American's hijacked by Pirates!

[Broseph]

(CNN) -- Pirates attacked a U.S. cargo ship off the coast of Somalia carrying food aid to East Africa and may have hijacked the vessel, which was carrying 20 American crew members, according to the company that owns the vessel.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the Obama administration is aware of the situation.

"The White House is closely monitoring the apparent hijacking of the U.S.-flagged ship in the Indian Ocean and assessing a course of action to resolve this situation," Gibbs said. "Our top priority is the personal safety of the crew members on board."

The U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama was en route to Mombasa, Kenya, when it was attacked about 500 kilometers (310 miles) off Somalia's coast, according to a statement from Maersk Line Ltd.

The company said it believes the vessel may have been hijacked. If so, it would be the sixth hijacking over the past week.

The ship was attacked about 7:30 a.m. when the nearest U.S. Navy warship was about 300 nautical miles away, goverment sources said. On Tuesday, the U.S. Navy warned mariners that pirates were attacking ships extending hundreds of miles offshore.

The cargo ship is owned and operated by a Maersk subsidiary in Norfolk, Virginia, Maersk spokesman Michael Storgaard said. He would not provide any details about the security arrangements on board the Maersk Alabama.

"We have very strict policies on the vessel ... crews are trained to handle these types of situations," Storgaard said from Maersk's headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa...ked/index.html

arg!!

[Sprite09]

arrrrrrrrrr Somali pirates

[mcplar]

natural selection.... soon countries will not send 'aid' to somalia until they get control of these idiots.

[snoopdawgz]

[CSK'sMom]

CNN is reporting that the Pentagon just released a statement saying that the crew of the ship has reportedly regained control over "most" of the ship. They apparently have 1 pirate in custody onboard and the other 3 have fled the ship, possibly are in the water. It will be at least 12 hrs before the closest US navel ship can reach the area...

[corrupt123]

280 km/h cruise speed
1000km Range (With in-air refueling capability)
37 troop capacity


C'mon lets use some of our toyssssssssssssssssss

(well, the u.s.'s anyway)

[whampoa]

From the Halls of Montezuma,
To the shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land, and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
Of United States Marines.

Yeah, send in the US Marines, a third Barbary War is in order.

[loho33]

Can someone explain why these cargo ships aren't armed with homing-guided RPG, grenades, machine guns, etc?

If you see anything coming near you...you mow the fockers down.

[CSK'sMom]

CNN is now reporting the latest statement from the Pentagon is saying that the crew is in control of the ship but the 3 pirates not captured are holding the Captain hostage in a lifeboat...

[rilles]

Can someone explain why these cargo ships aren't armed with homing-guided RPG, grenades, machine guns, etc?

If you see anything coming near you...you mow the fockers down.

The pirates will just up the ante and get bigger guns and shoot first and be more likely to kill the crew who are not typically weapon experts.

[whampoa]

Or do like the Chinese did, use Molotov cocktails and shoe sandals.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7791901.stm

[Si98]

You don't hold an American cargo ship hostage. You just don't.

[Talamasca]

I remember watching a story on BBC a few months ago about the rampant pirating off the coast of Somalia. I know the British have some patrol ships in the area and the U.S. has got to have an entire battlefleet in the general area. Probably not the best idea to mess with them.

[davebert]

Here is another perspective of the pirate problem. It seems international companies are illegally dumping toxic waste and fishing in Somalia waters. That does not excuse what the pirates are doing now, but there has been no international efforts in policing Somalia waters to stop the illegal dumping and fishing. In fact I think the current international efforts are only focused on piracy. International companies are still free to do their illegal dumping and fishing off Somali waters which basically stealing from the Somali people and costing them hundreds of millions of dollars per year in lost revenue. Here is the link to the CBC report.

http://www.cbc.ca/video/popup_nlp.ht...ate-090406.wmv

[ephemera]

How ironic would it be if the pirates hijacked a ship full of pirate dvd's?