[Newsbot]

Title: Private guards kill Somali pirate for first time
Category: World
Posted By: Hyack
Date: 2010-03-24 16:12:27

[saturn_656]

Good, hopefully we won't have to commit expensive naval assets to deter a couple of jokers with an AK and an RPG anymore.

[Unicornlord]

Would be nice to see these companies with better firepower. A missile would be a good way to end the pirates. Sink them all and send them to Davy Jones. Everyone has the right to self defence, no law in the land can take that away.

[Canadiana55]

Finally some good news.

[QBall]

One down, several thousand more to go.

[Regina]

They'll pay millions of dollars in ransoms but they're reluctant to arm the ships with a couple .50 cals.

[CommanderSock]

It only ups the ante. When will they ever learn?

For every private contractor who equips a civilian boat with a missile launcher or a cal, another private contractor will sell a bigger missile to the pirates for a fiscally sound deal.

The bottom line will trump any international politics or policies.

One dead pirate won’t make a difference; I’m sure more pirates die from cholera, drowning or infighting than from military strikes or failed hijacking attempts.

Somalia needs to get back to civilian rule because without co-operation from the Somalis themselves, the piracy issue won’t go away.

[GreenTiger]

Shooting the skiffs with .50 Cals and RPG is good, but what is needed is a couple of anti ship missles to sink the mother ships. With them gone it will be very hard yo pirates to operate.

I agree with Regina 100% we spend millions in ransom that can best be used to buy superior firepower to combat these thugs and send them to their 72 virgins (male ones that is).

[BartSimpson]

The best way to deal with this is to identify the ports where these vermin operate from and then obliterate them.

"When they run to ground, give them no ground to run to."

[PostFactum]

Perfect, They've took 3 Ukrainian hostage teams(

[N_Fiddledog]

I don't understand the mechanics of thwarting a pirate attack. It doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. One good sniper, and boom there goes the guy with the RPG. Boom there goes the pilot. Boom, boom, boom there goes the rest of em, you'd think.

[PostFactum]

Yeah, the main problem is that it's illegal to have weapon on their area))

[andyt]

N_Fiddledog N_Fiddledog:

I don't understand the mechanics of thwarting a pirate attack. It doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. One good sniper, and boom there goes the guy with the RPG. Boom there goes the pilot. Boom, boom, boom there goes the rest of em, you'd think.

The ships are huge, with a very small crew. The pirates usually attack at night. So the ship would have to have a pretty large security crew on constant watch. Still seems cheaper than paying those huge ransoms, but maybe not: most ships sail by unmolested, yet every ship would need to have an expensive crew on board. I guess the owners prefer to roll the dice.

[andyt]

CommanderSock CommanderSock:

It only ups the ante. When will they ever learn?

For every private contractor who equips a civilian boat with a missile launcher or a cal, another private contractor will sell a bigger missile to the pirates for a fiscally sound deal.

The bottom line will trump any international politics or policies.

One dead pirate won’t make a difference; I’m sure more pirates die from cholera, drowning or infighting than from military strikes or failed hijacking attempts.

Somalia needs to get back to civilian rule because without co-operation from the Somalis themselves, the piracy issue won’t go away.

If the pirate missiles get too big, they'll just destroy the ship, making holding it for ransom useless. Even if they just disable the ship - the pirates don't have the capability of towing it, so again they would have a problem. Plus, the pirates are poor, I wonder just how much expensive armament they can afford.

[Chumley]

andyt andyt:

CommanderSock CommanderSock:

It only ups the ante. When will they ever learn?

For every private contractor who equips a civilian boat with a missile launcher or a cal, another private contractor will sell a bigger missile to the pirates for a fiscally sound deal.

The bottom line will trump any international politics or policies.

One dead pirate won’t make a difference; I’m sure more pirates die from cholera, drowning or infighting than from military strikes or failed hijacking attempts.

Somalia needs to get back to civilian rule because without co-operation from the Somalis themselves, the piracy issue won’t go away.

If the pirate missiles get too big, they'll just destroy the ship, making holding it for ransom useless. Even if they just disable the ship - the pirates don't have the capability of towing it, so again they would have a problem. Plus, the pirates are poor, I wonder just how much expensive armament they can afford.

If pirates ever get weapons big enough to sink ships, they have changed professions, and are being funded.
They would most likely have become mercenaries at that point, hired to either capture or sink ships for someone.
Thats not to say that they aren't possibly doing the same thing now.