A cure for the Somali Pirate problem:

[cliffordu]

Five guys with 40mm grenade launchers, Willy Peter rounds (white phosphorus).

Ever seen what white phosphorus can do to a wooden boat? A steel one???

Three episodes like that and voila, no more pirates.

[Kurska]

1. 4 words

Nuke it from orbit, No seriously it's illegal to arm merchant marines under international law.

[cliffordu]

2. Hmm....Isn't this what Blackwater is for???

I understand you can book passage on ships......as a tourist.


I always travel with MY 40mm grenade launcher. Don't you??

(lol)

[whoneedstickets]

33. Leave those Robin Hood Somalis alone!...

Don't you know they're just stealing from rich capitalist insurance companies and, though they deprive the crew of their liberty for months on end when they take hostages, do it in the most considerate and peaceful way.

I agree the rule of law is paramount in all instances (the alternative is rule by fiat or force).

That said, actually arming merchant ships could just lead to an arms race, hair triggers and heightened violence or deaths. Merchants are better off unarmed. However the insurance companies could consider hiring anti-pirate security forces (modern privateers or pinkertons?) or placing a bounty on pirate leaders.

[davidthegnome]

38. Err...

There's a considerate and peaceful way of holding people as hostages? I suppose there could be. But provided that wasn't sarcasm that went way over my head, do you have any evidence to support the claim that they're, er, being really peaceful and civilized and not torturing raping and murdering? Links maybe?

[cliffordu]

39. I think that was a little sarcasm....

:shrug:

[davidthegnome]

40. Probably

But if it was meant seriously, I'd be kind of curious about the peaceful, civilized pirates that keep taking hostages. It just struck me as hilarious.

[cliffordu]

41. I would guess they saw the Johnnie Depp movies, too.....

[davidthegnome]

44. Only the first one was any good

So maybe what they're trying to do is find the uhh, rich capitolist pig that has the right blood to end the eternal curse of the undead. That would explain why they're kidnapping people and just knicking their fingers with a knife before they let them go. Makes sense to me.

[cliffordu]

45. Yep. Maybe they saw the Jerry lewis movie "The Delicate Delinquent"

Or maybe they learned "Officer Kruppke" from West Side Story when they were kids.

:shrug:

[muriel_volestrangler]

50. That seems a blanket statement; here's an article from Lloyd's List about it

And they are experts in the area:

“It’s a complicated question,” he argues. “Firstly, it depends on the flag. Some flags expressly prohibit it, some say they don’t support it, and others don’t give an opinion one way or the other.

“Then we have the problem of carriage of arms into different ports. Some ports prohibit it completely for merchant vessels, even if the arms are locked up or in transit.

“Other ports will allow you to carry arms, dependent on their own local, national or port rules. It’s something that needs to be addressed. You can end up with a situation where you avoid hijacking but you end up being arrested.”
...
Anything larger than small arms will likely be seen as offensive military weapons, rather than defensive weapons.

http://epaper.lloydslist.com/ll/news/self-defence-plea-may-not-wash-in-piracy-fights/20017581473.htm;jsessionid=83B3A9FF085A1709A505D675FE366656

[sarcasmo]

58. Give them all roles in Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

[Oregone]

3. Yes, and lets also start using WP in Iraq...bring back Agent Orange

Burn their skin off and make their birth defected children sorry for living. Sounds like a plan.

[cliffordu]

4. I completely agree.

[Oregone]

5. Sarcasm, right?

[cliffordu]

6. I did a tour in Vietnam WTF do you think?

Dealing with pirates has a long history of taking no prisoners.

how you equate that with all the rest of that bullshit is beyond me.

[Oregone]

7. WP is a chemical agent...thats what led me to extrapolate...

And we have already used it in Iraq.

[cliffordu]

8. I wasn't talking about using it against humans, per se, I'm talking about sinking their

boats.

I say we let them drown.

Or we could use the Navy's .50 caliber method and turn them into red mist.

And I'm not talking about Iraq, either.

[Oregone]

9. Why not just film them and release a Hollywood blockbuster that will recoup the losses

And yes, swimming with their chemically burned flesh (that was targeted "smartly" for their boats) will cause them to drown, most assuredly

[cliffordu]

12. Sure.

[jrockford]

11. Yes, a long history of taking no prisoners...which worked then and will work now.

When you read the OP - doesn't it sound like some half-arsed solution out of freeperville?

[cliffordu]

13. Nice try.

:hurts:

[Oregone]

14. yes

[cliffordu]

16. Ya know, ignore is your friend.....

[Lydia Leftcoast]

27. It sure does

Sort of like the people (some of them on DU, sad to say) who wanted to nuke the whole Middle East after 9/11.

Gee, OP, one would think one of your own personal ships had been captured by pirates.

[cliffordu]

29. Nope - I was simply making an observation.

As long as hijacking pays real money, they'll keep doing it.

Like kidnapping and murder in Mexico and Bolivia.

My OP was a response to a lot of yammering about the problem in other OP's......

I heard today that they are just blowing the pirate boats out of the water starting now.......I hope they don't blow up fishing vessels by accident.

In my faked scenario the ship defending would have to be under attack, the 40mm grenade launcher has an extremely limited range.

If the outraged in this thread had thought it through, perhaps the umbrage would have been less than it was, but I doubt it.

[baldguy]

18. And that sort of shit worked so well in Vietnam, didn't it?

[cliffordu]

20. What does one have to do with the other?

[baldguy]

21. .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4497237&mesg_id=4497338

[cliffordu]

30. Sigh.

Piracy on the high seas ain't Vietnam, Iraq or anywhere else.

to claim equivalence is.....odd....

See #29.

[alittlelark]

28. If I'm not mistaken we already did.

I remember a week or two of posts w/pics about what was done in Fallujah.

[jrockford]

10. I guess, Another brilliant comment by cliffordu - nt

[cliffordu]

15. Tell the class how you really feel, sparky.

[StreetKnowledge]

17. What will make these bozos think twice?

This ought to do it. :D

[cliffordu]

19. Yep.

[AlCzervik]

22. that might be less painful then when the Saudi's get them.

but i'm not for that.

[Alamuti Lotus]

23. Just need to mobilize all of the Keyboard Warriors

I know you have a mighty boner thinking about phosphorus rounds and burned flesh, but at least put it to good use and hit something with it..

[cliffordu]

25. LOL.

Nice!

In a set of threads of fauxrage and feigned humanity, I like your insults the best.

:hi:

[Hanse]

24. Lock and load.

Kick ass and take names.

Go, Joe.

Autobots transform and roll out.

And all that keyboard warrior 9-12 malarkey.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ConsAreLiars]

31. George! George!, Come back inside. Time to feed Barney! (nt)

[cliffordu]

32. ROFL...

Nice one!!

Woof, woof...

:rofl:

[ConsAreLiars]

34. It was intended as a good-humored poke at a friend.

I'm glad you understood it that way. :toast:

[cliffordu]

35. back atcha!!

:toast:

[krispos42]

36. TOW anti-tank missiles

Get within a couple thousand meters... pfft

[cliffordu]

37. That's certainly going to take care of the problem....

Expensive, though....

[krispos42]

42. Eh, not too bad

The Army uses them by the thousand.


Besides, they out-range an RPG. And you'd only need a single hit. :-)

[Bravo Zulu]

43. I spent a year on an 82 footer in Viet Nam,

we had five fifty caliber machine guns and one eighty one mm mortar, the reason the North Vietnamese had to use the Ho Chi Minh trail was because they couldn't get supplies through the naval blockade, we had HE,VT,and WP rounds for the mortar, there were twenty six 82 foot Coast Guard Cutters patrolling the coast and rivers, once we spotted a Chinese Trawler it was dead meat!The Somali pirates could be put out of business in a year,you just need somebody with some balls to do it?

[cliffordu]

46. Nice rides, PAVet4Murtha

And Welcome Home!


:patriot:

[Nye Bevan]

47. And while we're at it, confiscate their parrots

as well as their eyepatches and their wooden legs. That'll show them.

[Beer Snob-50]

48. btw, in case anyone missed it

do you know who rush blames for the pirate mess?

here is the logic- the pirates are somalian, they are muslim, they must be attached to al quida, we hightailed it out of mogladashu (sp) in the 90's, al quida says that that emboldened them to do more bad stuff, bill clinton was the president.

[Gato Moteado]

56. can the navy or the coast guard please take out rush limbaugh before dealing with the pirates!

nt

[walldude]

49. I know LET"S NUKE EM'!

[TheWraith]

51. I should probably mention that that's illegal.

Use of white phosphorus on human targets--and that's what a crewed boat is--is extremely illegal.

[Posteritatis]

52. Loving all the armchair generalship going on here

Gee, all you have to do is X and a major years-old problem involving thousands of people will just magically go away! Brilliant!

[Greyhound]

53. Oh yeah, nobody's ever tried military overkill on Africans before.

Did you think all up on your own?

[Posteritatis]

55. Hey, it's more precise from the guy in one of the other threads calling for genocide (nt)

[SoCalDem]

54. start blowing up their fancy mansions they build with their pirate-booty

they seem to value their "stuff"..so deprive them of their stuff..

or why not provide escorts for the ships in those waters? that would seem to be the easiest solution..

[readmoreoften]

57. I don't personally have a Somali pirate problem.

But if I get one, I'll be sure to take your advice.