Pr00ne,

Usual fluffy argument you make....as you completely disallow the folks on scene the capacity to determine when to cut loose with the fireworks. The sad fact there are so many hostages being held and the failed policies that allowed that to happen only plays into the hands of the Pirates.

I would suggest the World's Spec Ops community could begin to sort that situation out following a blanket warning from the heads of states of the folks being held. Make it very plain.....harm a hostage and reap the whirlwind....no quarter given. The politics of that would begin to bring heat on the Pirates from those that currently thrive on the money this enterprise brings in. If it were death and destruction instead of the money....I suggest Pirates would become persona non grata in the villages, towns, and ports.

Pirates are theives and wish to be around to spend their booty....getting killed puts paid to that amibition. The key is the absolute certainty of that result that shall put an end to this business.

Pr00ne - Glad to see I'm not the only one who's not keen on transforming our armed forces into state-sponsored murderers subject to trial by the ICC. These pirates are plain and simple criminals, not combatants or terrorists. Start killing lowly minions indiscriminately at sea (plus the inevitable innocent parties as on previous occasions) and things will escalate to the point where their bosses start mailing bits of their victims, or videos of the odd one being killed, to shipping companies. Losing some of the 'hired help' won't stop them.

As you say, thank goodness none of these bloodthirsty keyboard warriors are in a position of authority.

Might I suggest that once they pick up AK47's and RPG7's they cross a little line between criminal and combatant... Just a though because you can't send Plod after them...

Blimey, SAMXXV, how old are you?

Thanks Pr00ne a worthy answer but still not satis.
They are not exempt from my comments ref balls.
A much sterner and robust response is required in order to deter the "pirates" and if some innocents get hurt or killed in the process that is the sad but necessary consequence of taking appropriate action. I, like you back in the 70's, knew that when we got airborne with our basket of sunshine many innocents would die but that's what we would have done...isn't it?
Serious decisions need to be made and balls of steel (even for the girls) are called for to make those decisions. I say again, sadly it will not happen in my lifetime, but I really do not want the world my children and their children live in to be controlled by the wet, witless dreamers who seem to be in abundance at present.
The wet tomb driver I met was clearly not you Pr00ne, you at least have opinions!:ok:

Or to put it another way

Sorry if this doesn't support this particular Obama conspiracy.

I/C

You have my deepest sympathy but you chose to live in East Anglia.

BBC News - French hostage Marie Dedieu held in Somalia dies
Well, that's the Kenyan coast off the holiday list. Lets hope the Tassy pirates don't come up the east coast for a month or so.

Here's an idea why not put the Dale Farm scum in a mother ship and sink that too? :D:D I hope they have plenty of disinfectant to clean that site with.

IC.....you might use other than Reuters as the definitive source on what happened during the Maersk Alabama event. You shall find a much different account from the folks involved in the effort to rescue those folks.

MoD website: Royal Navy, Marines and RFA jointly capture pirate mother ship

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Te...pg&maxSize=210

Very good work by those involved....but I challenge the "strong message" description.

Shabaab-Somali pirate links growing - U.N. adviser - RTRS
Today 16:34

Al Shabaab seeking funds from pirate ransoms Puntland aiming to create counter piracy force

By Jonathan Saul and Camila Reed
LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Cooperation between Somalia's al Qaeda linked militants and pirate gangs is growing as the al Shabaab group becomes more desperate for funding, the head of the U.N.'s counter-piracy unit said on Thursday.
In recent days Kenya launched a cross-border incursion into Somalia to flush out rebels from its frontier area after a series of kidnappings of foreigners in Kenya. The abductions were carried out by gunmen thought to be linked to al Shabaab.
"There is a growing link and growing cooperation between al Shabaab who are desperate for funding and resources with other criminal gangs and with pirates," said Colonel John Steed.
Steed, the principal military adviser to the U.N. special envoy to Somalia and head of the envoy's counter-piracy unit, said pirates were not part of al Shabaab.
"Pirates are one of those potential sources of large amounts of money so there a natural linkage between Shabaab's desire for funding to support their activities and money that pirates are getting from ransoms," he told Reuters Insider TV on the sidelines of a piracy conference in London.
The President of the semi-autonomous Somali state of Puntland Abdirahman Mohamud Farole believed the two had links.
"We are almost sure about that otherwise in the Shabaab held areas pirates will not operate," he told Insider.

A serious and sensible solution to problem would be to ask the government of Singapore to have vessel on station. Any captured pirates could then be transferred to that for trial. Singapore law of course allows for the execution of pirates :ok:

All perfectly legal and above board.

No it's not, at least where the UK and most other European nations are concerned:

Extradition is a legal process where loads of lawyers get loads of money from Legal Aid. Marching them from one ship to another because of rationing problems is much simpler.

They can always try the Chinese; the last lot of pirates they apprehended in the Pearl River aren't around any more.

In that case, it would be rendition or even extraordinary rendition. Can you see the problem?

(Hint: It was in all the papers.)

Seriously, who gives a tinkers cuss about some scum who are quite prepared to kill innocent people going about their business. It's the fact that the fluffies have taken over that has allowed these gits to do what they do. Sink their ships but leave them floating for the bloody sharks... You haven't executed them, extradited then or any other such nonsense. Let them tell a 12' Oceanic White Tip or Tiger shark about their Human Bleeding Rights.

So what if a Singapore Navy ship caught some pirates and shipped them back to Changi. They could then be tried and given the rope.

Completely legal. Nothing to stop any other country doing the same. The Chinese don't give stuff about about pathetic UN conventions.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm there has to be a catch to this somewhere:

Armed guards to protect British ships from pirates

British ships are to be allowed to carry armed guards to protect them from pirates, David Cameron has announced.

Under the plans, the Home Secretary will be given the power to license vessels to carry armed security, including automatic weapons, currently prohibited under firearms laws.

Full torygraph article: Armed guards to protect British ships from pirates - Telegraph