Negotiations Break Down in Standoff With Pirates

[cali]

Published: April 11, 2009

Negotiations over the American captain taken hostage by Somali pirates broke down on Saturday, according to Somali officials, after American officials insisted that the pirates be arrested and a group of elders representing the pirates refused.

Somali officials said the American captain, Richard Phillips, and the four heavily armed pirates holding him hostage remained in a covered lifeboat floating in the Indian Ocean about 30 miles off Gara’ad, a notorious pirate den in northeastern Somalia.

The negotiations broke down hours after the pirates fired on a small United States Navy vessel that had tried to approach the lifeboat not long after sunrise Saturday in the Indian Ocean.

It was the first such approach since the standoff began on Wednesday, and the vessel returned to a nearby Navy destroyer, the Bainbridge, after the pirates fired warning shots in the air, according to an American military official.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/world/africa/12somalia.html?_r=1

[H2O Man]

1. It's an ugly situation.

I do not see it ending well.

[opihimoimoi]

2. Any monetary payoff will entice thousands more into Piracy...this is not new

[cali]

4. They have nothing to gain, and everything to lose by harming

Captain Phillips. I have to believe they know that.

[doctor jazz]

6. You assume they are humans with cognitive abilities. They are not.

They are savages who need to be exterminated.

[cali]

7. oh fucking please. they are human beings and you have zero

information regarding their cognitive abilities. Neither, for that matter, do I, but I do know that they're human beings. And judging from the past actions of pirates in that area, over a period of many years, we can safely assume that the pirates operating off of Somalia, know that it's in their best interests not to kill hostages.

Oh, and your comment is disgusting.

[doctor jazz]

10. You want me to express some love for criminal thugs? WHY the hell would you want that???

Oh, I forgot...I'm supposed to hate the sin and love the sinner, right?
:eyes:

[cali]

13. not at alll. I want people to think.

and reactive garbage about how they're not human, is stupid. I don't love these guys. I don't excuse what they're doing, but I do want this to have the best possible outcome for Captain Phillipd.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Arctic Dave]

18. Are we supposed to love the douchebag, hate the sin?

[Xipe Totec]

22. No, you're supposed to think not emote

underestimate their cognitive abilities at your own peril.

Being evil does not make them stupid.

Just like being good does not make them smart.

[Arctic Dave]

15. Aren't you the billy bad-ass.

Are you always such a tough guy. Rolls eyes.

[doctor jazz]

25. Are you defending them?????????//

Why?

[Arctic Dave]

31. I am not defending them. I am not glorifing killing them like people are doing either.

I guess I'm not a tough guy like you.

[tekisui]

17. They are humans with cognitive abilities.

But, that doesn't mean they are not desperate and weak humans. They must be stopped, if that means sinking the motherships, and leaving them to drown.

The use of the term 'savages' is ignorant.

[doctor jazz]

26. I think you are right. Savages is a far too complimentary word for these animals/

Thanks for the heads up. :-)

[tekisui]

27. Asshole is to complimentary for you.

[stray cat]

33. Sociopaths and serial killers and mass murderers are also technically human

but I don't have much compassion for them.

[tekisui]

38. Sure, but they aren't born that way.

They are products of their society, sufferings and abuses. They are not 'sub-human animals'. They are deeply wounded people. That doesn't mean they don't need to be locked up for the rest of their lives. Some damage cannot be undone. But, they were not born that way.

[mountainvue]

3. Here comes the end game. My thoughts

and prayers are with Captain Phillips and his family.

[tularetom]

5. Too bad about that "superpower" thing

Thanks to cheney and his "tough guy" approach to foreign affairs we are now being made fools of by a bunch of guys in leaky rowboats.

My first reaction is we need to blow these asswipes up real good in order to salvage what respect we still retain.

But then I think it's way too late for that. We'll probably wind up paying "protection" to the pirates in order to keep them from attacking our ships.

And all the wing nuts will blame Obama for it.

[Poll_Blind]

8. Tense standoff? Hostages? Guns involved? Time for a Waco-style assault!

:sarcasm:

PB

[cali]

9. Unfortuately, that's what too many people here are saying.

[doctor jazz]

12. The screwballs in the Waco compound killed themselves.

Koresh, et al...


I'm very glad they did.

[Arctic Dave]

19. Want to show me how they did it?

[cali]

28. they didn't kill themselves. the whole Waco thing was a frickin' mess

but even if they had, your cheering for the deaths of all those people- including children, is appalling.

[tekisui]

30. That poster is a sick one.

A real disconnect between him and 'them'. The other are subhuman scum to him. :puke:

[cali]

37. no kidding.

he needs a good pizza pie in the eye.

[Poll_Blind]

40. That's just cold-hearted...no two ways about it. I'm sorry you live in that kinda world.

PB

[kiranon]

11. I wonder can the Navy ship shoot some device with hook and rope on it

and attach it to the life boat and tow it out to sea and away from the coast? Perhaps tow it in its wake and make it very uncomfortable for those inside? With snipers on the Navy ship to shoot if someone fires on the Navy ship? Do not like the idea of the life boat reaching the Somali Coast - better it were out at sea.

[doctor jazz]

14. None of this diplomatic stuff will work with subhuman scum like these "people."

What WILL work is to tell whoever's running that excuse for a nation that they have to control their own people or they'll be eliminated. It's like working with scorpions, they don't have the intellect for negotiating.

[tekisui]

20. No one is running that country, genius.

No one has been for nearly 2 decades. That is why there are pirates.

[doctor jazz]

29. Well, how many ways can we spell DUH?

...

[Inuca]

21. With this kind of thinking

are you sure you are in the right place?

[tekisui]

24. I am almost certain they are not.

Another one who can't stay hidden for too long.

[Arctic Dave]

36. Your mother must be embarassed of you. I don't blame her.

[Renew Deal]

35. If that boat hits the coast, so do the Marines.

That's not good for anyone, but it's always worth for them.

[Brooklyns_Finest]

16. Daisy Cutters over Mogadishu

If anything happens to our compatriot, we need to inflict overwhelming force to them and theirs. I say 10 thousand of theirs for one of ours.

















Okay, I was joking, but it sounded pretty cool.

[Arctic Dave]

32. No it doesn't sound cool. It sounds idiotic.

[Renew Deal]

34. Hopefully the military can pinpoint the location of the "elders."

There should be a cruise missle heading in there direction.

[David Dunham]

39. Threaten to napalm them if they harm the captain. They'll listen to that.

[cali]

42. what is wrong with you?

[cali]

41. What is wrong with you?

[Renew Deal]

44. What is wrong with you?

[HooptieWagon]

43. Pirates don't negotiate, they only demand ransom.

The Barbary Pirates operated for hundreds of years, generally in the Mediterranean but occasionally as far north as Iceland and Ireland, sometimes capturing ships but often conducting shore raids and capturing slaves. Though tremendous amounts of tribute (ransom) were paid, numerous treaties were made (which the pirates often broke), and regular naval bombardments of the pirates shore bases were conducted - it wasn't until France captured Algiers with a large army and took control that the Barbary Pirates were largely put out of action.

As regarding the lifeboat, probably the best course of action is to tow it back out to sea, and let it continue to bob for a few weeks. With luck, eventually the pirates will give up (offering the Captain for their safe return to shore), or perhaps the salt enviroment will make their weapons useless and they can be captured.

As to the piracy situation in general, stop-gap measures of sinking all Somali boats, stopping and inspecting unidentified merchant vessels (that may be a pirate "mother ship"), bombing pirate bases and warlord compounds, and stopping money flow in and out of Somalia may have some short term effect - but the only long-term solution is the establishment of a Somali central government, by force if necessary. I doubt there currently is the political will in any country to tackle Somalia.