S/V Quest taken by Somali pirates

[Minnewaska]

I hope we keep politics out of this discussion. I can name a dozen mistakes that both sides of the isle made in this part of the world.

I do think a multi-national military action is warranted. The problem is its relative priority. Spending that money and spilling that blood will never seem worthwhile to ensure the safe passage of wealth world traveling yacht owners. It will only be done if the balance of trade, particularly oil, is threatened sufficiently. Like it or not, oil and trade will directly impact the quality and security of life throughout the globe. That's the trigger.

[boomvangdc]

The Adams knew what they were getting into. It appears that they chose to go by themselves and also took a more dangerous route than necessary (see our article for sources of this information: http://nasailor.com/2011/02/20/somal...ur-americans/).

So for their personal situation, I can't get fired up about getting the military involved to save them. They knew the risks and acted of their own accord. There are other ways to get to the Med. So why should my taxpayer dollars be spent to save them?

But agree that the bigger question is why isn't more being done overall to combat this problem, for both commercial and non-commercial ships. If international governments can't work together to address the problem I think the idea of using a private navy to escort ships through the area is a good one. But personally I would never attempt pirate alley, even if it meant adding thousands of miles to my trip.

[EJO]

Have you all written you parliament/house/government member demanding that they put forth an effort to stop this piracy thing. As elected officials they work for us and must be able to cut the red tape short and have some international action taken with enough pressure.

[MikeinLA]

Originally Posted by EJO

As elected officials they work for us

You are joking, right? I don't think our elected officials ever got that memo.

Mike

[EJO]

Mike I'm not kidding. That is the problem in a democracy, the majority lets everything go and complains. The minority gets fanatic and gets things pushed thru. We are a minority so let us push things thru.
Hey look at the low voting turn outs, but we all complain.
Happy sailing.

[Allanbc]

Americans slain by captors on hijacked yacht; pirates killed, arrested - CNN.com

All four Americans were killed by the pirates. All the pirates are now in US custody or dead.

[night0wl]

Hang all 19 of them....hang 'em high. Blow their boats out of the water and bomb their ports even further back into the stoneage

[kootenay]

There comes a time when an event will trigger a response and I think this event will hopefully trigger an international response. Sorry to hear the folks are gone my sympathy for their kin.

[tommays]

The last time around the pirates learned there gonna get shot in the head in a confrontation which is wear this seemed to be headed and it does not seem to have slowed them down

Until the world (whatever that is) is ready to shoot it out with every hijacked vessel on sight the pirates don't have a lot to lose and the crews would most likely not be willing to work under those conditions

[lancelot9898]

Originally Posted by kootenay

There comes a time when an event will trigger a response and I think this event will hopefully trigger an international response. Sorry to hear the folks are gone my sympathy for their kin.

Hope you're right about an international response. This has been going on way too long and with all the hand wringing and blaming the victims for being where they are supposely not suppose to be is IMHO ignoring the need to take decisive action to keep the oceans safe.