherently wrong, whether a warship is sitting in Norfolk or in the Indian Ocean, its costing money. Period. But mind you, would I want them stuck there when there's plenty of other capable nations in the region? No.

Ok, so the pirates just stuff a couple RPG's into the side of an LPG tanker. Lotta good those sharpshooters are huh?

Pirates
 

are "on the water" terrorists

and should be dealt with the same way
we deal with terrestrial terrorists

to gain what? these guys are in this for $, theres no $ in blowing up a tanker. Johnny D is right on.

There's money in it when you threaten to start blowing them up.

INVADE THE OCEAN! Oh wait...

They're doing that anyway. RPGs are being launched at many of the vessels that use their "defense systems" - systems that consist mainly of high-powered sounding devices and water guns.

Accuracy of an RPG above 200meters is pathetic. Yet well within the range of a sharpshooter.

To these Pirates, raiding these ships is a minimal-risk job considering the profits available. There is hardly any deterrent. Maybe some of them will start thinking twice when a couple dozen pirates die at sea for attacking the wrong vessels.

Considering its a 3rd world nation with absolutely nothing to gain other than through piracy, I doubt much other than real patrols is going to deter them.

So they get lit up, I'm sure they'll happily start shooting back and ransoming the cargo instead of the crew. Less hassle that way anyhow. And up until now the crews were treated pretty well overall. Thats out the door now.

Shipping companies don't want to pay to arm the ships nor pay for the liability. Replacing dead crew is cheaper than arming them.

I disagree. Considering the real risk to these companies is an increase of insurance premiums after being paid out, I'd speculate that insurance companies would provide decreased rates for shipping companies that have armed details.

In a pure, cold-hearted business sense, I would guess that preventing the death of one or two crewmen and not having to pay out the insurance costs is cheaper than arming them.

This isn't your car having an airbag, this is arming and training or paying for a 3rd party extra crew to be on board. Expensive. Not gonna happen.

What insurance? I doubt it costs them a dime if someone dies. American crewed shipping is a rarity in that region, most are from other countries.

Its a hell of a lot cheaper for a ship to be sitting pier side in norfolk than to be steaming around the IO. Do you realize how much fuel is burned by a destroyer when its underway.......not to mention just the 6 figure toll for going through the Suez Canal.

this episode
 

with the Pirates has changed everything!

the pirates have vowed they will kill all Americans now

so.... now it will be a shoot on sight deal-- I hope!