This is what day three of the standoff between the US Navy and four Somali pirates with one hostage in a lifeboat that is out of gas? It seems absurd that we would even be attempting to negotiate with rabble like these pirates, but here we are doing just that. I think that this sends the wrong signal to those who might attempt this sort of crime against us for more sinister purposes.
Now I will tell you that while this situation is not in itself political the policy that the navy is following most certainly is political. The policy that the navy is operating under is political, because the navy gets it orders through a chain of command and at the top of the chain is the Commander in Chief.
Recent Presidential history has shown that Barak Obama practices the policy of appeasement. Appeasing any groups that have hostile intentions against us, whether they are Al Qaeda or Somali pirates is the wrong message to convey. Appeasement is a sign to people like these that you are weak and unwilling to defend yourself and therefore you will be a target for these groups again in the future.
Recent news reports have indicated that a US navy amphibious warship is currently steaming into the area. This is good news if the Commander in Chief is willing to use the marine force on board to free the Hostage Captain Richard Phillips and to capture or kill the pirates; otherwise it is just a poor show of force and will be ineffective.
Recent reports also show that several high jacked vessels, hostages, and pirates are also headed to the area to confront the navy and to heighten the tension that is already palpable in the standoff. It has also been reported that a negotiator for the Somalis have said that they want 2 million dollars ransom for Captain Phillips or they will kill him.
I think that we are going to allow this whole situation to get out of hand and I don’t understand why. We didn’t let the Barbary pirates get away with messing with our merchant shipping interests in the 19th century, we just sent in the marines and the problem was settled short, sweet, and bloody for the pirates.
I think we should do the same thing here, because the bullets we use on the four Somali pirates will cost less than 2 million dollars and will send the message that this sort of monkey business involving our shipping interests will not be tolerated any where in the world. The last thing these animals will understand is appeasement, but they understand violent action quite well, and just like any other bully if you bloody their noses they will run away crying back to their hideout.
However I must unfortunately tell you that I think this situation will continue to deteriorate in the pirates favor. The reason I believe this is as soon as the other high jacked vessels with their hostages arrive, it ceases to be just about our interests or concerns and becomes a multi-national concern. This will not be good for us, because other nations will want to negotiate with the pirates rather than use force, and our military superiority will be circumvented.
That is all I have to say on this subject right now and for the record I really hope I am wrong about how this looks likely to play out. Unfortunately I don’t think I will be and it has been proven in the past to me on matters such as this that I am rarely ever wrong. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, T.G.I.F. CIAO4NOW!!!!!
Actually, my fellow political blogger, I must disagree. This is all about politics.
ReplyDeleteBy trying to appease these stupid pirates, Obama is sending a message to the world. He wants them to know we are soft on terrorists, or in this case pirates. Essentially these pirates are like terrorists, although they may not be in name.
Sadly he is sending out the message to the world that we will negotiate with these types of people. That is a very bad thing to tell the world. Before you know it we'll have a national tragedy like 9-11 once again and Obama will be trying to appease and negotiate with them.
The U.S. has never negotiated with these types of people before...it's NOT time to start.
I agree that this is definitely political, but it is also all about the freedom to conduct commerce at sea and do so without your life being in any more danger than what the ocean create for you to suffer. These pirates are nothing more than terrorists whose political ideology is cash, cash, cash.
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