Somalia Pirates kill 4 Americans

[jarhead]

Quote from Wilma:
How could the U.S. justify moving in and cleaning up another nation's problems?  Oh, yes, we have done that, haven't we?
Wilma,
I didn't say clean up another countries mess---I said "kill the pirates". How do we justify it ? I'd say that them killing the four Americans ,in cold blood, would justify us in killing every last one of the pirates. When they capture a tanker of oil and hold it for a $10,000,000 ransom, do you think we should just let it be "business as usual" and pay the ransom? Do you not think that 10 mil gets passed on to the consumer by the owners of the tanker ?
And yes, we have went into foreign countries and cleaned up their mess before and I think a lot of those countries are thankful that they aren't speaking German today.

[Wilma]

Jarhead, you know and I know that if the Marines were allowed to do what they can do, there wouldn't be any problem.  Unfortunately, any time that the U.S. does anything like that the world shouts up a storm about those nasty Americans.  Yes, these people should be hung and quartered and a few other things that this lady won't talk about.

I am wondering though, is this in International waters or Somalian waters.  And what are the International laws about piracy in International waters? 

I think though that if I had a choice of walking a block through a dark alley where many murders have happened or walking three blocks to get to the same place, I would take the three blocks.

[Varmit]

Clean up their mess??...Yeah, we were real successful with that endeavor in Mogadishu.

[Janet Harrington]

This pirate business has bothered me for some reason. I haven't studied or researched anything about international waters or what the U.S. can do about our citizens being murdered right on open sea. I know nothing about the country of Somalia. Just kind of know where it is located. I know or have been told that there is a large Somalian community building in Emporia, Ks. I believe it is time for me to do some studying about this problem.

Here is a link about Somalia Pirates from Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_Somalia

It is quite interesting reading.

[jarhead]

Janet,
I heard the Somalias were about to take over Emporia a couple years back but have since left town for parts unknown. I have no idea if that is true or not but a friend from there told me that

[Varmit]

I wonder why no one has said anything about going after those corp.s that illegally fish or dispose of toxic waste in somali waters?  You can't really blame a people for trying to protect what is theirs or for exacting vengance for crimes against their country.

[jarhead]

Varmit,
So you are telling me if an illegal alien comes to Elk County and fishes in Elk river without a license, plus takes a whiz in the water, after drinking a case of Corona and throwing the empties in OUR river, that would give me the right to drag his trailer house into my yard and hold his family hostage until he pays me a fat ransom, but on a whim I just kill his wife and kids---but it's OK because the bad man fished in our waters illegally and dumped his "toxic waste" in MY water ?? Same thing, just on a smaller scale.

[Varmit]

That is not the same thing jarhead and you know it.  You say the pirates are wrong for defending their coastline and for going after those they perceive to be criminal yet you support US going into their country and killing them all.  Wouldn't you defend your home and country by any means nessecary and say it was justified?

[Varmit]

The ideal of the U.N. and other nations trying to dictate to somalia how to govern itself is appaling.  Granted vessels in those waters have a right to defend themselves but for other countries to put troops on the ground in that country is wrong.  Simple solution is to stay out of those waters.  I find it ironic that some of the nations involved in going after the pirates are also the same nations dumping and fishing illegally.  But theres big money in that, so that won't ever be stopped.

Oh, jarhead, by the way, if you're going to get pissed about the folks whizzing in our rivers, fishing illegally, and throwing their empties in the water, you'd be better off looking for the citizens around here that do that more than any illegal.

[Janet Harrington]

Varmit, I'm not sure that anyone said anything about going onto "their" land and taking care of the problem. I believe the consesus is to just blow them out of the international water, so to speak.

Do you honestly think that by taking hostages of people and ships and asking for ransoms in international waters is the Somalians way of protecting "their" waters and land from toxic dumping and illegal fishing.

These pirates do not answer to any government because Somalia does not have a government. These pirates are just out and out criminals looking to make a buck, either for themselves or whoever they work for. They are not defending anything.

Jarhead, as for the Somalians leaving Emporia, that's a possibility. The people that I knew that had told me that no longer live there.

Just throwing this question out there...who governs international waters? Anybody? Anybody have an answer?