"International effort is not stopping pirates off African coast; Analysts see key to solution in 'lawless' Somalia" by Michelle Faul, Associated Press | October 17, 2008
NAIROBI - US warships watched a hijacked vessel laden with tanks while other gunboats patrolled the waters off Somalia, but pirates still seized another freighter this week - and now hold about a dozen despite the international effort to protect a major shipping lane.
Military vessels from 10 nations are now converging on the world's most dangerous waters, but analysts and a Somali government official say the campaign won't halt piracy unless it also confronts the quagmire that is Somalia.
So it is an excuse to get in there because Ethiopia is leaving?
The continued seizures of vessels - despite the presence of US warships - highlights the difficulties of patrolling the waters off Somalia. The chief concern is that the brazen attacks could fuel terrorism and make one of the world's major routes too dangerous and expensive to traverse.
One wonders why there aren't pirates everywhere.
The area was the scene of the deadly Al Qaeda attack on the USS Cole off Yemen. And it is a hive of illegal activity, including gunrunning as well as people- and drug-smuggling.
Yeah, about the Cole.
Also see: The USS Liberty Cover-Up
Seems like a PATTERN, doesn't it?Also see: Al-CIA-Duh
Roger Middleton, an expert on the region, said the dangers include the high cost if ships avoid the Gulf of Aden and go around Africa's southern tip instead and the "nightmare scenario" of pirates becoming tools of terrorists. Already some ransom proceeds are believed to go to al-Shabab, a Somali militia that the United States accuses of harboring the terrorists who attacked US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. --more--"
That does it!!! I'm not putting up any more MSM bullshit!!!
"There's theoretically a possibility these weapons can fall into the wrong hands, but what is Al Qaeda going to do with tanks in Somalia?"
I guess the Somalia suffering is all but forgotten in my agenda-pushing, Zionist War Daily, hmmm?
