The Threat of Modern Piracy- A Merged Thread

[George Wallace]

I think these pirates are in for a very nasty lesson in life and death in the realms of politics and gunboat diplomacy.  If they do start taking 'revenge' on any of their hostages, they may not like the response to eradicate them permanently.

 

[NL_engineer]

I don't think they will target US flagged ships anymore. 

 

[CougarKing]

Apparently even the White House may not have much confidence in the African Union peacekeeping force now in Somalia, called AMISOM, which was supporting the efforts of the Somali Transitional Government (in exile in
Djibouti), as mentioned
above and in the previous page.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aYhvgOfyTmYA

U.S. Military Considers Attacks on Somali Pirates’ Land Bases

By Jeff Bliss


April 13 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. military is considering attacks on pirate bases on land and aid for the Somali people to help stem ship hijackings off Africa’s east coast, defense officials said.

The military also is drawing up proposals to aid the fledgling Somalia government to train security forces and develop its own coast guard, said the officials, who requested anonymity. The plans will be presented to the Obama administration as it considers a coordinated U.S. government and international response to piracy, the officials said.

The effort follows the freeing yesterday of Richard Phillips, a U.S. cargo ship captain held hostage since April 8 by Somali pirates. Security analysts said making shipping lanes safe would require disrupting the pirates’ support network on land.

“There really isn’t a silver-bullet solution other than going into Somalia and rooting out the bases” of the pirates, said James Carafano, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based group.

In 1992, under then-President George H.W. Bush, U.S. forces that landed in Somalia to confront widespread starvation found themselves in the middle of a civil war. Forty-two Americans died before former President Bill Clinton pulled out the troops in 1994.

No such broad military effort is being seriously considered now, the defense officials said.

Need for Somali Support

The defense officials cautioned that any actions, whether diplomatic or military, would need the support of the Somali people, who are traditionally suspicious of foreign intervention.

President Barack Obama, who gave permission for the military operation to free Phillips yesterday, is coordinating the U.S. response to piracy with other countries and the shipping industry to reduce vessels’ vulnerability to attack, boost operations to foil attacks and prosecute any captured suspects, said a senior administration official.

The administration official, who requested anonymity, declined to provide further details.

U.S. officials said the goal of a response to the piracy problem would be to encourage Somalis to help clamp down on lawlessness and to ease poverty, an outgrowth of 18 years without a strong central government.

‘One Symptom’

“Piracy is one symptom of the difficult situation in Somalia,” said Laura Tischler, a State Department spokeswoman.

Under discussion are ways to send more direct food and agricultural aid to the country, the defense officials said.

The U.S. military’s African Command, or Africom, could lead the land-based effort. Unlike other commands, Africom doesn’t have large military units. It also has only one permanent base, in Djibouti. The staff of Africom is half civilian and half military personnel and includes representatives from the Departments of State, Treasury and Health and Human Services.

Any U.S. actions on the seas may be coordinated by the Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain.

Also, efforts to ferret out pirates may be jointly conducted with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the defense official said.

Joint Partnerships

The U.S. has used a similar partnership between the military and law enforcement to fight drug cartels in South and Central America.

U.S. action would come as new approaches to fight piracy have emerged over the past seven months. In August, countries increased ship escorts and naval patrols around the Gulf of Aden, site of most East African attacks. In December, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed an anti-piracy resolution.

The UN measure allowed for attacks on pirate land bases and led to the formation of a 28-nation group that has met twice since January to coordinate diplomatic, legal and military efforts.

In January, the U.S. also signed an agreement with Kenya to prosecute suspected pirates handed over by the U.S. military. The U.S. will try anyone who attempts to hijack U.S. ships or hold U.S. captives, Tischler said.

Countries should use existing legal codes, such as the Law of the Sea Treaty and Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, to develop a process for prosecuting pirates, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen said.

‘Ample Legal Requirements’

There are “ample legal requirements and jurisdiction to be able to take action against these pirates,” Allen said yesterday on ABC’s “This Week.” “That’s what we should be doing.”

The Obama administration also is urging shipping companies and international maritime groups to employ private security forces and take steps such as unbolting ladders that pirates could use to board a vessel.

The U.S. should make sure to involve other countries, international aid organizations and the shipping industry in its plans, security analysts said.
Lack of coordination has been a major reason for the proliferation of piracy incidents, said Yonah Alexander, director of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies’ International Center for Terrorism Studies, a Washington-based policy group.

Lack of Strategy

“Everyone is trying to water their own tree rather than looking at the whole forest,” said Alexander, co-author of the soon-to-be-published “Terror on the High Seas: From Piracy to Strategic Challenge.” “The international community doesn’t have a coherent, holistic strategy to deal with this.”

Current military efforts have had limited success, security analysts said. In January, the U.S. formed Task Force 151, which uses ships, helicopters and Marine Corps snipers to thwart piracy in the region.

In February, the task force prevented pirates from seizing two vessels. It also responded to the seizure of Phillips’ vessel, the Maersk Alabama, which is operated by Maersk Line, the Norfolk, Virginia-based U.S. unit of Copenhagen-based A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S.

About 25 warships from the European Union, the U.S., Turkey, Russia, India and China have concentrated their efforts to protect the Gulf of Aden.

In response, the pirates have moved south and further out to sea.

Futility

The capture of the Maersk Alabama, which was hijacked 500 miles south of the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean, shows the futility of concentrating security forces solely at sea, said Neil Livingstone, chairman and chief executive officer of ExecutiveAction LLC, a Washington-based anti-terrorism consultant for businesses.

“It’s a massive area,” he said. “You can’t patrol all of it.”

The region Somali pirates operate in is equal in size to the Mediterranean and Red Seas combined.

The U.S. should take as its model the 1801 decision by then-President Thomas Jefferson to send a naval force to assault the land bases of Barbary pirates, who were extorting money from U.S. merchant ships off Libya’s coast, security analysts said.

The pirates eventually succumbed to a mixture of U.S. military and diplomatic pressure.

Before taking any action, though, the U.S. should come up with a plan so it isn’t caught unprepared like it was during its 1992 Somalia intervention, Carafano said.

“We need to be a little more thoughtful and rational” this time and develop a detailed strategy, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Bliss in Washington jbliss@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: April 12, 2009 22:20 EDT

 

[Yrys]

Une émission de télé-réalité sur le piratage, Agence France-Presse

The American television channel Spike TV announced on Monday that it prepared a broadcast
accompanying the American naval forces in actions against the piracy in the gulf of Aden.

This announcement intervenes after the liberation by American Marine of the captain Richard
Phillips, the prisoner during five days by Somalian pirates on a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean.
Baptized Pirate Hunters: USN, the show will allow to see the "wings" of the operations of
American Marine "to end the mortal threat of the piracy in the gulf of Aden", indicated Spike
TV.

The broadcast of a duration of one hour and which will be diffused in the year, will be shot
aboard the ships USS San Antonio and USS Boxer in the ocean near of the Somalian coast.

The acts of pirating in this region, which reached summits in 2008, multiplied since the last
ten days in spite of a massive deployment of fleets of several countries.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Let's hope the US doesn't lose any ships this time around.

First Barbary War

 

[Yrys]

Somali pirates capture new ships, BBC News

Somali pirates have hijacked a fourth vessel in 48 hours, seizing a Lebanese-owned cargo ship.
The 5,000-tonne Togo-flagged MV Sea Horse was taken by gunmen in up to four skiffs, Nato
officials said. Earlier, pirates hijacked a Greek-owned bulk carrier, the MV Irene, in the Gulf
of Aden. On Monday, Somali raiders captured two Egyptian fishing boats.

Analysts say the gangs are clearly not put off by recent US and French hostage rescues that left
several bandits dead.

Somali Pirates Hijack 4 More Ships, NY Times, Filed at 9:16 a.m. ET

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- NATO says Somali pirates have hijacked another cargo ship in the Gulf
of Aden, the fourth ship seized in the last two days.

NATO spokeswoman Shona Lowe says the Lebanese-owned MV Sea Horse was attacked Tuesday
off the Somali coast by pirates in three or four speedboats. She had no further details.

Earlier, Somali pirates captured the MV Irene E.M., a Greek-managed bulk carrier sailing from
the Middle East to South Asia. The Irene was seized in the middle of the night Tuesday -- a rare
tactic for the pirates.

Somali pirates appear undeterred by U.S. and French attacks that have killed five pirates in the
past week during hostage rescues, including that of an American sea captain. Pirates have vowed
to retaliate for the killing of their colleagues.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) -- Undeterred by U.S. and French hostage rescues that killed five bandits,
Somali pirates brazenly hijacked three more ships in the Gulf of Aden, the waterway at the center
of the world's fight against piracy. Pirates have vowed to retaliate for the killing of their colleagues
-- and the top U.S. military officer said Tuesday he takes those comments seriously.

But Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC's ''Good Morning America''
that ''we're very well prepared to deal with anything like that.''

The latest trophy for the pirates was the M.V. Irene E.M., a Greek-managed bulk carrier sailing
from the Middle East to South Asia, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime
Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. The Irene was attacked and seized in the
middle of the night Tuesday -- a rare tactic for the pirates.

U.S. Navy Lt. Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said the Irene
was flagged in the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and carried 23
Filipino crew. Choong reported a crew of 21, and there was no immediate way to reconcile the
figures.

A maritime security contractor, speaking on condition of anonymity because it is a sensitive
security issue, said the ship put out a distress signal ''to say they had a suspicious vessel
approaching. That rapidly turned into an attack and then a hijacking.'' ''They tried to call in
support on the emergency channels, but they never got any response,'' the contractor said.

On Monday, Somali pirates also seized two Egyptian fishing boats in the Gulf of Aden off
Somalia's northern coast, according to Egypt's Foreign Ministry, which said the boats carried
18 to 24 Egyptians total.

A flotilla of warships from nearly a dozen countries has patrolled the Gulf of Aden and nearby
Indian Ocean waters for months. They have halted several attacks on ships this year, but say
the area is so vast they can't stop all hijackings.

Choong said pirate attacks this year had risen to 77, with 18 of those ships hijacked and 16
vessels with 285 crew still in pirates' hands. Each boat carries the potential of a million-dollar
ransom.

The latest seizures come after Navy SEAL snipers rescued American ship captain Richard Phillips
on Sunday by killing three young pirates who held him captive in a drifting lifeboat for five days.
A fourth pirate surrendered after seeking medical attention for a wound he received in trying to
take over Phillips' vessel, the Maersk Alabama. Phillips is aboard a Navy vessel at an undisclosed
location, Christensen said Tuesday. He was initially taken aboard the Norfolk, Va.-based USS
Bainbridge and then flown to the San Diego-based USS Boxer for a medical exam.

In Washington, President Barack Obama appeared to move the piracy issue higher on his agenda,
vowing the United States would work with nations around the world to fight the problem. ''I want
to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region and to achieve that
goal, we're going to have to continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks,'' Obama
said at a news conference Monday.

The 19 crew members of the Alabama celebrated their skipper's freedom with beer and an evening
barbecue Monday in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, said crewman Ken Quinn. The vessel's chief mate
was among those urging strong U.S. action against piracy.

''It's time for us to step in and put an end to this crisis,'' Shane Murphy said. ''It's a crisis. Wake up.''

The U.S. is considering new options to fight piracy, including adding Navy gunships along the Somali
coastline and launching a campaign to disable pirate ''mother ships,'' according to military officials.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have been made yet.

In Burlington, Vt., Phillips' wife, Andrea Phillips thanked Obama, who approved the dramatic sniper
operation. ''With Richard saved, you all just gave me the best Easter ever,'' she said in a statement.

The four pirates that attacked the Alabama were between 17 and 19 years old, Defense Secretary
Robert Gates said. ''Untrained teenagers with heavy weapons,'' Gates told students and faculty at
the Marine Corps War College. ''Everybody in the room knows the consequences of that.''

U.S. officials were now considering whether to bring the fourth pirate, who surrendered shortly
before the sniper shootings, to the United States or possibly turn him over to Kenya. Both piracy
and hostage-taking carry life prison sentences under U.S. law.

The French navy late Monday handed over the bodies of two Somali pirates killed in a hostage
rescue operation last week to authorities in Somali's semiautonomous northern region of Puntland
and locals buried the bodies.

------

Jelinek reported from Washington. Associated Press writers who contributed to this report
include Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Somalia; Michelle Faul, Malkhadir M. Muhumed,
Tom Maliti and Todd Pitman in Kenya; Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Adam Schreck in
Manama, Bahrain, Lara Jakes, Anne Gearan and Devlin Barrett in Washington; and John Curran
in Burlington, Vermont.

 

[CougarKing]

A TV reality show? Seems the next logical media step if they want to cash in on the hype surrounding the pirates.

  Agence France-Presse - 4/13/2009 10:22 PM GMT
TV show to follow real-life pirate drama
A television reality show will follow US naval units hunting for pirates in the Gulf of Aden, executives said Monday, just a day after navy commandos killed three pirates to free a US captain.

The Spike TV show, made in cooperation with the military, will bring "an up-close and behind-the-scenes look at the US Navy operation to end this deadly threat of piracy in the Gulf of Aden," a statement from Spike said.

"We are thrilled to be front and center with the navy on such an important mission," said Sharon Levy, a Spike executive, in a statement.

"The access we have will really give our viewers the kind of heart-stopping action they have come to expect from Spike programming," she said.

The show, titled "Pirate Hunters: USN" and to air as a one-hour special later this year, will be filmed aboard the USS San Antonio and USS Boxer as they patrol the lawless seas off Somalia.

The announcement comes on the heels of an all-too-real drama in which navy snipers shot dead three Somali pirates holding hostage a US cargo ship captain, Richard Phillips.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the four hostage-takers were heavily armed but inexperienced youths, aged 17 to 19. A fourth pirate surrendered before the deadly rescue and is in US custody.

 

[Michael OLeary]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/13/somalia.pirates.revenge/

Pirates vow to kill U.S., French sailors

(CNN) -- Two pirates in Somalia vowed revenge Monday, after the U.S. military killed three pirates and freed a U.S. ship captain who had been held hostage for several days.

The pirates told a Somali journalist that they were angered by the U.S. action, as well as a French raid Friday that killed two pirates and one hostage and freed four hostages.

"We have decided to kill U.S. and French sailors if they happen to be among our future hostages," said Abdullahi Ahmed, a member of a pirate group based at Harardhere, a coastal town in central Somalia.

More at link.

 

[Yrys]

A TV reality show? Seems the next logical media step if they want to cash in on the hype surrounding the pirates.

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/67625.630.html

I don't know how they got acces to those ships
and the permission to film while the Navy will be
pursuing the pirates, but a one hour show seems
to me a poor step for the media, with all that they
could do with that kind of availability of them (Navy).

I would like at least a three part (hours) serie,
beginning with the formation, and ending with
the return to home after operations overthere...

 

[NL_engineer]

Well if that is their plan, I can see many of their friends death's when a US ship has an ND or 2 or 10 (ya, that's it) and more of there fellow pirates go to Davie Jones Locker.

With Obama trying to put an end to the Somalia Pirate problem; how long till the US start air/ground raids to the mainland?

I think it will come sooner then later because the naval presence isn't going solve the problem; but a strike on their homeland, and a stable Somali Government (like we well ever see it) will.

I think we should maybe try to stop there commutations (satphones), this can prevent attacks from being coordinated/directed from shore.

just my  :2c:

Edited for spelling

 

[George Wallace]

I know Spell Check couldn't help you much, but there are great differences between there and their, and I am not sure if we should be doing some navel gazing or looking for some naval action.

 

[NL_engineer]

I know Spell Check couldn't help you much, but there are great differences between there and their, and I am not sure if we should be doing some navel gazing or looking for some naval action.

thanks for reminding my spelling/grammar sucks  :-[ 

 

[George Wallace]

thanks for reminding my spelling/grammar sucks  :-[

It is PER/PDR Season.  Someday, you too will have to put good grammar, spelling and imaginative creative writting to work.  ;D

 

[NL_engineer]

It is PER/PDR Season.  Someday, you too will have to put good grammar, spelling and imaginative creative writting to work.  ;D

Or I can just do what mine looks like, the same as all other members of my section.  Only difference is name and position in the section  :

 

[CougarKing]

The guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) tows the lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama to the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) (in background R) to be processed for evidence after the successful rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia in this picture taken April 13, 2009. Phillips had been held captive by suspected Somali pirates in the lifeboat in the Indian Ocean for five days. Somali pirates hijacked two more cargo vessels and opened fire on a third on April 14, 2009 in attacks that showed a determination to go on striking at shipping on the region's strategic trade routes. REUTERS/Megan E. Sindelar/U.S. Navy photo/Handout

A team from the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) tows the lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama to Boxer to be processed for evidence after the successful rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia in this picture taken April 13, 2009. Phillips had been held captive by suspected Somali pirates in the lifeboat in the Indian Ocean for five days. Somali pirates hijacked two more cargo vessels and opened fire on a third on April 14, 2009 in attacks that showed a determination to go on striking at shipping on the region's strategic trade routes. REUTERS/Jon Rasmussen/U.S. Navy photo/Handout

RETRANSMITTING TO CORRECT REFERENCE TO NAME TO RICHARD NOT ROBERT - This Monday, April 13, 2009 photo provided by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 shows the lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama being hoisted aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer to be processed for evidence after the successful rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips. Phillips was held captive by suspected Somali pirates in the lifeboat in the Indian Ocean for five days after a failed hijacking attempt off the Somali coast. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jon Rasmussen)

This Monday, April 13, 2009 photo provided by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 shows the lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama being hoisted aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer in the Indian Ocean, to be processed for evidence after the successful rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips. Phillips was held captive by suspected Somali pirates in the lifeboat in the Indian Ocean for five days after a failed hijacking attempt off the Somali coast. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jon Rasmussen)

 

[a_majoor]

"Broken Windows" applied to piracy and the larger problems of the world. Hopefully a new sherrif will be in town in 2012:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=31474

Navy Seals: 3, Somali Pirates: 0

The good news came on Easter Sunday. All Americans said a prayer of thanks when three eagle-eyed Navy Seals freed American Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates with just three shots.

By simply doing their job, honorably and effectively, these remarkable men set the right standard for a civilized world.  And give credit to President Obama for authorizing the use of force to protect the captain. 

But are you ready for the bad news?  Here it is: The Seals’ show of strength and leadership was a singular event in a dangerous world.

In New York In the 1970s, Civilization Was Giving Way to Predators

Do you remember New York City in the 1970s?  It seems like every other car parked on the street had a sign posted in its window that said:  “No Radio.”

These “No Radio” signs were a white flag of surrender to the rampant crime that terrorized New York in the 1970s.  They were a signal that the criminals were winning; the ultimate sign of the weakness of civilization in the face of the uncivilized: Predators, aggressors and thieves.

Much like New York 30 years ago, the world today is full of predators and aggressors constantly testing the limits of what they can get away with.  They prey on the weak and the innocent.  And the signal they are receiving from America and the civilized world is that there are no consequences for their bad behavior.

Hanging Up a “No Radio” Sign in the International Arena

We are back to hanging up “No Radio” signs.  And the Somali pirates are just the latest example.

•    North Korea fires a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon deliberately on the day the President is giving a big speech on nuclear disarmament, and the civilized world wrings it hands and talks about legal conventions.
•    The Iranian dictatorship cheerfully announces that is has 7,300 centrifuges to make nuclear bombs and nothing happens.
•    Hamas fires a few more missiles into Israel and everyone ignores it.
•    Pakistan transfers power to the Taliban in its North West Frontier and the world stands idly by.
•    There’s a Mexican drug war going on that barely makes the newspapers.
•    And as Rich Galen points out, there are still approximately 260 hostages being held by Somali pirates.  Two more ships were seized Tuesday.  But you never hear about them because they’re not Americans.

Strength Works Against Predators -- Weakness Only Invites More Predation

As mayor, Rudy Giuliani, along with his police commissioner, William Bratton, transformed New York by doing something very simple in conception but very difficult in execution.

Giuliani and Bratton cleaned up crime in New York by showing that strength works against predatory aggressors.

Weakness only invites more predatory aggression.

Mayor Giuliani and Commissioner Bratton were inspired by a theory developed by social scientist James Q. Wilson and criminologist George Kelling called the “broken windows” theory.

If Criminals Believe There are No Consequences, More (And Worse) Crime Will Follow

The Broken Windows theory simply states that if a building has a broken window that is not fixed, the message is sent that no one cares.  Vandals believe there will be no consequences for their bad behavior, and consequently, worse behavior will follow.

However, fixing the broken window sends a message that people care about their community and are watching, which deters crime.

Giuliani and Bratton acted on the insights of the Broken Windows theory to transform New York from one of the most dangerous cities in America to the safest big city in the country by treating minor crimes like vandalism, prostitution, and loitering like broken windows.

They deployed police to where they were most needed using the CompStat (computer statistics) system.  And instead of tolerating these crimes and showing weakness to criminals and would-be criminals, the police showed strength.  They instituted a “zero tolerance” policy for so-called minor crimes. 

When other criminals witnessed this show of strength, they were deterred.  Citizens, meanwhile, felt safer walking the streets and taking the subway.  They took more responsibility for their neighborhoods and helped make them safer as well.

In New York, restoring a sense of order to the streets meant that police didn’t have to spend all their time responding to actual crime.  Their show of strength inspired citizens to care more for their own communities and deterred criminals from committing crimes in the first place.

President Obama Should Take a Lesson from the Wilson, Giuliani, Bratton and Reagan Playbook

This is a lesson that all those who now dismiss the Somali pirates as “distractions” would do well to learn.

It’s a lesson that Ronald Reagan, in addition to Mayor Giuliani and Commissioner Bratton, well understood.  As Callista and I tell in our new movie, Rendezvous with Destiny, the time America spent under the presidency of Jimmy Carter was a four-year lesson in the perils of weakness. 

Ronald Reagan moved America from weakness to strength with astounding speed, and the end of the existential threat to America of the 20th century, the Cold War, was the result.

President Obama should take a page from James Q. Wilson, Rudy Giuliani, William Bratton and Ronald Reagan’s playbook: 

Strength works.  Weakness fails.

We need a strategy to end piracy.

 

[OldSolduer]

I couldn't agree more Thucydides.
Its time to take back the night, so to speak.

 

[CougarKing]

A belated update from yesterday.

French raid pirate ship, US seeks to freeze assets
AP

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY and TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writers Elizabeth A. Kennedy And Todd Pitman, Associated Press Writers – 1 min ago

MOMBASA, Kenya – The U.S. and its allies battled Somalia's pirates on two fronts Wednesday, with French forces seizing a bandit mother ship and Washington seeking to keep the marauders from their spoils. Another U.S. freighter headed to port with armed sailors aboard after pirates damaged it with gunshots and grenades.

One pirate issued a new threat to "slaughter" Americans, and Tuesday's assault on a second U.S. cargo ship, the Liberty Sun, underscored the outlaws' ability to act with impunity despite international naval operations against them and mounting concern worldwide over how to end the escalating attacks off the Horn of Africa.

Pirates bombarded the U.S.-flagged Liberty Sun with automatic weapons fire and rocket-propelled grenades, but its American crew of about 20 successfully blockaded themselves in the engine room and warded off the attack with evasive maneuvers.

The ship, carrying food aid for hungry Africans — including Somalis — was damaged "pretty badly" on its bridge, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about the ship.

Windows were blown out and the crew had to put out a small fire, the official said, but they were still able to navigate. By the time the USS Bainbridge arrived five hours later, the pirates were gone.

Meanwhile, French naval forces launched an early-morning attack on a suspected pirate "mother ship" 550 miles east of Mombasa and seized 11 men, thwarting an attack on the Liberian cargo ship Safmarine Asia, the French Defense Ministry said. No one was injured.

The ministry said the vessel was a larger ship that pirates use to allow their tiny skiffs to operate hundreds of miles off the coast.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Prazuck said a French helicopter in the area heard a distress call from the Safmarine Asia. He described the seized ship as a small, noncommercial vessel carrying fuel, water and food supplies.

The 11 pirates, believed to be Somalis, were being held on the Nivose, a French frigate among the international fleet trying to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden.

French frigate the Nivose © escorts the ships the Seaborn Spirit ® and the Alizee to protect them against piracy off the coast of Djibouti, as part of their assignment to escort commercial ships in the Gulf of Aden. (Eric Cabanis/AFP/Getty Images)

France has been proactive against pirates for at least the past year, intervening to save three of its ships and spearheading a Europe-wide anti-piracy force called Atalanta. French politicians have sought to have other European countries take greater action against pirates.

Three Somali pirates in the French city of Rennes faced judicial investigation after being captured in a hostage rescue Friday. Several other pirates also have been in French custody since last year.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced new diplomatic efforts to freeze the pirates' assets and said the Obama administration will work with shippers and insurers to improve their defenses against pirates, part of a diplomatic initiative to thwart attacks on shipping.

"These pirates are criminals, they are armed gangs on the sea. And those plotting attacks must be stopped," Clinton said at the State Department.

Clinton did not call for military force, although she mentioned "going after" pirate bases in Somalia, as authorized by the U.N. several months ago.

She said it may be possible to stop boat-building companies from doing business with the pirates.

The measures outlined by Clinton are largely stopgap moves while the administration weighs more comprehensive diplomatic and military action.

She acknowledged it will be hard to find the pirates' assets. But she wants the U.S. and others to "explore ways to track and freeze" pirate ransom money and other funds used in purchases of new boats, weapons and communications equipment.

"We have noticed that the pirates are buying more and more sophisticated equipment, they're buying faster and more capable vessels, they are clearly using their ransom money for their benefit — both personally and on behalf of their piracy," she said. "We think we can begin to try and track and prevent that from happening."

Clinton said the administration will also call for immediate meetings of an international counterpiracy task force to expand naval coordination.

The U.S. plans to send an envoy to an April 23 conference on piracy in Brussels. The U.S. will also organize meetings with officials from Somalia's largely powerless transitional national government as well as regional leaders in its semiautonomous Puntland region to encourage them to do more to combat piracy.

Maritime experts say military force alone cannot solve the problem because the pirates operate in an area so vast as to render the flotilla of international warships largely ineffective. And with ships legally unable to carry arms in many ports, the world has struggled to end the scourge.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, is the shortest route from Asia to Europe. More than 20,000 ships cross the vital sea lane every year. It is becoming more dangerous by the day.

In 2003, there were only 21 attacks in these waters. In less than four months this year, there have been 79 attacks, compared with 111 for all of 2008, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Somali pirates are holding more than 280 foreign crewmen on 15 ships — at least 76 of those sailors captured in recent days.

On Wednesday, pirates released the Greek-owned cargo ship Titan and Greek authorities said all 24 crewmen were in good health. The ship was hijacked March 19.

The assault on the Liberty Sun delayed a reunion between freed American sea captain Richard Phillips and the 19 crewmen of the Maersk Alabama he helped save in an attempted hijacking last week. Phillips had planned to meet his crew in Mombasa and fly home with them Wednesday, but he was stuck on the Bainbridge when it was diverted to help the Liberty Sun.

The Liberty Sun arrived safely in Mombasa Wednesday night accompanied by a U.S. Navy vessel, according to the cargo ship's operator, New York-based Liberty Maritime Corp.

The company did not name the the naval vessel, but it was likely the Bainbridge. A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press about the matter said earlier that the Bainbridge was traveling with the Liberty Sun to port.

The Alabama's crew left without Phillips Wednesday, heading to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on a chartered plane.

"We are very happy to be going home," crewman William Rios of New York City said. But "we are disappointed to not be reuniting with the captain in Mombasa. He is a very brave man."

A pirate whose gang attacked the Liberty Sun claimed his group was targeting American ships and sailors.

"We will seek out the Americans, and if we capture them, we will slaughter them," said a 25-year-old pirate based in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail.

"We will target their ships because we know their flags. Last night, an American-flagged ship escaped us by a whisker. We have showered them with rocket-propelled grenades," said Ismail, who did not take part in the Liberty Sun attack.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090416/ap_on_...mVuY2hyYWlkcGk-

 

[CougarKing]

Also from yesterday:

Pirates attack (2nd) U.S.-flagged ship, fail to board
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pirates attacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia with rockets and automatic weapons, but failed to board the craft, the ship's owner said on Tuesday.

The crew of the Liberty Sun was unharmed, but the vessel suffered damage, according to a statement from Liberty Maritime Corp of Lake Success, New York.

The ship immediately requested help from the U.S. Navy and was now under escort, the statement said.

"We are grateful and pleased that no one was injured and the crew and the ship are safe," it said.

Liberty Maritime said the pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the vessel, which was carrying U.S. food aid for African nations and was en route to Mombasa, Kenya, from Houston, it said.

A spokesman for U.S. Central Command had no immediate comment on the incident.

It was the second attack in a week on a U.S.-flagged ship in the region. On Sunday, U.S. snipers killed three Somali pirates and freed the American ship captain they had been holding hostage for five days.

Heavily armed pirates from lawless Somalia have been increasingly striking the busy Indian Ocean shipping lanes and strategic Gulf of Aden, capturing dozens of vessels, hundreds of hostages and making off with millions of dollars in ransoms.

Earlier on Tuesday, Somali pirates hijacked two more cargo vessels and opened fire on a third in attacks that showed a determination to go on striking at shipping on the region's strategic trade routes.

The attacks were a clear sign pirate gangs have not been deterred by two raids in recent days in which U.S. and French special forces killed five pirates.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Peter Cooney)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090415/wl_nm/...alia_piracy_107

 

[a_majoor]

I wonder how long the Administration will be able to play "smart diplomacy" with the pirates? Will public outrage force them to take action, or will we have to wait for 2012?:

http://newledger.com/2009/04/the-new-privateers/

by Ben Domenech
The New Privateers

What the global community faces in the waters off Africa isn’t just a minor problem or distraction, but an explosion of violence that threatens the distribution of foreign aid and the growth of commerce in regions desperate for prosperity. It’s time for an 18th Century solution. It’s time for the New Privateers.

Leave it to a man whose entire ideology resides in the 18th Century, Congressman Ron Paul, to push the idea forward on Capitol Hill. This isn’t the first time Paul, whose unique ideological cocktail of anti-war libertarianism and paleoconservative beliefs made him by far the most entertaining sideshow candidate in the Republican presidential primary, has spoken publicly about the lessons of the piratical past; he made reference to Thomas Jefferson’s response to the Barbary Pirates during a 2007 debate which prompted some rather entertaining mockery on the internet.

But now, as pirates equipped with rocket launchers and speedboats instead of flintlocks and oars continue to attack American and European vessels, it may be that the lessons of the United States’ response to the lords of piracy in the early 1800s could provide some guidance for how to respond to this spiraling problem.

By refusing to bow to the demands of the Islamic Barbary states, which required ransom payments as bribes to keep them from attacking the merchant ships along flourishing trade routes (to a point that in 1800, the federal government was paying 20% of all its revenues to Africa), President Jefferson put the fledgling American navy in a very difficult predicament. To give you some perspective on what I mean by the term “fledgling,” during the war of 1812, America only had 17 seaworthy ships, while Great Britain had 1,048 — but to make up for the disparity, the United States deployed more than 500 privateers, civilian ships equipped with letters of marque, to help even the score.

The problems Jefferson faced in these pirates in many ways resemble the challenges before President Obama today:

    Jefferson’s plan for an international coalition foundered on the shoals of indifference and a belief that it was cheaper to pay the tribute than fight a war. The United States’s relations with the Barbary states continued to revolve around negotiations for ransom of American ships and sailors and the payment of annual tributes or gifts. Even though Secretary of State Jefferson declared to Thomas Barclay, American consul to Morocco, in a May 13, 1791, letter of instructions for a new treaty with Morocco that it is “lastly our determination to prefer war in all cases to tribute under any form, and to any people whatever,” the United States continued to negotiate for cash settlements. In 1795 alone the United States was forced to pay nearly a million dollars in cash, naval stores, and a frigate to ransom 115 sailors from the dey of Algiers. Annual gifts were settled by treaty on Algiers, Morocco, Tunis, and Tripoli.

    When Jefferson became president in 1801 he refused to accede to Tripoli’s demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000. The pasha of Tripoli then declared war on the United States. Although as secretary of state and vice president he had opposed developing an American navy capable of anything more than coastal defense, President Jefferson dispatched a squadron of naval vessels to the Mediterranean.

Congress authorized military action by Presidents Jefferson and Madison in multiple statutes, including March 1804 legislation which authorized the use of force to “protect the commerce and seamen of the United States against the Barbary powers,” acknowledging the Constitution’s War Powers Clause giving the Congress the power to “grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.”

In the 18th Century, the incentive for privateers was the ability to take whatever plunder they wanted from the enemy ships they destroyed. This time around, they’d probably need a better financial incentive. A bounty hunter solution, as odd as it seems, shouldn’t be dismissed offhand:

    “If we have 100 American wanna-be Rambos patrolling the seas, it’s probably a good way of getting the job done,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute senior fellow and security expert Eli Lehrer. “Right now we have a Navy designed mostly to fight other navies. The weapons we have are all excellent, but they may not be the best ones to fight these kinds of pirates. The only cost under letters of marque would be some sort of bounty for the pirates.”

The idea of the New Privateers method of dealing with the current surge in piracy against the United States and Europe has already attracted its share of critics. The crux of the argument from PoliGazette’s Jason Arvak is that privateers would not be viewed as security-focused mercenaries, but in the same context as Blackwater contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan — and that their actions would be tied too closely to the United States in the view of the international community (he also envisions conflicts and command issues emerging between legitimate privateers and US naval units, but considering the significant differences in armament and the lack of any real need for a command structure in this case, I have a hard time seeing it).

Yet even acknowledging that this is a problem, as it is with all calculated hirings of mercenaries, the high seas have far less of a potential for civilian collateral damage than the neighborhoods of Baghdad. At some point, doesn’t the United States and the world community have to make a decision about a coherent solution to not just escort and protect merchant ships — the convoy method is the standard method for that — but to effectively eradicate the menace of piracy that threatens all seagoers?

Deploying the New Privateers as a blunt instrument against the Somali pirates has some downsides. But I’m unconvinced that these enemies can be negotiated with or stopped without the deployment of an innovative solution — in this case, one that’s a throwback to the era these thieves come from. The cost, difficulty, and risk of a dozen more Maersk standoffs has to be weighed. We shouldn’t be satisfied with better protections for ships, hoping that the pirates will grow bored of their revenge streak, and reorienting our naval force in the region to combat this enemy will take time. Instead, President Obama and the Congress might consider encouraging those individuals who can to solve the problem in their own way — as messy as it may be — so that these seaborne brigands wake up on a morning soon to find their sands are run.

Read more and comment at Pejman Yousefzadeh’s blog.