You would rather these guys not have a fighting chance? Quarantine of the sea lanes as you advocate would cost much, much more. Responsibility for defense should be on the crew first with other U.S. military assets responding as needed. It’s just like home defense here in America. You can call 911 for help, but as often happens, you’ll be dead in 15 minutes when the cops finally show up. -Unless you have your own weapons.

No he DOESNT have a point. I COULD use a bazooka to take care of that rat infestation in my garage but is that the best use of resources?…AAAARRRRGG

I’m no Admiral here or anything, but wouldn’t it be cheaper to put guns on the ships, so they could, like, shoot the pirates and/or repel them and whatnot?

But hey – if those guys wanna spend a bajillion dollars and still not catch the pirates, I guess that’s their prerogative.

Sure hope they don’t “waste” any Republicans’ tax money on it though – they’re very, very touchy about that.

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Perhaps the cheapest method is to quarantine the sea lanes used by the pirates. It takes a lot of fuel to conduct a successful pirate business. Starve them out of business.

Mounting weapons on cargo ships does not work well at all. Freighters are optimized for carrying the greatest tonnage vs ship weight. Look at WW2 the freighters were not armed, they relied on convoys containing armed escort ships for protection. The cost of arming a freighter would be cost prohibitive. The cost of weapons, ammunition, trained gun crews and loss of cargo space would drive up the cost of transportation. Then there is the amount of damage the weapons would suffer during loading and unloading. I worked as a longshoreman for 8 years and a lot of ship’s gear was damaged due to accidents.

I agree we do not need to get all Battlestar Africa on their A$$ or embarrass ourselves using the mythical SDI wunderweapons to swat flies.

… and they can easily overcome any frequency-hopping radars and AA systems on board those Somali dinghies. Loitering at Mach 2 is handy too … it makes the pirate’s heads spin and gets them all dizzy so they fall overboard.

Cheers,

The solution is so easy, but people are scared of it because of B.S. politics. Outfit these American merchant ships with about 4 or so medium or heavy machine guns(Old M60s, M240s, M2s). It could be done for under $50K. -A Raptor taxiing five feet towards the runway probably costs that much.

The merchant crew members are more than capable of learning the simple operation of these weapons and basic rules of engagement to follow under the Captain’s direction.

Skinny black dudes armed with AKs and RPGs in a crappy boat coming at your merchant vessel are not the Somali Coast Guard rolling out the red carpet.

The merchant vessel’s machine guns could be deployed from weapons lockers on the deck, or already be rail mounted for transit through high threat areas.

Put a burst in front of the pirates’ boat. If that doesn’t convince them, then blow meat hunks off of them and send a message to their pirate homeys planning more attacks. I guarantee the frequency of attacks will drop off and these scumbags will have to resort to other means of terror to bring home the booty.

These pirates are running unchecked in a multi-million dollar business that pays. Uneducated thugs with tiny boats taking down huge freighters and making seven figures. The ship companies and lawmakers are at fault for pu__sy-footing around legalities and public image centered around weapons instead of arming their crews and giving them a heavy handed chance of success against pirate attacks.

You can only fight guns with more guns or a heavier weapon. Common sense applies. Arm the merchant crews and stop these motor-boatin’ sons of b_tches.

What the USAF or even USN could use is an updated equivalent of the reliable A10 Thunderbolt II (or “Warthog” as it’s more affectionately known by its pilots). It needn’t go fast. It just needs to be able to stay on station for long periods and carry a pretty hefty internal payload. That will never happen because the crowd that runs the USAF (like this clown “analyst”) wants to buy only super-hot aircraft which can buzz around in the stratosphere. God forbid they ever get down in the mud where somebody might be actually shooting at them from all angles.

Just watch Star Wars, Episode 4. In next to ending scene, Luke drops a missle in a 2 foot hole. In fact, he tells a fellow pilot that he dropped missles on rats in a canyon all the time back home.

With all the puns, it is OBVIOUS that everyone got STONED last night!!

And in response to the above: GREAT!!! Let’s all get NAKED and PARTY!!!!

….(ohhh, ughhh…. ohhh, dear sweet god…. darryl, you can get dressed and leave now …..).

Who voted McInerney Commander in Cheif?

Does the corporations really appreciate avoiding taxes, paying American workers low wages and moving their companies overseas with American tax payers funding their protection in foreign lands and waters?

These big international corporations have used the U.S. Gov’t to the hilt in protection and diplomacy from the State Dept at Americans expense.

But, ” the most serious threat to Nebraska is the Employee Free Choice Act ” , so says the President of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerse.

Not the failing econnomy, 2 wars, illegal immigration, climate change, energy security. It is the EFCA.

What is the cost of the U.S. Navy’s ships dispatched to the Somalia coast to support this international corporation that hates paying taxes and is allowed to fly the U.S. flag on its corporate frieghter to carry the insurance of protection of America?

And McInerney feels confident he has the authority and knowledge to call out the U’S. military and risk American lives for his defense contracting profiteering and protecting international corporations as working Americans are being sent into the economic poor clas and dispersing with the middle class.

McInerney probably flew his private 727 to get to this interview……………………….

F-O-X = 666

Beware The Beast