"Crew of merchant ship makes jubilant return; Amid drizzle and tears, a joyful reunion" by Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | April 16, 2009
ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. - .... There were more calls yesterday for military strikes against the pirates' bases on the Somali coast. In a letter to President Obama, Representative Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, wrote that "the only way to deal with these criminals is to seek them out in the coastal safe havens where they are operating."
Skelton cited the American military raids against the Barbary pirates in North Africa in the early 1800s and recent joint efforts by Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia to combat piracy in the Straits of Malacca.
That's news to me! How come we haven't heard of that before, MSM?
Kinda out of the way of the OIL and REGION, 'eh?
"In both of these examples," Skelton told Obama, "the victory over the pirates came when they were denied safe havens ashore." A Massachusetts lawmaker who chairs a key congressional panel said he plans to hold hearings on how the United States and the international community can deal with a major threat to international shipping between the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal.
"Congress is ignorant," said Representative William D. Delahunt, a Quincy Democrat and chair of the House Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight. "We are very much in the learning phase."
STOP the PRESSES!!
A POLITICIAN TOLD the TRUTH!!!!!!!
Delahunt's panel has primary jurisdiction over United Nations matters. The organization is currently debating how to strengthen antipiracy efforts and has authorized the use of force on Somali territory as one option. Delahunt said Skelton's call for military action is "my instinct, but I don't know," adding that he intends to review current efforts to determine if they need to go further, and if international law must be strengthened....
WAR-MONGERING DEMOCRATS!!!
You have ONE PARTY with TWO FACES, Amurka!!!
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I guess you will have to vote other because I left Somalia off my poll list:
"Pirates target, vow to kill US crews; French seize 11 hijackers east of Kenya" by Elizabeth A. Kennedy, Associated Press | April 16, 2009
MOMBASA, Kenya - A pirate gang that launched an abortive attack on a second US ship loaded with food aid said yesterday that they were singling out American vessels and would kill their crews, while French forces detained 11 other hijackers in a high-seas raid.
Pirates fired grenades and automatic weapons at the Liberty Sun, but its American crew successfully blockaded themselves inside the engine room. The ship was damaged in Tuesday's attack but was freed and was heading to Kenya under US Navy guard.
A pirate whose gang attacked the aid ship admitted yesterday that his group was targeting American ships and sailors. "We will seek out the Americans, and if we capture them we will slaughter them," said a 25-year-old pirate based in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail.
"We will target their ships because we know their flags. Last night, an American-flagged ship escaped us by a whisker. We have showered them with rocket-propelled grenades," boasted Ismail, who did not take part in the attack on the Liberty Sun. The threats are being made because US Navy sharpshooters killed three pirates Sunday to win the release of a hijacked American sea captain....
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States will pursue new efforts to track down and freeze the assets of pirates, who have reaped multimillion-dollar ransoms for ships they have captured. "We may be dealing with a 17th-century crime, but we need to bring 21st-century solutions to bear," she said at a news conference in Washington.
Which means MISSILES, don't it, bitch?
Clinton said the Obama administration also would call for immediate meetings of an international counterpiracy task force to expand naval coordination against pirates operating in the key shipping lanes off Somalia.
There is your agenda, cui bono?
The French forces, meanwhile, launched an early-morning attack on a pirate ship after spotting it Tuesday with a surveillance helicopter and observing the pirates overnight. The raid thwarted the bandits' planned attack on the Liberian cargo ship Safmarine Asia, the French Defense Ministry said.
The statement called the pirate vessel a "mother ship" - usually a seized foreign ship that pirates use to transport speedboats far out to sea and resupply them. The ship was intercepted 550 miles east of the Kenyan city of Mombasa. The 11 detained pirates were being held on the Nivôse, a French frigate among the international fleet trying to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden.
France has traditionally been aggressive in fighting piracy; this was its ninth military operation against pirates. Three Somali pirates were in the French city of Rennes yesterday facing judicial investigation after being captured in a hostage rescue Friday. Several other pirates are also in French custody after being seized last year.
The Liberty Sun had left Houston with a crew of 20 American sailors and a load of aid for the UN World Food Program. It warded off the pirates with evasive maneuvers, according to US Navy Lieutenant Nathan Christensen of the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet....
Notice how we are never, ever moving weapons or anything?
What's in those boats?
Despite President Obama's vow to take action against the rise in banditry and the deaths of five pirates in French and US hostage rescues, brigands have seized four vessels and more than 75 hostages since Sunday....
Nevertheless, MSM has been crowing about what a gret leader he is!
Pirates released a Greek-owned cargo ship yesterday and Greek authorities said all 24 crewmen on the Titan were in good health. The ship had been hijacked March 19 in the Gulf of Aden.
In all, Somali pirates are holding more than 280 sailors on 15 ships - at least 76 of those sailors captured in the past few days. Pirates have attacked 79 ships this year and hijacked 19 of them, according to the International Maritime Bureau, a piracy watchdog.
Pirates can extort $1 million or more for each ship and crew seized off the Horn of Africa; Kenya estimates they raked in $150 million last year.
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How many times I gotta post those links, folks?
