That’s all well and good, but the argument is that the pirates would not be able to capture or destroy the merchant vessels if they were appropriately armed.

Mark,
I have heard about the high insurance costs associated with arming crews but I think it was said before that the companies want to try to avoid this cost of security by passing it on to the taxpayers of the U.S., France, India etc.

Andy von Guerard

Also these are not Muslim extremists they are not looking to sink these ships they are pirates who want to capture the ships and their crews for a ransom. There is definitely no comparing the two.

The pirates want money. They don’t care if they get it from capturing the ship or from threatening the owners that they will destroy it unless they pay a “toll”.

Another hole in that argument is that if the pirates were actually using that sort of aggression (indiscriminately sinking merchant ships, murdering those on board) the military reaction would be swift and immediate.

Let me say again these pirates are not evil people they are just desperate young men (some as young as 15) trying to get ahead in life the only way they’ve ever known how. They have even referred to themselves as the Volunteer Somali Coast Guard.

Andy von Guerard

I apologize but the idea that these pirates could straight up sink a ship with little more than kalashnikovs and a few RPG’s seems a little far fetched.

USS Cole.

One may be that the state needs events like this to show how badly they are needed.

One particular point, though, is that it is not in the states’ interest to allow people to feel like they can defend themselves from aggressors. We might actually one day realize that we could defend ourselves from our own “pirates.”

It’s outrageous…..

I apologize but the idea that these pirates could straight up sink a ship with little more than kalashnikovs and a few RPG’s seems a little far fetched. Also if there was a properly armed crew aboard the ship they would be able to easily and effectively repel the pirates every time. We’re not dealing with Blackbeard here, these are not evil people they are just desperate young men who have known nothing but violence their entire lives. We don’t need destroyers with hundreds of men aboard powering around the Gulf of Aden literally burning my money (yes my money I’m a tax payer and I am getting more and more fed up with how my money is wasted every day) to beat these guys. All we need is a little common sense and these “pirates” will be stopped in their tracks. A fishing boat with 6 poorly armed teenagers on it is only a threat if you are completely unarmed, and as the cruise ship story illustrates it only took a water cannon and shots fired IN THE AIR to make the pirates turn tail and run.

America wonders why it’s in so much debt maybe it’s because we use 2 billion$ warships to hunt fishing boats off the horn of Africa. We are going to hell in a hand basket and almost all of us are to ignorant to realize anything of the sort.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/24/petraeus.pirates/

“We need the maritime shipping companies to do more than they have. We started off by saying if you would just speed up when the pirates approach, that will help; if you take evasive action, that’s even better; and if you un-bolt the ladder that allows the pirates to climb onto your ship before you set sail, you get extra credit for that. These were not being taken before,”

“They are going to have to take a very hard look at not just taking additional defensive preparations in terms of simple things, like concertina wire to make it harder to climb over the side, or again over a railing, but also looking at the employment of armed guards or security forces,”