They are like ants. If you move to slow, they crawl all over you.

I have no affection for these characters but it is interesting to consider how they stumbled upon their current, er, uh, avocation.

Word I've heard is that originally, they were pissed at seeing large ships from other nations extracting large amounts of fish from their waters. Industrial fishing is capable of depleting fisheries in a hurry and they were understandably not pleased at the prospect of creeping starvation at the hands of these giant ships.

So they boarded them and soon discovered that taking these ships wasn't too tough.

My point is, the commerce they were originally trying to disrupt was commerce that they sorta had a right to object to.

I KNEW IT!

It was only a matter of time.

It isn't their fault that they are pirates, it is somebody else's fault.

More proof, if any was needed, that Limbaugh is out to lunch. He's going on about how Bush never would have gotten a pass for ordering the killing of three black teen-agers. That's if you put aside for a moment the fact that untold hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, many of them not yet adults, many of them in the vicinity of "blackness" were killed in Iraq under Bush's "leadership" and any and all mention of this occasions looking upward and whistling from Limbaugh's approximate cohort.

The three teenagers that were killed here were guilty beyond doubt of being on the verge of killing an innocent man if their extortion was not agreed to. They chose the game, they established the parameters. Their teenaged fingers would have had no trouble pulling the trigger(s).

Limbaugh has no allegiance to truth, good sense, etc. It's 'trash his adversaries' full time, regardless.

BTW: Who'd a thought. Limbaugh and Sharpton in the same camp.

The infallible knee jerk of the Botanist. I didn't say it was someone else's fault that they are extorting money at the point of a gun. Just that the course of events that led to this is interesting.

Do they have any right to regulate commerce in their waters? What are their waters?

Of course, piracy is not regulating commerce. In their naive minds, they equate ships passing within a few hundred miles of their coast to be similar to large ships vacuuming up fish from their fishing grounds.

BTW Bot, might ought to get out more. You were pretty quick on that retort.

Thank you.

Thank you?!

I understand the colors you have on your palette are black and white. I am here to tell you that life isn't quite that simple. If you wish to defuse a bomb, some knowledge of how that bomb was constructed, how it's wired, can be useful.

Very little of what this nation has done in a military vein is subject to the same scrutiny you apply to the actions of other nationals. You are quick to judge and condemn others, and equally quick to absolve the red, white, and blue of any and all culpability in most all matters, at least where military might is involved.

Oh.

Here's all you need to know: kill the bastids, kill 'em all and let God sort it out.

I really do not see the difficulties in preventing these pirates from taking another ship.

Either arm your ships to be able to defend itself, or hire a private contractor to do so.

It's not like these people are using any sophisticated weaponry. They are going out miles and miles into the ocean and using the most basic equipment.

2 armed guards, fore and aft, binoculars, night vision, etc...put a .50 cal on each station and blow them to hell.

Cruise ships have water cannons that can keep most of those small boats they use away.

How much can that cost as opposed to paying a multi-million dollar ranson paid out?

Film it, televise it like the pirates do.

I'd think twice about pirating if I was going to get cut in half.

.02