Not Your Mama’s Pirates
Apr 17, 2009 Political
Easter Sunday was a good day, with something happening that I didn’t think possible- a Democrat grew a spine. This is a day of miracles. Will it last? Only time will tell.
The Maersk Alabama, a cargo ship bound for Kenya, with relief supplies and food for Somalia, Uganda and Rawanda, was seized by pirates, and we don’t mean the Johnny Depp version of “pirates”, but the real thing, complete with rocket launchers and automatic rifles. Now, mind you, this was still almost laughable, as they pull up in little fishing boats, and take the ship hostage after they have boarded, and captured the crew. These pirates are malnourished, drug addled, and desperate to do something, but that something is piracy, and that’s not a good thing for law abiding seafarers. Normally, these pirates hold the ship and the crew for ransom, which has generally been paid by the ships’ insurers.
But on this occasion, the Captain told the crew to lock itself in a hold, whereupon he offered himself in the place of the crew.
Some details are still unclear at this time, but the pirates and the captain used one of the ships lifeboats, possibly because it had a roof cover against detection and rough weather.
For five days the pirates negotiated for a ransom, while the U.S. Navy hovered nearby. On Easter Sunday, the situation came to a head when the U.S. Navy Seals aboard the U.S.S. Bainbridge noticed that the captain was being threatened, they shot all three pirates with headshots, ending the negotiations, and the situation was resolved in the way it should be.
Still, I have to wonder at the repercussions,because the pirates will cry that this action was “unlawful”, the fringe lefties will say we should have given the pirates a time out, and therapy. and the O’bama administration will be getting unnecessary kudos, all for doing the right thing. Why do some people celebrate doing the right thing as if it were a really hard thing to choose to do.We are not potty training here, but enforcing the Law of the Sea. The ethics are fairly plain and simple- pirates hijack cargo and crew, you kill the pirates. It seems simple to me- and while we’re on a roll, we really should take out every pirate we can find. Go to their lairs, sink the motherships, kill them where ever you find them. This worked in the early 1800s, it will work now.
History repeats itself, just with deadlier weapons, but the response must be the same- you fight evil where it exists, and give no quarter in pursuit.
George Bush did have one thing right- if nations harbor terrorists of any kind, they should be hunted there, and that nation either is part of the problem, or part of the solution- make a choice.
Now, I know that Somalia conjures up images of the last time we went there, but you don’t let one miscue cost you your self- respect- no, you dust yourself off, and continue the good fight.
There will be some that say, we need a coalition of the willing (oh God, I am soooo tired of that slogan)- just say allies, for God’s sake. That would be nice, but it’s been so long since we had allies we could count on more than one hand, that it is almost easier to go it alone. You really don’t need a coalition to do the right thing.
After all, even with allies, people will despise us- that’s just the way the world seems to work nowadays. You might think we would be used to it by now, but some of us can’t handle overseas ridicule. That’s fine with me- it all looks like Monty Python sketches when I see European Leaders gathering in a room, but I do tend to a rather skewed view of human behavior, one that sees the ridiculous in the European Theater. It’s unfortunate, but I feel that the ridiculous is the reality.
We need the serious nations, nations that say, “Enough!” Nations that mean what they say.
Now that we have had this watershed moment, will we grow a pair, and go after these seagoing terrorists, or will this effort fizzle like Clinton’s rockets into Afghanistan? This will be a seminal moment for O’bama. His decision will reflect on how he will be viewed by the people here, because the pirate angle will be an extension of how he will be viewed about the drug trade, immigration, and other problems he;s going to have to face, and it all builds on the previous action, like a sand castle.
O’bama needs to unleash Seal Team Six, Delta Force, and anything else that is needed. It would be great if the French and the Germans joined as well as the SAS from Britain, sort of an international SWAT team for terrorism. Gee, does that sound too logical? Just set them free, and let them do what they are trained to do- it really could be this simple, if only you do not treat these pirates as criminals, but as terrorists- no prisoners accepted.
Most liberals won’t accept that- they believe in time- outs, and diplomacy, but there are times when these things will not work. Some people are just evil, and the only thing society can do is rid itself of this cancer. This is what we would do with cancer in our own bodies, isn’t it? We would not allow it to hang around, see if the cancer rehabilitated itself, and grew into a normal part of your body, would we? If you would, you deserve the cancer, but in society, we cannot afford to take that chance.
Now is not the time to try any touchy- feelie type of treatment regarding these terrorists. If you kill them, and kill enough of them, and make that the ONLY punishment for attacking United States- flagged vessels, they will get the message. Perhaps other nations will see this, and emulate us. If not, well, these will not be our vessels, if they want to pay ransom instead of paying for ammo, that will be their decision.
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