Pirates don't usually kill
 

at least not the Somali ones.

But now that we have killed the pirates, we probably should expect many international sailors to suffer and die as a result.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090412/D97H5GRG0.html

What a bizarre world we live in, where pirates do what they will against these ships, with almost no resistance.

The game of exchanging money is over, and now it will be exchanging blood and money, and it has been said that the US Navy does not have the ships do anything meaningful in that area. It's just too much sea and not enough ships.

Who on the right, and who on the left want to go to war with Somali gangs? I'm not saying no one does, I'm just throwing out a question. Who wants to nation-build?

Not sure it's in the pirates' best interest to kill too many hostages. You can't get paid for dead people.

when no one ever dies, it is a gentleman's game.

when people start dying, that means you are talking about real money.

There are some complicated calculations here: if you kill too many crew, the crew will finally devise better ways of fighting back, making the piracy more costly. But if you never kill, then you are not taken seriously, and the prices you command are lower.

The action of America tips the pirates towards being more violent. I.e. the equation changes somewhat.

They claimed they shot when it appeared the captain was in "imminent danger".

They claim an AK 47 barrel was in the captains back. It' also clear that deadly force was authorized by the President. By the way the wussy French were the first to attempt a rescue mission a few days before this incident. One of the French hostages was killed in that action. So, it was the French who changed the game, not the Americans!

I'm sorry, I'm not believing any media reports coming out of this thing.

It's clear that the curtain has been pulled down.

It's how many days now and we still don't have a story that makes sense of how the crew "recaptured" the vessel, and how the lifeboat ended up in the water with the captain.

Have patience and a Very Special Dateline NBC will reveal all in one to two weeks from now.

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

a prophet in our mix.

I'll be waiting to get the final word from Katie Couric. The stunning revelation will be Jack Bauer's role in all of this.

The last I read, the captain ordered all his men into a barricaded room on the ship, and they locked themselves in. The captain then surrendered himself and convinced the pirates to take just him as a hostage for ransom. They agreed, lowered themselves off the boat in the ship's lifeboat and the navy showed up. The crew "retook" the ship in the sense that nobody was on the ship when they came out.

So all the reports of a brave battle are false. Is that what you are saying?

Two of the sailers 'jumped' a pirate in the engine room. One sailer stabbed the pirate in the hand. That same pirate was on the life boat with the captain and surrendered to the destroyer to get medical treatment on the hand. Soon after, the snipers shot the rest of the pirates when an AK 47 gun barrel was seen placed in the captains back ... so the various reports say. By the way they say the destroyer was towing the lifeboat.

I am not saying one way or another. I have no idea what happened, any more than you do. I am saying only what the last report I read indicated, and yes, it said the reports of a brave battle were totally false.

I mean, please, give me a break about the gun pointed at the captain's back. are you telling me that was the first time the captain had a gun pointed at him on the lifeboat?

I wish we could get some honesty. "We had an opportunity to kill, the President gave us the ok to kill, and we, despite pretences of negotiation, killed them."

The differences between the reported versions of the facts are dramatic.

Those are the reports. But it is fact that Americans didn't change the game as Mike suggests -- the French did. You're Americans, blaming the French should be easy!

Relax, Mike. No matter which version of facts you choose to believe in the end, I'm sure you'll be able to conclude that that whomever you choose were cowards and idiots and they did it all wrong.

And that they likely believe the earth is 6,000 years old!

You'd think Mike would be happy to see an instance where people owned guns and had the balls to use them in self-defense.

I want some transparency and honesty, not the bullshit lies we are being fed.

Come on, Waters. This was a political problem. Are you really surprised at political answers?

The US is wrapping up an asymmetrical war in Iraq. We are expanding the scope of the asymmetrical war in Afghanistan. Do you really think politicians are jumping up and down at the prospect of beginning a new asymmetrical war on the seas against pirates that can't possibly be "won"?

No chance. This is being portrayed in the only way it possibly can be portrayed, politically. "We didn't provoke anyone, we acted purely in self-defense, we acted only when there was an imminent threat, but we really didn't want to." Perhaps that is also true, but it is most certainly political.

why does the supposedly independent media have to participate in the lies and charade, which both you and I immediately recognize? (which tooblue doesn't of course).

Sick of Pravda.

The media, by and large, is a joke right now, focused far more on catering to advertisers and their base of viewership than they are in the truth. While there are a handful of exceptions to this (IMO, Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow- slanted, yes, but interested in the truth, Chris Wallace, even Shephard Smith, to an extent), they are few and far between. Glenn Beck (i.e., Tex), Olbermann, Hannity, etc. are becoming the rule, not the exception. It is a shame.

Obama is NOT playing politics. Let's just make that clear.

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro:

Except when they are dangerous right-wing radicals.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...cals-on-right/

No surprise here, as it's only bad if the right does it.

Are you opposed to the government monitoring dangerous right wing radicals? These are the same nutjobs who blew up the buildings in Oklahoma City.

The bad guys got killed. I don't see what the issue is. To me, it's like the swat team killing a guy that breaks into your house and holds you hostage. If you don't want to die, don't take people hostage. Negotiating is stupid. Just kill the bastards. Paying ransom is for pussies.