US vessel 'shoots at Suez boat'

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

A US container ship has opened fire on a small Egyptian boat in the Suez Canal, killing one man, Egyptian reports say.

The ship was passing through the canal when it was approached by a boat selling local merchandise, reports say.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7311992.stm

---

A breaking story at the moment, so that's all there is. A commercial vessel, not military, but still not exactly good for diplomacy. It the story develops, I will edit.

[babylonsister]

1. Why does a container ship even have weapons? And by what

authority are they shooting at others? Weird.

[L0oniX]

3. Protection from pirates which are off the coast of Madagascar and upper West Africa

[FarCenter]

12. It seems to have been in the Suez Canal

Not on the high seas. Definitely in Egyptian waters.

[slackmaster]

4. Piracy is a major problem for commercial ships

My brother is a Navy ship commander. He spent a lot of time fighting with pirates last year.

And by what authority are they shooting at others?

The internationally recognized right of self-defense. If someone attacks you on the high seas, you can defend yourself with deadly force.

[ohio2007]

9. A few years ago the Chinese went in and cleaned up the straits of Mallacca (sp) but nobody

was supposed to know about it or report the bodies they saw floating in the straits. That happened a few months before that Tsnumai struck around Christmas a few years ago.
http://taosecurity.blogspot.com/2007/04/pirates-in-malacca-strait.html
still a dangerous place
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-03/2005-03-14-voa21.cfm?CFID=276846314&CFTOKEN=38520142

[knight_of_the_star]

60. Those straits have always been pirate-infested waters

Up until the Royal Navy kicked the crap out of Singapore that used to be the hub of piracy in the South China Sea and Indonesia. Too easy a chokepoint to pass up.

[kimmylavin]

11. But where does it say that they were attacked?

n/t

[wuushew]

15. Why not just insure your cargo?

Also less shit shipped on the high seas means more incentive to manufacture the similar products domestically.


I don't see why people are so ready to use violence in the name of material things. Maybe if it was a boat full of famine relief or medical aid you could justify it.

[sergeiAK]

16. Because the pirates tend to kill the crew if demands aren't met promptly

Or even if they are. Such things are bad for morale, so we arm crewmembers.

[Rage for Order]

17. People are ready to use violence in defense of material things because...

often times people are seriously injured or killed during the commission of a property crime, even if they comply with all of the thief's (or thieves') demands.

[wuushew]

18. Why was the U.S. war against the Barbary pirates a good thing?

People and nations that practice piracy have a built in failure mechanisms that inhibits societal advancement. Would strange looking men in wooden ships continued to harass steel ships in modern times?


The cost in lives and treasure of using force against the Pirates of Tripoli far outweighed any causalities that those pirates ever inflicted. I don't believe in might makes right.



Find more ethical ways to reduce losses. Robot crews, alternate shipping routes, cargo submarines etc. Policing the seas is a waste of money.

[Rage for Order]

19. I don't think the seas should be policed, per se

However, if another boat or ship is approaching with the intent of pulling up next to or boarding a ship, the people on that ship have every right to defend themselves.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7280042.stm
Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Pirates are not just mythological characters with peg legs, parrots and pistols. They now carry AK-47s and use speedboats to rule the high seas of the world.

Ninety percent of the world's trade is still moved by sea, so it is not surprising that piracy against cargo vessels remains a significant issue.

It is estimated that seaborne piracy costs the world tens of millions of dollars a year. Piracy peaked in 2003 with 445 attacks around the world and since then, they have more or less steadily come down. In 2006, there were 239 attacks. Last year, the number increased slightly to 249.

In Somalia, any merchant ship is a potential target and they are advised to stay at least 200 miles off the Somali coast. Somalia is a unique problem, because there is no effective central government and no navy to protect its territorial waters. The country has been at war for almost two decades and piracy has now become a way of making money.

[slackmaster]

40. Because pirates murder their victims all too often

I say insure your cargo AND arm yourself.

There is no honor among pirates. Remember what happened to four airplanes on September 11, 2001? That's what happens to people who cooperate with pirates.

Belt and suspenders.

[Mike Daniels]

41. Too many people still buy into the romantic image of the classic era of piracy

The swashbuckling buccaneer who was sticking it to the man.

Nevermind the reality which was that pirates to a man were violent miscreants who despite the diplomatic trappings of the way their ship was run were all too willing to butcher prisoners, rape women and cut down anyone on a captured ship who didn't "flip" over to their crew.

Modern day piracy is just as bad if not worse given the difference in weapon techonolgy.

[wuushew]

42. I never said pirates weren't thugs

I just question why piracy should serve as the casus belli for an expensive navy to police the seas. Unlike earlier eras, the target is not carrying gold or silver coin but containers of shoes and electronics. Many of these items are already dirt cheap from Asian factories, so the question begs to be asks what is the advantage obtaining them from an illicit source?

After the middleman takes his cut is there really enough money to pay your men, maintain your vessel and buy fuel? Most if not every pirate group could be viewed as a failure from an organization design standpoint. Pirates simply don't have the resources to fight a battle of attrition with multi-billion dollar shipping corporations.


Is it really that hard to plot a wide course around the Horn of Africa? :shrug:

[slackmaster]

43. Just a nit, but they weren't all men

http://www.beaglebay.com/women_pirates.htm

[Zodiak]

53. Is it merchant marines who do this sort of thing?

I went to school with a number of them in training. Party animals, they were.

[hedgehog]

55. Merchant marine = civilian sailor as opposed to navy sailor.

[slackmaster]

61. Yes, and I believe their certification is called a "Z Card"

Or something like that.

[EVDebs]

2. Global Container Lines ship ... pic here...

http://www.global-container-lines.com/UsService.html



What's weirder is the LA Times/Reuters listing the ship as a US warship,

U.S. warship fires on Egyptian craft, killing one
From Reuters
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-egypt25mar25,0,1423735.story

[slackmaster]

5. More information about the ship

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080324/wl_afp/egyptusmilitarymaritimesuez

[EVDebs]

7. From your post it was a 'chartered' MV. Did US Navy charter it ?

""According to the website of the US Navy's Military Sealift Command, the MV Global Patriot is a roll-on roll-off transport ship chartered from Global Container Lines.

An undated photograph of the ship on the company's website shows it without military markings.

The security source said that the ship was expected to cross the Suez Canal as planned at 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Tuesday.

The US embassy in Cairo was not immediately available for comment on the incident.

The Suez Canal, which opened in 1869, is Egypt's third-largest source of revenue after tourism and remittances from expatriate workers and currently about 7.5 percent of global trade passes through the waterway.

It is also a key route for the US military to carry weapons, supplies and troops to and from the Gulf, in particular Kuwait and Iraq.""

This "outsourcing" of the chartered MV would then explain the Reuters/LATimes headline about "US Warship fires..."

[icymist]

51. The article about this in the Navy Times....

Navy-contracted ship opens fire in Suez

By Paul Schemm - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 25, 2008 13:37:48 EDT

CAIRO, Egypt — An American cargo ship under contract to the U.S. Navy fired warning shots at a small Egyptian boat while passing through the Suez Canal, the U.S. military said Tuesday. Egyptian authorities said at least one man was killed, but the U.S. said an investigation was under way and it had no reports of casualties.

The Global Patriot, which was under short-term charter to the Navy’s Military Sealift Command, entered the canal from the Red Sea at Suez after dark Monday when it was approached by several small boats, according to U.S. and Egyptian officials.

The U.S. Navy has been careful about the activities of small boats near their warships since the 2000 suicide attack by an explosives-packed motor boat on the destroyer Cole in Yemen killed 17 sailors.

A U.S. Navy security team aboard the Global Patriot fired the warning shots, said Lt. Nathan Christensen, deputy spokesman for the U.S. 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain.

“The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker using a bullhorn to warn them to turn away. A warning flare was then fired,” said a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. “One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots 20-30 yards in front of the bow.”

Read the full articloe

[Thothmes]

57. Military Sea Lift Command chartered the ship.

A large quanitity of DOD cargo that goes by sea goes via MSC charter ships. Been that way for years.

[Hulk]

6. Nice shooting, Tex......I'll bet they were surprised, eh?

Nothing surprises me anymore. Next we'll be at war with Egypt. I'd like to hear the further details on this one.

[ohio2007]

8. the ship had sailed from Dubai and was transporting used military equipment

snip
According to the Egyptian naval official, the ship had sailed from Dubai and was transporting used military equipment. It had completed crossing canal and was in a waiting area, known as the Zenobia Lighthouse, in preparation to enter the Mediterranean when the incident took place.



snip
Fisherman and small motor boats constantly ply the waters of the canal looking to sell cigarettes and other local products to passing ships.



http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/24/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-Suez-Canal-Shooting.php

SO the fleets of tiny floating bazaars trying to sell cigarettes and "whatever" surround these ships to make a buck or two.

Does the Egyptian government grant these little craft vendor licenses to zip around like they do ?

[daleo]

10. It sounds like the ship was in Egyptian waters, then

So there could be criminal charges brought against the shooter.

[bluesmail]

13. I find this highly suspect

regarding Darth/Bush and their plans to blowup the ME. Suspect

[unkachuck]

14. more....

....gun-boat diplomacy?....the world needs to understand that anything US will shoot first and ask questions second....

[Extend a Hand]

20. U.S. warship fires on Egyptian craft, killing one

Source: reuters india

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - A U.S. warship fired on a motor boat in the Gulf of Suez on Monday, killing one Egyptian and wounding two others, Egyptian security sources and witnesses said.

The U.S. ship Global Patriot fired on the Egyptian vessel after it ignored calls to stay away, the sources said.

The Egyptian vessel was carrying goods to sell to ships passing through the Suez Canal, a transit for U.S. ships heading to the Gulf, the sources said.

The U.S. ship had been awaiting permission to pass through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, the sources added.




Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-32663720080325

---

(entire article)

[Kool Kitty]

21. Well, this doesn't sound good.

What the hell is going on over there? When I was listening to Mike Malloy this evening, he mentioned that a bunch of our warships were passing through the Suez Canal and one of them was a nuclear sub. This is getting way too scary. Is that why Cheney was over there, to alert them about a coming strike on Iran? (I mean, when he wasn't fishing.)

[Extend a Hand]

23. I'm worried too

I saw an article the other day about the nuclear sub but couldn't find a source that I recognized. I hope it's not true.

[greyl]

31. FYI, "nuclear sub" means nuclear powered, not nuclear armed. nt

[Amonester]

22. Freedom is on the march!

uh... on the canal... Freedom from life for that poor merchant who never learned how to speak white... uh... English.

[frebrd]

24. What exactly is a "Global Patriot"?

That doesn't even make sense; it's a contradiction in terms.

Way to start WWIII you arrogant bastards!

:grr:

[darue]

26. yeah, that's the most retarded name for a ship ever. bush must have named it personally

or mccain

[snot]

34. kicking your reply.

[Kolesar]

37. At least they did not name it "Global Crusader"

Talk about leading with your chin.

[Posteritatis]

58. A lot of container ships have theme names

You've got a line, or a class of ships, named X, and then you name every ship in the line "X Y" where Y is the actual name. Ships from cruise liners to oil tankers tend to follow the scheme.

(Myself, I don't see it as a contradiction at all for the most part; my nation is humanity, dammit.)

[izquierdista]

25. The toxic U.S.

So much for the difference between "friends" and "enemies". The U.S. military will fire on anyone, anywhere, anytime, on any perceived provocation.

The only resolution will come when the rest of the world realizes that the military giant must be taken down, reduced to size and forced to give up its obsession to spend half the world's armament budget. The giant must scale back, give up its worldwide network of "bases", and quit raping the locals (Okinawa), bombing weddings (Iraq, Afghanistan), dumping toxic waste (Germany), displacing entire indigenous populations (Diego Garcia), running concentration camps (Cuba), and every other war crime committed since World War II (Iraq).

[Amonester]

27. And use the Space Program to launch all the depleted-uranium

that's not already spreaded over poor strangers countries straight up into the Sun ASAP (it's getting VERY late each second).

[Trillo]

28. Now it's a U.S. Warship? Earlier today

it was a "US container ship".

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3241265

---

There is a "Global Patriot" registered to the New York-based Global Container Lines and, according to the company Web site, the vessel trades between the United States, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the East Africa.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/24/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-Suez-Canal-Shooting.php

[Posteritatis]

29. Kind of halfway between the two

It's a container ship, but it lugs a lot of supplies back and forth for Military Sealift Command.

[Sanctified]

30. Not surprised after the USS Cole I am thinking the Navy does not want to take any chances. n/

[Vidar]

32. We may yet overtake Israel as the world's number one rogue state.

[DRoseDARs]

33. WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! Yesterday, it was a US container ship, now it's a US warship?!

SHENANIGANS!!!

Thread from yesterday:
US vessel 'shoots at Suez boat'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3241265

This is the "Global Patriot"
http://www.global-container-lines.com/UsService.html
Does THAT look like a "US warship" to any of you?

[snot]

35. must be a privately contracted container/warship --

bush getting to name it was prolly part of why it was no-bid.

[MaineDem]

36. Pic here:

Sure looks like a container ship to me.

What a ludicrous name. That's going to spread peace and diplomacy, no? Sheesh!

[maddezmom]

38. An American cargo ship under contract to the U.S. Navy opened fire on a small Egyptian boat

US Navy confirms Suez Canal shooting By PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt - An American cargo ship under contract to the U.S. Navy opened fire on a small Egyptian boat while moving through the Suez Canal, the U.S. military said Tuesday. Egyptian authorities said at least one man was killed, but the U.S. said it had no reports of casualties.

The Global Patriot, which was under short term charter to the navy's Military Sealift Command, entered the canal from the Red Sea at Suez after dark Monday when it was approached by several small boats, according to both U.S. and Egyptian officials.

The U.S. Navy is very careful about the activities of small boats near their war ships ever since the 2000 suicide attack by a motor boat on the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen killed 17 sailors. A U.S. Navy security team was aboard the cargo ship.

"The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker using a bullhorn to warn them to turn away. A warning flare was then fired," said a statement from the U.S. embassy in Cairo. "One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots 20-30 yards in front of the bow."

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_re_mi_ea/egypt_us_navy;_ylt=AhQuvsNqkadUKGJKgGkYBN5w24cA

[maddezmom]

39. US Navy teams authorized to respond to threats: navy chief

US Navy teams authorized to respond to threats: navy chief 34 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (AFP) - The leader of a US Navy security team had authority to respond when small boats ignored warnings and approached a chartered merchant ship awaiting passage through the Suez Canal, the navy's chief said Tuesday.


Admiral Gary Roughead, the chief of US Navy operations, said the incident was under investigation but he said the navy had no information to support Eyptian allegations that one person was killed and two others injured by shots fired.

The US Navy security team aboard the vessel "went through the steps used to determine or attempt to determine intent," he told reporters.

"In the judgement of the on scene commander, the responses were such that led to the warning shots. Warning shots were fired," he said.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080325/wl_mideast_afp/egyptusmilitarymaritimesueznavy_080325145051;_ylt=ArLEcso_eYMWN0sy37q0hBuaOrgF

[wordpix]

52. now we're privatizing the navy, too---not surprised with BushCo in charge

and our lay-down Congress, esp. the Senate that gives the asshat whatever he desires.

[hedgehog]

54. Not that I'm a fan of privatization, but we have always used

civilian ships to haul military cargo. I had one uncle who was in the Merchant Marine during WWII and another who was in the Coast Guard convoying merchant ships into Vladivostok. Both of them saw a lot more action than you'd expect.

[Thothmes]

56. The Govt has chartered civilian commercial vessels

for Decades. This saves the Government from having to maintain large fleets of merchant type ships to haul DOD cargos. In this case, it has nothing to do with the Bush administration.

[underpants]

44. U.S. ship (not USN ship) shoots at small boat in Suez Canal

Source: MSNBC

updated 1 hour, 31 minutes ago
Egyptian officials say 1 killed; U.S. says no reports of casualties

CAIRO, Egypt - An American cargo ship under contract to the U.S. Navy fired warning shots at a small Egyptian boat while passing through the Suez Canal, the military said Tuesday. Egyptian authorities said at least one person was killed, but the U.S. said that while an investigation was under way it had no reports of casualties.

The Global Patriot, which was under short-term charter to the navy's Military Sealift Command, entered the canal from the Red Sea at Suez after dark Monday when it was approached by several small boats, according to both U.S. and Egyptian officials.

Warning flare
"The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker using a bullhorn to warn them to turn away. A warning flare was then fired," said a statement issued by the U.S. embassy in Cairo. "One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots 20-30 yards in front of the bow."

'Appropriate steps'
"We are very conscious of being in heavily trafficked areas and we as professional mariners try to keep people from getting too close," Fifth Fleet spokeswoman Cmdr. Lydia Robertson told The Associated Press by phone from Bahrain. "Our team did take the appropriate steps to take those measured steps to warn the vessels that were getting too close."

A U.S. Navy security team was aboard the ship.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23789862

[Double T]

45. That's what happens when bushco hires trigger happy rent-n-army.......

and rent-n-navy organizations.

[acmavm]

46. The Navy has its own floating Blackwater? Who knew?

[gasperc]

47. accident waiting for the excuse to bomb Iran to pieces

Know me and the world will know pieces. George W Bush

[bagrman]

49. Won't be long , April 7th or 8th from what I've read.

[gasperc]

50. crap, this is what they said last April

although, the threat does hold just that much more saliency this year. Let the Clusterfuck....Begin!!!!!!!

[bagrman]

59. Fallan isn't in the way now. 1 nuke sub a has been sent and another battle group.

[Lasher]

48. I saw this story before but I didn't know they were mercenaries.

I guess it's true what they say, the private sector always does everything best.