I think it is just talk...look how the other pirate ships took off when they saw all that Navy fire power. Every pirate for himself when the chips are down. They are somewhat organized but not that loyal to each other, I bet.

 

The thing is, they can't just kill all their hostages, no matter what they threaten. These ships are useless to them. The cargos may or may not be valuable to them. The crews are useless to them. The only real value to the whole operation is ransom. And you can't get ransom for dead crews. You probably won't get ransom for ships of dead crews, either.

On the other hand, they can't afford to let sailors treat their attacks as a bluff, either.

I'm a little surprised we haven't seen a few of these pirate "mother ships" get shadowed and sunk by subs. That would put a damper on some of this activity.

 

They are carrying hostages on the mother ships to prevent just such a response. (Remember all the hot water the Indian Navy got themselves into a few months ago?) It's a tricky situation all around.

 

I didn't know that, although I did wonder about it. I still figure they would sink a few ships anyway. You can't let the fact that they have taken hostages give them total immunity -- that just leads to them taking more hostages.

Basically, it sucks to be a hostage.

 

Regarding the young captured pirate. He's still a pirate. Kids grow up fast and take on a mans duties and obligations at a much younger age than our mythical 18 year old makes an adult law.

I heard 3 choices.

Try him here....wtf? who wants him here? Not me!

Try him in Kenya.... That works for me as one option.

Send him home..... I think that's the best idea.

Drop him off and let him swim home.

fltsfshr

 

Take his fingerprints, swab his DNA. Tell him if he's ever picked up for piracy again, he'll never make it back to shore.

 

Mike gets the prize for using "swab" in a sentence about pirates.

I heard the pirates were young. I heard that they used to be fisherman, but the fishing dried up. I'm not shedding a tear.

To me, it's like the lawyer whose defense of his rapist client was that he was abused as a child. Sorry, but any pity should be directed at the victims, not the perps.

 

Ok I have a little compassion, I would choose the last option but would make sure the ship that drops him off is minimum 100 miles off shore.

 

We need to revive a slogan from the early days of our Republic: "Millions for defense but not one penny for tribute."

The Seals achieved an almost perfect outcome: three out of four scumbags dead ain't bad work. Please keep in mind that these scumbags hijacked a shipload of relief supplies intended for starving people in Africa.

 

Navy SEAL's