Text 31413, 55 rader
Skriven 2009-04-18 08:35:19 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Ross Cassell (1:123/456.0)
Ärende: Piarates
================
Hello Ross,

On Monday April 13 2009 18:30, you wrote to me:

 MvdV>> And maybe the pirates feared they were going to be killed.
 MvdV>> Maybe the presence of a US Navy warship gave them a clue?

 RC> The pirates should have been fearful, they knew they were breaking all
 RC> kinds of laws and the military of the nation whose citizens they
 RC> attacked responded.

 RC> You sound as if the world is supposed to tolerate piracy?

I am trying to tell you that in orrder to deal with these situations, you have
to try to understand why they act like they do. Why did they not shoot the
hostage right away?

Obviously because they thought they still had a bargeining position. Had they
shot the hostage, that would have been as good as suicide.

By killing the pirates AND LOUDLY ADVERTISING IT, you send the the wrong
message. NEXT time when they ever get into such a situation again, they know
they will be killed, so the will kill the hostage right away, before they ca
bget into the cross hairs of a sniper's team.

 MvdV>> The problem with the belief that violence is the answer to all
 MvdV>> problems is that it only works for the one with the biggest
 MvdV>> gun. Once you lose that position you will start to think
 MvdV>> different. And you WILL lose that position, non one ever kept
 MvdV>> it forever.

 RC> Seems to me that 4 pirates in a skiff all with AK47's and one hostage
 RC> managed to keep a guided missile frigate at bay for what 3 or so days?

Your point?

 RC> Tell you what..

 RC> How would the Dutch Navy handled this situation if it involved a Dutch
 RC> flag ship?

I don't know, I am not the Dutch navy. Ny guess is the would not have risked a
shootout, but just have waited for the pirates to surrender. They had noweher
to go and if the pirates had any sense at all, they should know that killing
the hostage would have meant the end of their own lives as well. Sd they would
not do that unless they were sure hey were not going to survive anyway.

Killing the pirates and saving the hostage sounds very heroic. But one has to
consider there there is more where these came from. One has to think about the
next incident as well. The pirates have already announced revenge...

Cheers, Michiel

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