UN to Stop the Somali Pirates

I first wrote about the Somali Pirates three years ago. It seemed like an odd situation that would be handled quickly, except that America was busy. The UN and other international organizations applied the same remedies to this problem that they have to all others, they let it fester while making it impossible for the victims to protect themselves.

Arming the merchant ships makes too much sense. Like the politicians here who try to disarm the law abiding citizens because they want to address the rising crime rate, the international nitwits will not allow merchants to enter ports armed. So they are left to deal with pirates with RPGs armed with only a shotgun and pistol. What harm would it do to allow merchants to mount a rotary cannon on the bridge? Cut a few pirate boats in two and let the sharks clean up the mess and the pirates will go back to robbing farmers like they were last year. Since nothing has been done to stop them every one with a boat and five friends with automatic weapons has become a pirate.

Don't despair. The UN Security Council is coming to the rescue.

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to impose new sanctions meant to reduce the flow of arms into Somalia and the lawlessness and piracy that have flourished there.

How incredibly clueless are these people? Somalia is a stinking whole and their only solution is sanctions? It is a wonder that the Troglodytes of this world have not yet taken over.

I'm thinking that to make it in this world I'll either get a ship loaded with 20 mm cannons and a sign that says "For Rent" and sit out in the Indian Ocean or buy a parrot and an eye patch.
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Somalia OKs U.S. Navy Patrols Along Coast

The UN has found their efforts at delivering food to starving Somalis increasingly hampered by bandits and pirates. The most efficient method of getting supplies into the country is by ship. Pirates off the coast of Somalia made that impossible. They began the long and expensive overland delivery by truck only to be raided by bandits. Their only recourse has been to ask navies in the area to interdict any pirates they come across.

The US along with other nations has been patrolling international waters off the coast of Somalia with some success. Now the US can move ships into Somali waters. The Somali government in exile has granted permission for patrolling their coastline.

The country having descended into complete anarchy has no navy or coast guard. Now that the US has come to the rescue once more, the UN may be able to resume the shipping of supplies into the country.

Navy Exchanges Fire With Suspected Pirates

Somali pirates have been plaguing the coast since the country fell into anarchy. Following the attempted taking of a cruise liner last year an international force has been patrolling the Indian Ocean coast.

The Cape St. George, a guided-missile cruiser, and Gonzalez, a guided-missile destroyer, were conducting maritime security operations in the area. They are based in Norfolk, Va.

The MO of these pirates is to seize ships and ransom the crew. There is reasonable expectations that this is a part of al-Qeada's financing efforts.

The suspected pirates then opened fire on the Navy ships. The Cape St. George and Gonzalez returned fire with small arms in self defense, officials said.

One suspected pirate was killed and a fire ignited aboard the main suspect vessel. Boarding teams from Cape St. George and Gonzalez took 12 other suspects, including the five who were injured, into custody. The Navy boarding teams also confiscated an RPG launcher and automatic weapons.

No U.S. sailors were injured in the engagement, officials said..

US Navy Captures Pirates of Somalia Coast

In November I wrote of the growing problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia. So far 23 vessels have been captured by pirates, their crew ransomed and the funds possibly financing Al-Qeada. The situation had become so bad the UN famine relief effort had to discontinue food shipments by sea and revert to much more costly and inefficient overland routes.

The current emergency is complicated by some 14 years of fighting between warlords and chronic insecurity in much of the Horn of Africa country.

Continued conflict and piracy on the coast have prevented delivery of humanitarian food shipments to Somali ports while rival militia controlling roads and checkpoints demand payment for safe passage.

Finally, as is often the case, the US has come to deal with the problem. Last time I checked the US was not the only nation with a navy, but someone has to be the grown up so we have sent ships to secure the shipping lanes near the Horn of Africa.

U.S. Navy vessels pursued a suspected pirate ship in the Indian Ocean off Somalia's coast and fired warning shots to capture its crew on Saturday, U.S. Navy Forces Central Command said.

The guided missile destroyer Winston S. Churchill and other U.S. naval forces located the vessel after receiving a report of an attempted act of piracy, but it failed to respond to orders to stop.

"Churchill began aggressive maneuvering in an attempt to stop the vessel. The vessel continued on its course and speed. (Then) Churchill fired warning shots," said a Navy statement.

"(Later) Churchill fired additional warning shots, and at that time the crew of the suspect pirate vessel established communications by radio and indicated that they would begin sending personnel to the Churchill via their small boat in tow."

The crewmembers were seized and U.S. Navy sailors who boarded the vessel discovered small-arms weapons on board, the statement said. It did not say how many suspects were held.

I wonder if this will be made an example of American Imperialism by the likes of William Blum, author of Osama's most recent book review "Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower". R. Blum who's book inspires many of the tinfoil hat crowd teaching on American collage campus' has experienced a windfall in the wake of Osama's endorsement of his work.

"I was not turned off by such an endorsement," he informed a New York radio station. "I'm not repulsed, and I'm not going to pretend I am." He patiently reiterated the thesis of his foreign-policy critique - that American interventions abroad create enemies.

So according to Blum this intervention will only increase the enemies of the US. Makes me wonder how many friends we would win if we just let the people of East Africa starve because of the pirates.

Basil's

Pirates Off Somali Coast

Piracy of the coast of Somalia has been a big problem for quiet a while. Anarchy has ruled after the UN and the US gave up trying to intervene leaving pirates to rule the seas off the coast. Merchant ship's crews are taken and held for ransom. It's believed the shipping companies readily pay the ransom to get their people out.

Yet, despite his military setback in Afghanistan and the arrest of over 1,300 al-Qaeda suspects in over 70 countries, bin Laden's terrorist network remains "the most immediate and serious threat" to American security, according to Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet. 1 Largely expelled from Afghanistan, al-Qaeda may seek to regroup in another country where it could count on some degree of local support.

Somalia is such a place. It is a failed state whose lawless anarchy would permit terrorists to operate relatively freely. The al-Qaeda network has operated there in the past and has longstanding ties to a small minority of Somali Islamists, with which it has worked since the early 1990s.

It doesn't take much imagination to figure out where the ransom money is going and what it is financing. So why is nothing being done about it? In any war the one of the keys to victory or defeat is the security of supply lines. Money is one of the life lines of terror. By cutting off this flow their ability to continue will be severely hampered.

For a look at the charitable financing of terror look here.
For more on interdicting terrorist funding look here.