U.S. To Pirates: "Son, You Dun Goofed."

How hard is it to roll in with a big-ass ship and launch enough RPGs to decimate the entire coastline and every pirate ship docked along the coast?
 


Modern Freighters use radar and have telescopes on them... Basically they always see the pirates first, well before bullets fly.

If only there was an international, possibly UN-Sponsored "law" that said: If you spot something pirate-like approaching you in the gulf of Aden or the Western Indian Ocean; Please destroy it."

That way each cargo vessel can carry a simple, cheap, shoulder-mounted, heat-seeking missile or bazooka and take out any threat long before it approaches. -Having fun and doing us all a favor in the process.

That'd stop piracy in days, flat.
 
Decent story but damn that's the most repetitive piece of shit AP article I have ever read. It details the two original American sailors and their purpose of traveling four times over.

You speak the truth. Their pieces are always like that.


How hard is it to roll in with a big-ass ship and launch enough RPGs to decimate the entire coastline and every pirate ship docked along the coast?

lol Translation: how hard is it to create an international incident? Jefferson might agree with you, though.
 
Between which Nations? Surely you don't mean Somalia, right?

Oh, I'm not saying we couldn't win. I'm saying POTUS doesn't want to have to call the Somali president, and explain why our folks are RPG'ing his coastline and killing his folks.

Doesn't matter whether it's warranted. Just can't do stuff like that without creating a major headache.
 
The sad part is that most of this is happening because Europe is dumping waste throughout Africa and although the pirates are largely doing it for profit, it really stems from countries like France shitting on them to begin with.
 
Oh, I'm not saying we couldn't win. I'm saying POTUS doesn't want to have to call the Somali president, and explain why our folks are RPG'ing his coastline and killing his folks.

Doesn't matter whether it's warranted. Just can't do stuff like that without creating a major headache.
This isn't about whether or not we could win, fool:

wikipedia said:
Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory. The internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government controls only a small part of the country.
Dude. You just spoke about the Somali president as if he or she existed.

It's really a no-mans land there... If someone there claims to be the president one day, the next they'd be eaten by pirates. I doubt they can even get phone lines into the "capital" if it exists, much less have a safe talk with the POTUS.

Honestly, nuking the entire region is the most humanitarian thing we could do. -Expensive though... I'll settle for blowing all their boats out of the water.
 
This isn't about whether or not we could win, fool:

Dude. You just spoke about the Somali president as if he or she existed.

It's really a no-mans land there... If someone there claims to be the president one day, the next they'd be eaten by pirates. I doubt they can even get phone lines into the "capital" if it exists, much less have a safe talk with the POTUS.

I'm ignorant about Somalia, and thought there was a president with a phone. lol
 
Pirates have increased attacks off the coast of East Africa despite an international flotilla of warships dedicated to protecting vessels and stopping the pirate assaults.

what is it going to take to stop these pirates?
 
Oh, I'm not saying we couldn't win. I'm saying POTUS doesn't want to have to call the Somali president, and explain why our folks are RPG'ing his coastline and killing his folks.

Doesn't matter whether it's warranted. Just can't do stuff like that without creating a major headache.

Why not? What are they going to do about it.
 
^ I was reading it is because most EU and other countries in that area have weird anti gun laws and if they had weapons on board, they would not allow them to dock there.

pisses me off lol

wow fuck that. The Swiss have the best gun laws in Europe.
 
Damn, I hadn't heard they were killed, and I just learned of the capture yesterday.

Ships going through that area should be allowed to be armed, but thanks to the UN (or EU?) that's difficult.

How hard is it to roll in with a big-ass ship and launch enough RPGs to decimate the entire coastline and every pirate ship docked along the coast?

Probably equivalent to stemming the tide of illegal drugs in the US one truckload at a time.*

Honestly, nuking the entire region is the most humanitarian thing we could do.

Wouldn't that make the global warming situation worse?













I kid, I kid. :costumed-smiley-015

*I am not anti-legalization, just saying
 
I know this belief will probably be unpopular but I have a hard time condoning what the Somalian pirates are doing. They have no economic opportunity at all, they have foreigners fucking up their coastline, living standards are shitty, and there really is no way up.

So in Somalia these pirates are generating wealthy which is trickling down to stimulate the Somalian economy and increase their living standards. They donate lot's of their booty to improve the living conditions and coastline quality to help fishers, and incredibly poor areas have been far more prosperous as a direct result of piracy.

I'm not trying to say that it's ok to kill innocent people or to steal (and I certainly believe that piracy is a bad thing), but if you lived and grew up in Somalia would you be any different? Would you be content living in a hopeless economic nightmare or would you try to do the only thing you could to move your way up?

Don't hate the players, hate the system.

That booty they give out just fucks everything up even more. A cup of coffee in these coastal pirate towns now costs $5 USD/cup, no joke.
 
problem is, most passenger ships CANT outrun the pirates and the pirates have better firepower a lot of times.

We are talking rocket launchers, automatics, long range, etc. Yeah they might be 1970 soviet era weapons, but still better then what passenger vessels carry with them.

Also, when the bullets start flying and pirates are chasing you down, lots of people freeze up and that causes their capture.
 
just another reason I poured a little out on the curb last night for my dead founding father Thomas Jefferson, my all-time favorite US president. Also noteworthy was Jefferson’s belief in the power of technology, which extended far beyond Presidential policy. He invented an improved plow himself and was the architect of a navy with leaner gunships. He ran the nation’s first patent office as Secretary of State and There were few aspects of his life that weren’t informed by his idealistic belief in the power of ideas.

ec485ef5b2a825d304a21891b30204b4.jpg
@bold, for real. Went there when I was like 13 or 14 on some school trip, and it was the shit. Beside of the front door there was this giant weighted cable setup that tracked the date and time each week. The whole place was just filled with all kinds of random cool stuff like that.
 
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSP9a1VMQCk]YouTube - The Pirates Of Somalia - Somalia[/ame]

There was also a CNN interview with a pirate who was able to send his family to the states with the money he looted.

These people pretty much have no choice. I'd steal without hesitation if my life depended on it.
 
problem is, most passenger ships CANT outrun the pirates and the pirates have better firepower a lot of times.

We are talking rocket launchers, automatics, long range, etc. Yeah they might be 1970 soviet era weapons, but still better then what passenger vessels carry with them.

Also, when the bullets start flying and pirates are chasing you down, lots of people freeze up and that causes their capture.
THIS^^^

And the last part is the most important. A lotta tough talk goes on here, but I (and any other combat vet here) will tell you:

The ability to stand fast and return fire is NOT something most people are born with- it's trained into you, or I should say the natural instinct to flee and hide is trained OUT. But your average merchant seaman or passenger definitely does NOT have it.

PS - LOL at the guy who thinks a few RPG's on the coastline would be effective. May as well toss firecrackers at a mountain, mate... Think cruise missiles, and start counting the collateral damage in thousands of people.