Dutch 1 - Pirates 0

[lenseman]

Things are looking up with the tactics now being employed in the Gulf of Aden.

The Netherlands' Defense Ministry says a German patrol plane detected the pirates' position and HNLMS Tromp was dispatched to the spot as part of an EU mission.

Two pirate skiffs sped toward it, apparently thinking the Tromp was a commercial vessel. When they realized it was well-armed they tried to flee, dumping their weapons and boarding ladders.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gB7YMEDuCwwY9ncDOtPAkEI4-H2wD9ENOODG0

http://www.zambianews.net/story/617229

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/br...ck-dutch-warship/story-e6frf7jx-1225846679092

It's getting betterer and betterer.

 

[charles_reed]

Containment rather than cure.

Problem is "where to prosecute them"?

and before we have a flood of "just string them up" - remember the UN Charter of Human Rights. International Law is very clear on the matter.

 

[AndersG]

They give them food and water and let them take their ship back to Somalia.
Unbelievable.

 

[AndrewB]

We are always looking for straws in the wind, but the reality is that the Somali piracy problem continues to get worse year by year. There's so much money now involved that I wouldn't be surprised if organised crime such as the Mafia are taking an interest.

But its simply not a shooting war. While no-one is proven to have been killed as a direct result of pirate action, it will remain largely a stand-off for the coalition fleet.

I have tremendous sympathy for Paul and Rachel Chandler, but if, as Lenseman suggests elsewhere, someone is now prepared to put up a $2.5m ransom, then much of the Indian Ocean will become a no-go area for yachts for the foreseeable future. Worse, it will create a powerful incentive to the citizens of many other third-world countries to add to the problem.

 

[charles_reed]

They give them food and water and let them take their ship back to Somalia.
Unbelievable.

What would you have had them do, Anders?

 

[Blue5]

What would you have had them do, Anders?

Well if they know the worst that will happen is that they are going to be fed and sent on there way it is hardly a message to stop.

My heart says I would like to round them up for a hostage exchange............and yes that makes me no better than them... All very frustrating

 

[maxi77]

Well if they know the worst that will happen is that they are going to be fed and sent on there way it is hardly a message to stop.

My heart says I would like to round them up for a hostage exchange............and yes that makes me no better than them... All very frustrating

Regrettably I fear that being nasty to the guys at sea is unlikely to make any difference at all, this business is copntrolled by warlords on land, the sea going pirates are but cannon fodder with little choice.

Until the coast is secured and the warlords defeated on land you will not see an end to this problem, the sea going priates are all replaceable, as are their boats at little or no cost, so killing them, using them as hostages or jailing them will make no difference.

Of course as our transatlantic cousins have screwed up one attempt to invade and control that country no one else has any real apetitie for land actin despite it being the only possible route to go down.

 

[Number7]

Nuke Somalia from orbit...its the only way to be sure....

 

[BurnitBlue]

Nuke Somalia from orbit...its the only way to be sure....

One day the civilised world will have to ignore the wimps and really take decisive action against terrorists and Pirates.

Single suicide bombers and rag tag pirates are currently making a laughing stock of the worlds sophisticated armies. And have virtually paralized safe passage either on the sea , air, or tube trains.

Germany and Japan were defeated by an attitude that produced the Dresden fire storm and two atomic bombs.

The rot set in during Vietnam and media reporting. Today we send our armies into battle with the instruction not to kill civilians. Of course the enemy wear civilian clothes. It is absolutely stupid and murderous for our troops.

It is not a nice world out there and it is getting worse. There is no nice way to kill an enemy.

 

[AndersG]

What would you have had them do, Anders?

I would have them either in jail for a lifetime or put them back in their ship and blow it up!
How is anyone going to stop piracy when the worst case for them is to get their ship back with food and water?
In a few days the pirates can be out their and getting another ship.
This is not a win for the dutch. It is a draw.

 

[bryantee]

pirates

the RN a 150 years ago ,used to intercept the arab slave traders in the indian ocean. the slaves were set ashore in seychelles( a lifes sentence). the arabs killed and boats sunk.
take the pirates to deigo garcia. security is strong there ask the the locals and a long way from anywhere. but fish in the sea and coconur palms can feed them,and review their detention after the age of 50. its that or all out war.

 

[ianj99]

One day the civilised world will have to ignore the wimps and really take decisive action against terrorists and Pirates.

Single suicide bombers and rag tag pirates are currently making a laughing stock of the worlds sophisticated armies. And have virtually paralized safe passage either on the sea , air, or tube trains.

Germany and Japan were defeated by an attitude that produced the Dresden fire storm and two atomic bombs.

The rot set in during Vietnam and media reporting. Today we send our armies into battle with the instruction not to kill civilians. Of course the enemy wear civilian clothes. It is absolutely stupid and murderous for our troops.

It is not a nice world out there and it is getting worse. There is no nice way to kill an enemy.

The doves need the hawks to protect them.... But they just don't get it..
Fighting fire with fire is the only way in the end.

 

[fuss]

Bryantee has come up with a good idea.

the RN a 150 years ago ,used to intercept the arab slave traders in the indian ocean. the slaves were set ashore in seychelles( a lifes sentence). the arabs killed and boats sunk.
take the pirates to deigo garcia. security is strong there ask the the locals and a long way from anywhere. but fish in the sea and coconur palms can feed them,and review their detention after the age of 50. its that or all out war.

Drop them all off on Deigo Garcia.... All of them.... for as long as it takes.

 

[CharlesSwallow]

Yeah!

I would have them either in jail for a lifetime or put them back in their ship and blow it up!
How is anyone going to stop piracy when the worst case for them is to get their ship back with food and water?
In a few days the pirates can be out their and getting another ship.
This is not a win for the dutch. It is a draw.

Then some "Do-Gooder" international "Human Rights" outfit takes up their case in an international court and gets you indicted for endangering life on the high seas.

Big deal.

Chas.

 

[demonboy]

Clearly many of you have not read the UN report as outlined in rsallo's thread.

A lot of the comments, above, are just retarded, knee-jerk, arm-chair sailor's viewpoints without any consideration for the real problem. It is a complex situation and targeting the pirates themselves will not make the problem go away. Have a glance over the summary of that report and then tell me bombing ports of Somalia or blowing up skiffs is the solution.

Coincidentally we have just been invited aboard a coalition warship to be given a security briefing. The Royal Navy came on board Esper the other day and it was very interesting listening to what they have been up to recently. Obviously I am duty-bound not to divulge any of their secrets!

 

[pohopetch]

Ignorance is no excuse

For those of you suggesting the pirates be interned on Diego Garcia, perhaps the British and Americans amongst you should look to the behaviour of your own governments to the inhabitants of these islands and perhaps you will realise why many in the third world feel the way they do about the UK and US. 2000 people forcefully deported in the 1970's from their own land. Despite ruling in UK courts to allow them to return the British Government continues to engage in what most of the world would equate to an act of piracy or even worse while they condem others for the very same acts. PLease open your eyes.

From Wikipedia:
In the 1960s, the Chagos archipelago was secretly leased to the United Kingdom and detached from Mauritius with the intention of expelling its entire population and establishing a military base. In 1971 the United Kingdom and United States entered an agreement under which the latter would set up a military base in Diego Garcia.
Since then, the United Kingdom enforced the highly controversial depopulation of Diego Garcia, forcing the deportation of all 2,000 inhabitants of the island, who were descendants of African slaves and Hindu labourers brought to the islands by the French in the 18th century, to the surrounding islands, including Mauritius, located 1,200 miles away. In their place, a joint British-American military base was established.

...In April 2006, 102 Chagossians were allowed to visit Diego Garcia for a day, to tend to graves and visit their birthplaces.

...On May 11, 2006, the High Court ruled that the 2004 Orders-in-Council were unlawful, and that the Chagossians were entitled to return to the Chagos Archipelago. The judges, Lord Justice Hooper and Mr Justice Cresswell concluded: "The suggestion that a minister can, through the means of an order in council, exile a whole population from a British Overseas Territory and claim that he is doing so for the 'peace, order and good government' of the territory is to us repugnant." Olivier Bancoult, the representative of the Chagossians, called on Prime Minister Tony Blair to honour the decision of the court and allow his people to go home.