Now THAT is how to Negotiate with Pirates
From Elizabeth A. Kennedy and Lara Jakes, AP (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090412/ap_on_re_af/piracy)
MOMBASA, Kenya - An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday in a swift firefight that killed three of the four Somali pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa ...
Captain Richard Phillips was saved, and all three of the pirates who were physically present were killed on the spot.
A senior U.S. intelligence official said a pirate who had been involved in negotiations to free Capt. Richard Phillips but who was not on the lifeboat was in custody.
No coming home to spend their money for any of them.
When Phillips' crew heard the news aboard their ship in the port of Mombasa, they placed an American flag over the rail of the top of the Maersk Alabama and whistled and pumped their fists in the air. Crew fired a bright red flare into the sky from the ship.
Yeah, that's an American crew all right :)
Now, all we need to do is duplicate this sort of performance as required, and pirates will tend to avoid attacking American vessels.
I wonder if any of those pirate "reinforcements" are still steaming around. Maybe the US Navy could take care of them, too.
I'm glad that everything worked out ok with no one getting hurt. Well, no one who I give a damn about, anyway :D
MOMBASA, Kenya - An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday in a swift firefight that killed three of the four Somali pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa ...
Captain Richard Phillips was saved, and all three of the pirates who were physically present were killed on the spot.
A senior U.S. intelligence official said a pirate who had been involved in negotiations to free Capt. Richard Phillips but who was not on the lifeboat was in custody.
No coming home to spend their money for any of them.
When Phillips' crew heard the news aboard their ship in the port of Mombasa, they placed an American flag over the rail of the top of the Maersk Alabama and whistled and pumped their fists in the air. Crew fired a bright red flare into the sky from the ship.
Yeah, that's an American crew all right :)
Now, all we need to do is duplicate this sort of performance as required, and pirates will tend to avoid attacking American vessels.
I wonder if any of those pirate "reinforcements" are still steaming around. Maybe the US Navy could take care of them, too.
I'm glad that everything worked out ok with no one getting hurt. Well, no one who I give a damn about, anyway :D