Pirates shoot dead four American hostages: U.S. military

[Guest guest]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/four-americans-killed-pirated-yacht-off-somalia-report-\

20110222-061744-149.html

Pirates shoot dead four American hostages: U.S. military

By | Reuters – 30 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pirates shot dead four American hostages on a yacht they

had seized in the Arabian Sea, and a firefight left two pirates dead and 13

captured, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

The sequence of events was not immediately clear, but the U.S. military's

Central Command said the dead hostages were only discovered after U.S. forces

responded to gunfire and boarded the pirated yacht, known as the Quest.

" As they responded to the gunfire, reaching and boarding the Quest, the forces

discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors, " the U.S.

military's Central Command said in a statement.

" Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages

ultimately died of their wounds. "

The military, which said the incident took place at about 1 a.m. EST, had been

monitoring the Quest since discovering it had been taken over by pirates for

about three days. It said negotiations to secure the release of the Americans

had been under way when the gunfire broke out.

The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi on Saturday said a yacht with four Americans on

board was hijacked in the Arabian Sea, and was heading toward Somalia.

Two Somali pirates spoke with Reuters by telephone on Tuesday.

" Our colleagues called us this morning, that they were being attacked by a U.S.

warship, " a pirate who identified himself as Mohamud told Reuters.

" The U.S. warship shot in the head two of my comrades who were on the deck of

the yacht by the time they alerted us, " Mohamud said. " This is the time we

ordered the other comrades inside yacht to react -- kill the four Americans

because there was no other alternative -- then our line got cut. "

" The killing of those four Americans and our comrades is a fair game that has

started. Everybody will react if his life is in danger. We should not agree to

be killed and let the hostages be freed, " a pirate called Hussein told Reuters

from Hobyo, another Somali coastal pirate haven.

Neither could say how many of their colleagues were killed.

Pirate gangs preying on shipping lanes through the Gulf of Aden and the Indian

Ocean typically target large merchant ships, with oil tankers and the prize

catch, but the snatching of foreigners can also yield high ransoms.

(Reporting by in Washington, and by Mohamed Ahmed and Abdi

Sheikh in Mogadishu; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Vicki )

[Guest guest]

I really don't understand why people are so stupid as to go into this area. They know pirates are active and they know this could happen. Still, once the hostages were killed, the Navy should have backed off and used what few guns ours ships have to blast the yacht and pirates to dust.

We also need to end this "catch and release" policy with the pirates. To them it means we aren't serious about stopping them and they face very little risk, more from the sea than being caught. If we took them away for a hanging trial or just plain shot them at sea, they'd slow their activities.

Another thing is to relax the silly laws against armed crews on board merchant ships. Time was that merchant ships were pretty well armed and also navy ships were hunting pirates and not for catch and release. I can see how arming crews might be a problem because of the polyglot nature of so many crews. This could be solved by rebuilding the US Merchant Marine. Crews on board US flagged ships would be all or virtually all American and effectively in the military. They could get training to repel boarder with help from a couple of Marines on board or troops from a private company. This might require tax breaks and making the unions cooperate, or since the sailors will be military they won't have a union anymore anyway, to reduce costs, which is why the US Merchant Marine is so tiny today compared to what it once was. Very hard to compete with nations like Liberia that have no real regulations or costs.

I'm not sure a ground assault in Somalia would be a good idea. A long raid would morph into nationbuilding and the world at this moment wouldn't stand for the old fashioned punitive raids, such as going to the home town of the pirates who killed these Americans and destroying every boat in the harbor and burning a few buildings related to shipping in the process.

In a message dated 2/22/2011 11:03:35 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

Pirates shoot dead four American hostages: U.S. military

[Guest guest]

I really don't understand why people are so stupid as to go into this area. They know pirates are active and they know this could happen. Still, once the hostages were killed, the Navy should have backed off and used what few guns ours ships have to blast the yacht and pirates to dust.

We also need to end this "catch and release" policy with the pirates. To them it means we aren't serious about stopping them and they face very little risk, more from the sea than being caught. If we took them away for a hanging trial or just plain shot them at sea, they'd slow their activities.

Another thing is to relax the silly laws against armed crews on board merchant ships. Time was that merchant ships were pretty well armed and also navy ships were hunting pirates and not for catch and release. I can see how arming crews might be a problem because of the polyglot nature of so many crews. This could be solved by rebuilding the US Merchant Marine. Crews on board US flagged ships would be all or virtually all American and effectively in the military. They could get training to repel boarder with help from a couple of Marines on board or troops from a private company. This might require tax breaks and making the unions cooperate, or since the sailors will be military they won't have a union anymore anyway, to reduce costs, which is why the US Merchant Marine is so tiny today compared to what it once was. Very hard to compete with nations like Liberia that have no real regulations or costs.

I'm not sure a ground assault in Somalia would be a good idea. A long raid would morph into nationbuilding and the world at this moment wouldn't stand for the old fashioned punitive raids, such as going to the home town of the pirates who killed these Americans and destroying every boat in the harbor and burning a few buildings related to shipping in the process.

In a message dated 2/22/2011 11:03:35 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

Pirates shoot dead four American hostages: U.S. military

[Guest guest]

" I'm not sure a ground assault in Somalia would be a good idea. A long raid

would morph into nationbuilding and the world at this moment wouldn't stand for

the old fashioned punitive raids, such as going to the home town of the pirates

who killed these Americans and destroying every boat in the harbor and burning a

few buildings related to shipping in the process. "

The best thing to do is kill or jail the pirates and sink their ships. Sinking

ships would be good target practice for the navy.

Administrator

[Guest guest]

" I'm not sure a ground assault in Somalia would be a good idea. A long raid

would morph into nationbuilding and the world at this moment wouldn't stand for

the old fashioned punitive raids, such as going to the home town of the pirates

who killed these Americans and destroying every boat in the harbor and burning a

few buildings related to shipping in the process. "

The best thing to do is kill or jail the pirates and sink their ships. Sinking

ships would be good target practice for the navy.

Administrator