"Petraeus urges ships to use armed guards" by Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg News | April 25, 2009
WASHINGTON - Maritime shipping companies can't rely on naval forces to protect them from pirates and should consider employing armed guards, the top US commander in the Middle East said yesterday.
Shipping companies must "get more serious" about defending themselves in the waters off East Africa, stringing concertina wire along railings and unbolting boarding ladders, Army General David H. Petraeus told a House panel.
The US military uses armed guards on many of the commercial ships that carry military cargo, he said, noting that sailors can't protect themselves with fire hoses if the pirates are carrying rocket-propelled grenades. "It is important the maritime industry get more serious about this problem," Petraeus said during a hearing today of a House committee that controls military construction spending....
--more--"The ka-ching makes this all stink even more!
