Pirates Hold At Least 200 Captives.
The International Maritime Bureau reports on piracy worldwide and now updates daily (weekly is no longer enough) to track the threats along the Somalia and Tanzania coast. The high stakes Obama administration drama with the Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips is just a small piece of the gigantic map. (Maersk Alabama arriving in Mombassa today without its captain, right.) At least two hundred sailors from all nations are now missing and presumed in captivity, and at least a dozen ships are held along the coast. Examples from the last days:
09.04.2009: 0210 UTC: Posn: 06:44.85S - 039:20.06E: Dar es Salaam anchorage, Tanzania. While the crew kept a vigilant anti piracy watch onboard a container ship, robbers boarded her and succeeded in throwing one life raft into the sea. The crew raised alarm, mustered and reported to the authorities. Vessel did not attempt to recover the life raft due to the large number of robbers. | |
09.04.2009: 0020 UTC: Posn: 13:08N - 049:13E: Gulf of Aden. Pirates in a skiff chased and fired upon a bulk carrier underway. The vessel commenced evasive manoeuvres and contacted the coalition naval forces for assistance. A military helicopter arrived and upon sighting the aircraft, the pirates aborted the attempt. | |
American Task Force.
The USS Bainbridge is now joined by Halyburton and soon by the Wasp-class anti-pirate flagship Boxer (right) (an amphibious assault ship that resembles a small aircraft carrier) in a face-off with four pirates in a lifeboat. There are unconfirmed reports of more pirate vessels in-bound to aid the captors. There are unconfirmed reports of troubled, incomplete negotiations between the pirates, the U.S. Navy, and so-called Somalia elders representing the pirates. The pirates are armed and there are multiple reports of firing from the lifeboat. There are reports of other Americans taken off an Italian-flagged tugboat in the Gulf of Aden: From Bloomberg: In a separate incident, an Italian tugboat was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The Buccaneer, a tugboat with a crew of 16, was seized as it was towing two barges, said Shona Lowe, a spokeswoman for NATO's Northwood Maritime Command Center near London. Ten of the crew are Italian nationals, she said.
The U.S. container ship Alabama is the first U.S.-flagged vessel hijacked since a maritime protection corridor was set up in the region in August, according to the U.S. Navy. Pirates have taken more ships this past week than in the first three months of the year, according to U.S. and French navy data. They're operating outside their usual hunting grounds in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's most-traveled trade routes, to avoid naval patrols.
"The United States is deeply concerned about the unprecedented level of piracy" and the impact on commercial shipping and the safety of mariners, Laura Tischler, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said in a telephone interview in Washington.
Long Since Out of Control.
The pirates are not aimless fools in skiffs who drift around for plunder. They are sent by two masterful clans from the Somalia coast, the Hawiye around Haradhere and the Darod around Eyl. My best signals source reports there are long standing jihadist links through Sudanese contacts who use the coast for gun-running. The whole of the Somalia coast is Sharia; the word of the jihadists is armed medieval absolutism. There is no indication the four pirates who have Phillips are jihad; however the clan chiefs and their sub commanders on the coast are all informed by the jihadists, depend upon the jihadists like great lords from afar, and by now the Phillips drama is a useful confrontation with the US. Note the incomplete reports of negotiations, with the Americans insisting upon arrests, the pirates demanding freedom, the return of their comrades, cash. Pentagon spokesman Major Stewart Upton said he had no information about an agreement to release Phillips. The New York Times quoted Somali officials as saying negotiations had broken down after U.S. officials insisted that the pirates be arrested and a group of Somali elders representing the pirates balked at that demand.
"It is possible to say the talks may break down hour by hour because the Americans are afraid of losing their captain and in turn we suspect they may arrest my colleagues after they get their man," said the pirate, who identifies himself only as Da'ud, in an interview
American policy has failed along this coast since at least 1992. But now the clans have found the weakness -- maritime security -- are are exploiting it with sophistication and cunning. Three American warships with air cover -- enough to dominate a city -- are now paralyzed by the hostage standoff by four pirates in a borrowed lifeboat. The jihadist websites have another lesson to preach: America is a pitiful, helpless giant.
What Would TR Do?
I reviewed John Milius's 1975 "Wind and the Lion," and found reasons why the film found resonance at the time. Gerald Ford had inherited from the disgraced Richard Nixon and the country was feeling betrayed. Ford then ordered the bugging out from Saigon which meant the triumph of the fascist Hanoi regime. Cambodia was a well known nightmare that America refused to acknowledge, and what followed was the decade long genocide of Pol Pot. There there was the considerable fact of the 1973-75 OPEC triggered recession that sent unemployment soaring just as young professional women were coming into the economy in great numbers. In sum, America was in despair, feeling defeated and cheated and unappreciated, the usual mood of a misunderstood and clumsy hero. Milius's movie writing altered and re-imagined everything about TR, Pedicaris (who was male, not the slim, gorgeous Candace Bergen) and the Berber cuthroat chief Raisuni -- who is portrayed as "the last of the Barbary pirates." What it did get right was the sense of great joy in America conducting itself outrageously in order to get what it wanted. Milius's TR (Brian Keith, above, never better) declares the the American grizzly bear should be the national mascot, not the bald eagle -- "a dandified vulture." And when the Marines, aiming to right the wrong of the Pedicaris abduction for ransom, storm Morocco regime's palace, the movie and the music are light opera, high romance, goony up-lifting fun. Easter Sunday 2009, we look to have reached another such moment of despair, defeatism, self-conscious pride in American foreign policy. In 1804, Tom Jefferson finessed his Barbary problem with a task force, a hasty, operatic gunfight and a legend. The Marine's hum the hymn. In 1904, TR finessed his problem with a superb cablegram: "We want Pedicaris alive or Raisuni dead," and a task force with bayonet-tipped Marines (below from "Wind and the Lion"). The new Barbary Coast is Somalia. Blackhawk Down was a Bush and Clinton failure. This is a second chance. Will the Obama administration give the order and find a way to win?
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The auguries are very poor. The FBI agents (not SEALS!) that have been sent to deal with the situation are relying on negotiation while trying to "build a criminal case." Insane! What's next, sea-going process servers to hand summonses to Capt. Phillips' captors? How about declaring the Gulf of Aden a crime scene and closing it off with a few hundred miles of yellow tape? That ought to work! And how terrified the pirates will be . . . meanwhile Obama enjoys his pizza party and Hillary Clinton laughs her wicked-witch laugh over her cool and detached post-modern attitude towards the whole thing. Disgusting!
There is a way to deal with this, as indicated by JB. However, I believe that in the mind of Obama, the use of force is a waste as a tool of diplomacy.
There is the largest French military base on the Continent in Djibouti. Also, 1200 US military personnel are stationed there in the fight against terrorism in the region. Fuel and provision are made available for MSDF vessels afloat in Djibouti.
Eritrea and Djibouti routinely carry on the age old feuds that culminate in border disputes and skirmishes between their defense forces. Currently, the Eritrean government is defying a UN directive to pull their soldiers back from areas where they are encroaching on Djibouti sovereignty. Also, Eritrea is viewed as trying to pick a fight with Ethiopia.
The underlying current is conflicting with the tide. The Islamists on the Horn undoubtedly see these relations as unacceptable.
These are cagey strategists. They know exposing vulnerabilities and weaknesses can very well alter the perception of security and reliability. They know the distractions and disruptions of a storm swell sends even the self assured searching for some shelter.
What happens if the maritime world has to resort to escorts for free passage from the Canal to the open seas? Tout a fait le ruse de guerre!
Isn't there a tectonic fault line that runs roughly North to South that threatens the Horn with drifting into the ocean? If I remember correctly (I not sure) it is splitting apart about a meter a year. Maybe we should hope for this!
Happy Easter, friends! Yes, Easter has already arrived in this part of the world. And, for many of us, it marks the ascent of hope in what we believe to be the immortality of man’s soul as long as we are able to maintain our link with God. At the same time, Maersk-Alabama skipper Richard Phillips' hostage ordeal is being played out in bold relief off the ‘Barbary Coast’ redux. It's impossible for me to judge just how much news coverage is being allotted to this back in the States. Local news accounts here give it hardly any mention.
I would expect the U.S. MSM trying hard to downplay the obvious import of this. It would likely expose the difference between liberalism as it exists today and the much despised - but, in many ways, less prone to compromise - conservatism. Liberalism relies largely on pronouncements of good intent. "Can't we all just get along" has become its mantra; dialogue, its blunt weapon; defeat, its crowning achievement (which is then invariably spun into gold thread). Carter's appeasement tactics during the Iranian hostage crisis in which 52 U.S. diplomats were held hostage for 444 days has become its indelible blueprint: allowing any unpleasant situation to fester until an act of God is prepared to sort it all out (in this particular case: the election of Ronald Reagan).
By all accounts, Phillips is a hero in the true sense of the word. It is because of him the rest of his crew now enjoys freedom. It used to be that in hostage situations the hostages were considered to be already dead. This removed the chains of unreasonable constraint from those charged with the mop-up operation, the primary goal of which was to discourage further rogue adventurism. If this then should also result in the safe release of (Lazarus) hostages, so much the better.
It is clear what the administration will do in response. What remains uncertain is how the public will react. How long will they allow this thing to drag on? How long are they willing to see America humiliated? How long before calls for impeachment are raised? At the very least, Biden is not in league with the Islamists.
On this Easter Day... pray for another miracle to happen... from the USGS:
'In East Africa, spreading processes have already torn Saudi Arabia away from the rest of the African continent, forming the Red Sea. The actively splitting African Plate and the Arabian Plate meet in what geologists call a triple junction, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden'
'East Africa may be the site of the Earth's next major ocean. Plate interactions in the region provide scientists an opportunity to study first hand how the Atlantic may have begun to form about 200 million years ago. Geologists believe that, if spreading continues, the three plates that meet at the edge of the present-day African continent will separate completely, allowing the Indian Ocean to flood the area and making the easternmost corner of Africa (the Horn of Africa) a large island.'
Love my Jersey Brother, Tom! The Hill laugh was at once psychotic and a weak oh-so obvious attempt at God knows what. SEALS, "yes",, as already so well stated.. Barney Fife, "no".
Indeed following in the steps of Black Hawk Down, sadly, POTUS will step in the proverbial droppings, again, but like a person with dementia, forgetting the immediate and obvious. Sadly, this will be more than a laser light on the weakness of our current college professor In Chief... and, will effect and endager the lives of those protecting us.
Happy Easter, to one and all... Peace to those who do not celebrate.
Let's see...The Somalies are protecting themselves as best they can. They have no real government as such for the last 20 years thanks to the West/IMF/World Bank/EU. I dont like the Somali pirate tactics at all; however, it is amazing how a band of pirates are somehow keeping the most technological navy at bay. Diplomacy worked for some who were captured not too long ago. I think the French gave them some Million Euros or so for ship and crew. I dont know the extact amount.
There is a fleet of aircraft carriers, destroyers and frigates sitting off in the Gulf of Hormuz. I wonder why they are there Hmmmm...They could easily move down to Somali and show some real force. A few aircraft could certainly damage some of the Somali stolen fleet; however the US would have to pay insurance brokers and you know how well that is going. Goldman Sachs, AIG at al, they have bought a few new private jets I hear.
Or You could simply blockade Somalia and let the inahbitants suffer more under the yoke of Western imperialism.
Or do the rational thing and begin arming merchant, pleasure, cruise ships with guns, short range missles and a Blackwater Swat Team to boot plus some cutlesses for good measure. It worked in WWII.
Or They begin escorting ships with cruisers and frigates each time they pass through those "barbourous" regions.
Or You help the Somalies get on their feet then the Western Imperialistic Powers exploiting them further.
I would recommend all the above.
It's starting to become Mad Max on the water or aka "Waterworld."
I would like to humbly point out that if we were planning a SEALS operation, it would not be public knowledge at this point.
Mickey D:
Thanks for your kind comment, Jersey brother! A happy and peaceful Easter to you, to Peter K., and to all JB fans everywhere, even to poor deluded Sam.
Awesome news!
The captain of a US container ship taken hostage by Somali pirates has been released, the US Navy has said. According to initial reports, three pirates were killed in the operation to free Captain Richard Phillips. Another is in custody. Capt Phillips is said to be unhurt and on the USS Bainbridge, a warship sent to track the pirates holding him. (BBC)
I admit that I am pleasantly surprised by the Obama administration's decision.
Now, can the warship please get to the task of sinking the other pirate ships that were converging on the area and then destroy the safe harbors from which they are operating?
Please see my post of 11:59 AM. Nostra-f-ing-damus. Any of you gentlemen want to know what's going to happen from now on, please take a number, queue forms to the left, the actuary will be with you shortly.