I think first we should extend an open hand to the pirates and try to understand them and why they are pirates. We should start an open communication with them. Maybe we should disarm first to show them how responsible we are. Maybe it's all our fault because we are so arrogant.

Bwa hahahahahahahahahhahaah x 10!

I'm going to make a cartoon of you saying that. Al Gore and Ernesto Bertarelli will be dancing in the background.

Hell no, I'm disturbed by it too. That's alot of money for a rifle.

Can't you get a loan giving the rifle as guaranty? I know it works with houses...

Karl wins.

No,I too am disturbed, 9 bucks is way too expensive.

You've been in Europe too long!

At the risk of sounding nutz - they are pirates because A) their country government is weak and B) their economy is terrible. It's simply the best way for them to make a living. Directly fix piracy and there will be 20 other illegal profitable rackets popping up in Somalia. You can fight the symptom, but you'll keep fighting them until you fix the root cause.

Yes, it is necessary to reduce economic, political and social differences between countries. In other words, save the planet. Since this is quite difficult in practice and also takes a long time, here's a temporary fix:
Piracy exists while it is profitable, so just increase the expenses and risks of this 'business'.
Sink pirate ships, destroy their weapons, wound their men (never kill - upkeeping of crippled is a lot more expensive than a funeral, which can also create 'martyrs'), escalate weapons and even destroy the ships they capture with their cargoes, eventually. Higher costs and risks increase the volatility of piracy results and drastically reduce their profits. I guess there are a few legal issues, though...

Maybe they just need a hug, it was probably their parents fault anyway.

Tawd

perhaps the pirates are the hunters now... glad im not american
fox news

MOMBASSA, Kenya — Somali pirates vowed to hunt down American ships and kill their sailors Wednesday and French forces detained 11 other hijackers in a high-seas raid, raising tensions a day after an abortive attack on a U.S. freighter loaded with food aid.

whats all the fuss about now? These people have been killing innocent sailors for years, this story has only brought it to te masses.

Bring back the gallo's, "Pirate's ye be warned"

So are we!:D

Indeed. Glad to see there are two people (Karl and Matt) that get my humor...

Mike

My question is where is the United Nations and what are they doing about this. Where are the millions of dollers & euros that the nations give the UN. It dosn't appear that the UN is doing anything. (must have a bad PR firm........)

or does this belong in the other thread....

Where would you expect the UN to be? Would you honestly count on them to protect you? The US doesn't need them to take care of our own. They keep calling them Pirates but actually they are Terrorists. Hijacking a ship rather than a plane. I guess Pirates and Terrorists are one in the same. What has the UN done in the past about Terrorism? Not much as far as I'm concerned. Atleast not fast enough to do much good.

Dang it! Mary and I have searched and scoured our files for a great attack boat we saw from years ago. Probably one of you still have it. In fact, we had a picture of it in one of our magazines years ago.

It was a drawing of a catamaran made of two detroyers and flying one of them, like flying a hull. It was extremely funny.

But, alas, we have failed to humor up this thread.
Sorry,
Rick

On top of it all, we have pirates/terrorists being caught, disarmed and then released so that they can go right back to it. NATO forces, Canadian chased, boarded and then released pirates yesterday after they tried to hijack a Norwegian tanker. It is about each countries legal system. Because none of the victims were Canadian, canada cannot charge them. I think that some serious changes need to be made both on the ground in Somalia as well as how this issue is fought. I understand the motive and reasons that the pirates give for this ongoing piracy, but I do not think this gives them the right or reason to use piracy as their way of making a living. They seem to believe that they can keep doing this without any repercussions. I think that the more that they escalate the greater the response will be. I find it ironic that 2-3 of the ships attacked were carrying food aid that was destined for Somalia, Kenya and other regions. Lets hold hostage the relief supplies that we are going to steal anyway once they hit the ground. We get the ransom then we get the supplies for the black market. Nice double dipping isn't it.

See these people aren't terrorist's, they are pirates. They are in it for economic gain, where as a terrorist is just trying to put a civilian population in a state of fear to further some political or religious agenda.