Early Reports of a Navy Fight and a Rescue.
In war, the first three reports are wrong, so it is necessary to assume that the reports from the hostage negotiation are inexact at best, but all services are now reporting Robert Phillips is free of the pirates. Early reports also suggest the rescue was a gunfight, with three pirates KIA, one captured, and the victim free. The US Navy will brief. More details needed about the captors. The Maersk Alabama crew is still undergoing questioning by the FBI at Mombassa (right), so more details will emerge of the tussle onboard during the capture. No details on the pirates. Who are the pirates? Darod? Hawiye? Who are the so-called elders who were used as intermediaries? Answer those questions, name them and identify their clan and village, and you begin to unravel the story of their op. Was this strike random? Or did they have information about the in-bound to Mombassa Maersk Alabama? If one pirate is now in U.S. custody, detained and interrogated by the New York office of the FBI, we can presume the questions will have answers.
Helicopters Over a Pirate Base.
CNN reports that a so-called pirate base at Harardhere (right) (that would be Hawiye clan territory northeast of Mogadishu) reports there were two unidentified helicopters nearby in the last hours. Much speculation that the Marines are coming, all of it pirate palaver. The bully pulpit is a weapon. TR used it to make it clear that he was going to play grand strategy at Morocco when he dispatched a task force to rescue Perdicaris. No comparable statement yet from the Obama administration. The Christian Science Monitor picks up that the not-unsympathetic-to-Obama New York Times does provide an odd detail from the report of StateSec HRC remarks in the last news cycle:
The New York Times reports that although the US may be preparing to take action against the Somali pirates as it did against the Barbary pirates 200 years ago, it now faces a far different enemy. The Times considers whether the US will launch an all-out war against the pirates as it did two centuries ago.
Will this happen in Somalia? Last week - even before a French effort to rescue a family in a separate hijacking ended with the death of one hostage - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged the world to "end the scourge of piracy." But Somali piracy is not an isolated problem. It's the latest symptom of what afflicts an utterly failed state - a free-for-all on land that has consumed the country since the central government imploded in 1991. As any warlord there can tell you, the violence is almost always about cash. "We just want the money" is their mantra.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton vs. TR and John Hay.
Is there a pirate base strike coming? Presidencies are built on small moments played out against the backdrop of largely undefined forces that will later be organized into an historical era (right, the John Milius "Wind and the Lion" version of the American task force at Morocco, 1904). For example, Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon in September, 1974, and it is impossible to think of the presidency in any other fashion than built on a Republican deal to spare Nixon a trial for his conduct despite the colossal drama in Southeast Asia. Jimmy Carter panicked at the news from Desert One in the spring of 1980, and that was the whole Carter era of appeasement and bad luck in one blow. George H.W. Bush failed to go for the kill in Baghdad and built a bully trap for his obtuse eldest son. Bill Clinton misled about the woman and empowered his mate. George W. Bush landed on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln to stand beneath a banner that was unacceptably boastful. Is this POTUS Obama's moment? Perdicaris alive. Now Raisuni dead? Launch air strikes on pirates? What else?
Littoral Combat Ships.
Chuck Nash, USN, speaks Sunday 12 to the Robert Kaplan argument that the US Navy must have three levels of combat ships, a deep water Navy for the sea lanes, a long-rang strike force to confront North Korea and China, and what is not yet available, a coastal patrol force, a littoral combat task force, (see below, first US Navy littiral ship commissioned, U.S.S. Freedom) to use as a counter-terror patrol unit.
But it (US Navy) still does not have enough of a sea-based, counterinsurgency component to deal with adversaries like Somali pirates and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. (The latter's force features speedboats loaded with explosives hidden in the many coves of Iran's coastline, which could ram ships on suicide missions.)
The Navy has plans to build 55 new Littoral Combat Ships to deal with this deficiency. Yes, these fast, maneuverable ships have low drafts and are thus suited for many different kinds of unorthodox missions close to shore. But the oceans are vast, and ships cannot be in two places at once. Without sufficient numbers of them, it's hard to believe that they will make much of a difference. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in his recent budget statement, indicated that only a few of these ships will be built at first, even as he endorsed the whole program...
Great and deserving end for all!!! Pray for the other hostages and their soon coming freedom!
Congrats Gentle People and Happy Easter!
Like Spencer said. If you listed all possible results this one would have been in the top 1%. Happy Easter and congratulations to the Phillips family and friends.
I don't believe it! The pirate supervisors are coming back with threats, saying that we should have killed the captain when we had the chance. These people are just too stupid to live. Threatening to kidnap people in advance, then threatening to kill the hostages rather than allow themselves to be shot.
"All the (stinkin' pirates) say...
They coulda had him any day
They just let him slip away....
Out of kindness, I suppose." - Willie Nelson
1) The plan that hapless Jimmy Carter signed off on to spring the Iranian hostages was so ill-conceived that we should count ourselves lucky that we didn't lose the entire rescue force, plus all of the captives. For whatever reason--perhaps due to poor intelligence but more likely because of the wishful thinking that is now rapidly bringing our superpower status to an end--this country can't seem to conduct large scale special operations forces very well. Happily for Captain Phillips, what went down off the coast of Somalia sounds more like a gunfight or an ambush, both of which Americans have always excelled at.
2) I have lifted the following from Jerry Pournelle's excellent blog:
"The long term solution to the Somalia piracy problem would be to have NATO enforce the Somali fishing rights so that Somali fishermen would have something legal to do for a living: the Somali waters are pretty well fished out by hi-tech fleets from other countries, and there is no Somali navy or coast guard to either prevent that or collect some fees for what is caught. Confiscating some of the foreign fishing ships that over-fish Somali waters would make a big difference. Unfortunately, much -- perhaps most -- of the fishing on Somali waters is done by Chinese ships. China would veto any UN action, and NATO isn't likely to get into a war with China over Somali fishing rights. I understand that Italian fishing boats also operate in Somali waters; so Italy isn't eager to be involved, either."
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/view/2009/Q2/view565.html#Saturday
The richest fishing in the area is in open waters 600 to 1000 kilometers from Somali territorial waters and well into the Indian Ocean. The notion that the world's fishing industry is encroaching on and "stealing" Somali fishing grounds to that deprives them from making an honest living is utter nonsense.
Just more bending and twisting around facts and truth without substantiation.
A note to readers of this blog: Pournelle knows what he is talking about. He co-authored "The Strategy of Technology," used for years at West Point, as well as a good bit of Reagan's 1983 landmark SDI speech. In no way can he be described as a bender and twister of facts.
From Job Serve Africa:
Job Serve Africa Country Fact File
Somalia
Somalia
Pastoralism is the dominant mode of life; both nomadic and sedentary herding of cattle, sheep, goats, and camels are carried on. The major cash crops are bananas, mangoes, and sugarcane. Other important crops include sorghum, corn, coconuts, rice, sesame seeds, and beans. There is a small fishing industry.
Somalia's most valuable mineral resource is uranium. Iron ore and many other minerals are largely unexploited.
Petroleum deposits have been found, and a refinery was built in 1979. However, much industry has been shut down due to civil strife.
Agricultural processing constitutes the bulk of Somalian industry, which includes sugar refining, meat and fish (notably tuna) canning, oilseed processing, and leather tanning. Textiles are also manufactured.
Country Population: 17,700,000
Country Capital: Mogadishu
Country Currency: Somali shilling
Lovely public relations coup for POtUS right when he needs it the most. That alone makes me suspicious. Forget about a strike on pirate bases. I already heard Hillary call for international cooperation. ...and we all know that will only happen when something freezes over.
How will we go about questioning the lone surviving pirate (actor)? Will it be over tea and biscuits with soft music playing in the background. Will we have read him his Miranda rights (in his native tongue)? Allowed him a phone call (to his lawyer)? Are we prepared to send a delegation to the Hague to defend ourselves? There were three reported deaths, after all. Will we court-martial the American shooters? Will we send care packages and apologies to the families of the dead? So many questions yet to be answered before this (Portuguese Water Dog) puppy is put to bed.
Note added by Spence- Possible 5 - 8 billion bbls in reserve may lay in extensions from the Arabian deposits
March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Africa Oil Corp., a publicly traded Canadian company, will drill an oil well in Somalia by the end of the year after completing seismic tests in the Horn of Africa country, Vice President James Phillips said.
The company is also planning seismic tests in Ethiopia and Kenya during 2009, he said in an interview today in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.
Africa Oil, based in Vancouver, is seeking a partner to conduct the seismic tests, Phillips said. The survey on one of the two oil blocks in Somalia held by the company covered a 775- square kilometer (482 square miles) area, he said. The tests in Ethiopia and Kenya will cover 1,000 square kilometers and 750 square kilometers respectively, said Phillips.
Africa Oil is also looking to increase the number of exploration licenses it holds in Africa, and companies in distress or those lacking the necessary resources may provide suitable opportunities, he said.
Last month, Africa Oil acquired the Kenyan and Ethiopian assets of Lundin Petroleum AB for $20 million. The transaction is still awaiting government approval in both countries, Phillips added.
If Somalia was serious about fishing for a living then they should go fishing for a living. They can threaten boats in open waters with banditry hundreds of miles from their shores why don't they go fish?
Maybe, I guess, they just don't get it. Got a Four of Spades?
The Pournell solution is brilliant-- but it would be really hard to enforce for the reasons he lists, plus for what would appear a general civil breakdown among Somali citizens.
It seems to me, for people living in a country such as Somalia-- which could be described as a country in a more-or-less perpetual state of war-- it would be very difficult to go about a normal, profitable peace-time business, such as fishing. If pirates have the temerity to attack massive foreign shipping vessels, just imagine the plunder being done to regular Somali citizens. All of the reports I've seen recently describe the ports as being littered with pirates. Without a basic rule of law and respect for individual rights (among which I consider property rights), I can't imagine how an honest day's work can get done there. It's a blessing in disguise that the Alabama was bringing relief aid to the region-- it only shows that whoever the pirates are, whatever their stated intentions, they are not acting in the best interest of their fellow countrymen, or for any other wiser long-term goals.
Does the US have any long-term strategic interest in Somalia? I ask this honestly, since I don't know. I'm not one of those people who think the US needs to be the world's policeman-- but I think protecting international shipping lanes is pretty important. The rest of the world can't tolerate this ongoing extortion forever. It took an American hostage (and a President's silence) to make it a wider issue here in the US-- regular listeners to John's program (whom I would happily call more well-informed than most) have known about this problem for months-- if not years. As have those in the gov't.
And there is still the worrisome fact that over 200 hostages are being held by pirates.
Another point--personally, I find it hard to imagine these pirates are somehow decent, otherwise law-abiding citizens who have been forced into crime. That being said, the larger problem of unregulated plunder of the world's fish populations on the open seas is a well-known problem-- Sebastian Junger makes it a key element of his book, A Perfect Storm, which is where I first came across the wider phenomenon and which I found educational.
Yes, those dirty Canadian Imperialist Expansionists want to go into the Puntland and spend some big time good loon on trying to develop and exploit the possibilities of oil bearing strata. Maybe Kuwait can help them out, too.
So, for the offshore drilling aspects, I'm wondering how far Somali territorial waters extend... to the coasts of India? Pakistan? Oman? All the way to the Cape? Maybe Madagascar or Malaysia?
Next thing you know, they're gonna want to sweep up the Mediterranean and then THE WORLD!
Watch Out!! It can happen!! Got a Deuce of Diamonds?
The radical fringe of the Democratic party may actually support Obama less as a result of these actions. They always portrayed Bush as a cowboy with his finger on the trigger. Now they may begin to become disenamored with Obama for the same reason. Those poor pirates ... they had bad childhoods ... let's extend SCHIP to them and offer them government - subsidized mortgages so they can afford nicer pirate skiffs. I know it sounds ridiculous but I have a liberal friend from high school I debate these matters with, and he is actually critical at the moment of our decision to shoot those three pirates. Just goes to show that there may never be anything we as a country can agree on anymore.
Peter you are right. I don't think this Somali story is over yet. Obama has talentedly separated himself from the final decision. The Navy Seals will be enemies of the US before this is over ---- shooting poor underage kids, not paying attention that there was a congressman in Somalia at the time and putting his life in danger, etc.
Somalia has never had a "fishing industry" that was much more than subsistence fishing.
How is it that they have suddenly become, as is being proposed by some, the supposed victims of exploitation who have been forced to abandon an industry that never existed?
Pulp- As far as US interests, I'm sure we would like to see a stable Somalia emerge and join the fight against the radical Islamists who desire to dictate and control the affairs of the region. Their place on the map is critical to US and the world. We are seeing it take shape in that continuously vexing the world's shipping companies will not be tolerated and will only bring the Somali world more despair.
And no one else is to blame for their fate...
What if Congressman Payne or any staff members traveling with him had been injured or killed by the mortars that were lobbed at the plane they were in?
Would it be considered an act of war? Is the attempt to kill a US Congressman on a diplomatic mission in a foreign country considered an act of war?
Anyone know if the aircraft was military or private plane?
What if Congressman Payne or any staff members traveling with him had been injured or killed by the mortars that were lobbed at the plane they were in?
Would it be considered an act of war? Is the attempt to kill or harm a US Congressman on a diplomatic mission in a foreign country considered an act of war?
Anyone know if the aircraft was military, US government, or private plane?
My son is on the Abe Lincoln. When they go out of port, they are on a Mission. When they come home "Mission Accomplished."
It was good of President Bush to give an "attaboy" for a job well done. Why does the main stream media continue to twist this, and regurgitate it again and again. It is not a big deal. It is not arrogant. This is your country and your freedom we are talking about here. God Bless America. Karen
Well stated Karen! Thanks to good and gentle people like you and yours, we are free to use those words proudly!! Freedom and God Bless America!!
Some people want to try and tell US that we are not the greatest and kindest country ever to grace the Good Earth. They want to say we are sanctimonious and evil. I join you in saying we are exceptional and generous!!
Thank you!!!
Not caring to make many stops at the available and diverse sites that many might frequent, my limited travel through the blogosphere and brief reading of some of the perspectives therein, has provided me with what I believe is a unique observation of what is occurring with impressionable people who tend to embrace and repeat the half truths and outright lies of which are abundant.
There seem to be many Adam Gadahn types who whether in ignorance, in playfulness, out of spite, or who simply have grievances and want to speak ill in their misery and deny their lot is of their own making, are reflecting back what is shown to them, regardless of the realism and congruency of the reflection. When Gadahn reads his propaganda, I imagine a heroin addict who has found his paradise in the contradiction of a religion professing purity and the sin of the drug, yet, that uses the drug to maintain piety. In other words, taking the drug to reach some promise of nirvana while the religion claims to denounce the sin of taking the drug that the religion itself will provide in order to reach the euphoria that is a sin to the righteous. In truth, that religion condemns the user of the drug to death.
I, myself, write from the pan of consciousness and/ or impression of my surroundings rather than espousing someone elses' perception of their worldview. To use the potter's analogy- pour the mold and you have only one of many... that which is thrown by hand cannot be replicated.
Just my reflecting on Adam G of whom there are many. The AG's will be ferreted out eventually for truth's sake.
Since I am in a piratical mood myself this evening, I have plundered this from the American Conservative website:
"Ships with cargo worth many millions of dollars are sailing through waters adjacent the poorest inhabited continent on the planet. And they’re doing so without armed guards. What do you think is going to happen? The only remarkable thing about the Somali piracy so far is that no hostages have been killed. If you drove an unguarded Brinks truck loaded with $10 million or so in cash at a leisurely clip through, say, Gary, Indiana, much worse would befall you. The brigandage plaguing the Gulf of Aden is serious but hardly anything to get hysterical about. Basic private-security efforts should be sufficient to control Somali privacy.
"Classicist-turned-propagandist Victor Davis Hanson, however, has apparently never stubbed a toe without wanting to amputate a leg–and somebody else’s, at that. He doesn’t just crave a war on pirates, at National Review Online he calls for 'disproportionate measures' (his words) that would involving slaughtering Somali civilians in large numbers. Take it away, VD:
'Pompey’s victories over the Cilician pirates, the Venetian clean-up of the Mediterranean sea-lanes, and the British success in stopping Caribarrean piracy were all predicated on going ashore, destroying the docks, headquarters, and homes of the pirates. To end Somali piracy, disproportionate measures against the shore should be taken—for every one pirate assault, a lethal air assault should immediately follow.'
A lethal air assault on what? VD knows there isn’t a nice isolated buccaneer cove with a bar marked 'Pirate Shack–Bomb Here.' He would kill women and in children in retaliation for what a gang of street-criminals-on-the-waves gets up to. Hanson is the Ward Churchill of the neocons: civilian deaths mean nothing in themselves to him, they’re just fuel for his power fantasies — sinners on the wrong side of progress."
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2009/04/12/vd-hanson-killing-pirates-isnt-enough-lets-kill-civilians-too/
What's wrong with fighting fire with fire? Firemen set fire lines against wildfires all the time and it works.
I heard there were some people volunteering to go fetch radioactive waste from the waters off Somalia. Ever used a snorkel?
Kenneth - We both know that this thing is bigger than just pirates. 'Pirates' is just the shorthand for the whole ball of wax. If we're not willing to do anything about the pirates, we may as well go home and take a nap. We should bless those who are still willing to fight with a sword instead of waving a bic around.
Wouldn't it be cheaper--not to mention smarter and more humane--to station a few $500/day Blackwater mercs on those ships than to spend billions of dollars to blow up a few wretched and anonymous Somalis? Sure, it might make us feel good for a while, but the things that make us feel good are seldom the things that are good for us.
It's not true that there hasn't been any hostage casualties. With his family, the French father would still be seeking their ideal if they had not been abducted.
A Taiwanese sailor was killed by pirates during a takeover in 2007. Also, another man died while being held in captivity.
There is suspicion as to the fate of as many as 30- 40 (estimated) victims of these kidnappings who are apparently "missing" and there could be other, as yet unconfirmed, murders that have been the result of pirate takeovers.
Don't be confused. The world has offered the sensible Somalis and other needful peoples of moderate persuasion in the region many opportunities to join the effort in relief of suffering and to work together to their benefit and to one day prosper.
Extremism has slapped the hand repeatedly and answered "You are our enemy!" and as a consequence denied their own people the hope for progress, friendship, and a pathway out of poverty.
This is the result of extremism in every instance where those factions dictate. The reasonable people are held hostage, too. Civilized, thinking, selfless, and good- hearted people are more than willing to come to their aid. They do it everyday, sometimes risking everything, to make a difference.
Lawlessness is the enemy... not the solution. Extremism must be confronted and contended with extreme measures. Otherwise, it just goes on.
There is almost no fishing. Mostly trading, carrying passengers and smuggling.
Ken - It's not about us. It's not about how we may feel. It's about them; to let them (and anyone else who's watching) know that we mean business. Showing some spine is the only way to deter future attacks. So far, we've only been able to show legalese. Not very impressive to men who can't read. Note, I refer to them as 'men'. This is something I'm just dying to be able to ascribe to our own leadership.
Tamil Nadu Deep Sea Fishing
Chennai Journal; Dateline: Bay of Bengal, South India - April 13, 2009
I woke up earlier than usual today. The people next-door set off cherry bombs in celebration of the Tamil new year. It was still relatively cool outside (80’s), so I decided to go down to the beach (Bay of Bengal) and watch the sun rise. What I witnessed was timeless, almost biblical.
A fishing boat was about to leave for work. I noticed the silhouettes of an unusually large number of people, all clustered around an open skiff, against the rapidly brightening eastern sky. As I approached with my camera, nobody paid me much mind. All were busy loading their nets and gear. The light was amazing! It had an almost surreal quality to it; one, I had previously seen only once before in re-print (bookmark) Bible scenes the impoverished German country priest had given us kids in an effort to tack our imaginations in a proper direction. This particular one, of course, was the one depicting St. Peter braving the storm on the slats of his own boat while fishing the Sea of Galilee.
Each sailor knew exactly what to do. Each had performed is assigned ritual countless times before – same as his father and his fathers before him had done. It seemed like absolutely nothing had changed in this routine since the dawn of time. Though I had seen motor-driven skiffs along this particular beach about a year ago, this boat had no modern accoutrements save for the brief glint of the occasional GPS-equipped cell phone. Even the nets were of ancient hemp and not of the razor blue plastic distributed in the thatch-roof fishing villages by the Dutch after the tsunami.
Finally, after everything had been checked, re-checked and loaded; the rudder and oars attached; the sailors in their places, it was time to push off. Now, they waited for the wave that would float them. A tangle of brown brawn was poised along the hull like netting, prepared to push the boat out to sea. The oars were set, and time stood still.
Sand crabs went on about their business as usual, flitting in and out of the holes of their own making. Finally, the anticipated wave rolled in (sending them scurrying) - followed by another. The men shouted and pushed; pushed and shouted. Reluctantly, the craft freed itself from the sandy grip of shore. The rowers rowed desperately. And before long they were out of shouting range. They had entered their water world to which they all carried well-worn keys.
Some were left behind with instructions to meet them again later that day. Hopefully today’s catch will validate their effort. Hopefully, the well-dressed middle men who will have come down from the city to certify their labor will be pleased and throw them something extra along with the normal reduction of debt incurred by unspeakable vices. But all this is forgotten at sea where only enough leeway exists for God and man to rub shoulders without chafing; where man’s habitual vanity needs be restrained and twisted into a sequestered knot; where only one intimate dance at a time is allowed and both partners can be assured of salvation.
http://picasaweb.google.com/PeterKoelliker/ChennaiFishingStories#