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Originally Posted by JohnnyD
This is the principle source that many people are ignorant on - people have an attitude of "how tough can it be". John, you are dead on that the amount of sea that needs to be secured is vast. Locally, people can't grasp what "a million square miles of open ocean" is. They think that just because we are the most powerful nation in the world, we should be able to stop these actions completely because we're the USofA.
What people don't get is that this isn't a time of war with Somalia so there is only a very small risk to US interests. The percentage of ships being attacked is statistically minuscule compared to the number of vessels that pass through the oceans.
"But Americans are being attacked." Behind the scenes, I'd be willing to bet the administration's response is "So what?" The only reason any country has involved their Navy patrolling the waters is because of the potential economic impact to their own interests.
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And one of the core Navy beliefs I'm told is that Navy will protect American Citizens and Commerce on the world's seas. Those people were doing just that. This is also the first instance this has come up in years. The Somali just don't care or concern themselves of that yet.
For several months a bunch of ships from US, Europe, Russia, India, and China have been patrolling the waters - mostly in the Gulf of Aden (China has sent warships to patrol further then they have for hundreds of years). Attacks there are down somewhat from this time last year. Attacks of the East Coast of Somali have increased. Go figure. Move, Countermove. Move, countermove.
The administration may have been "so what" or do what you gotta do. The on scene people made the immediate decision, likely in the confines of engagement they were given, and made the call. Executed amazingly. How that call for that instance plays out long term will be interesting to see.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CanalMike
Send Madonna in there, she can adopt the pirates.
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Send Bono in with her
