Hard to port ye mateys! It be an American ship ahead!
Only hours ago Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama in International waters. But unlike last April, when the ship was taken captive, this time the US flagged ship "responded with small-arms fire, long-range acoustical devices painful to the human ear and evasive maneuvers to thwart the attack."
The US Navy's 5th Fleet nearly immediately issued a statement commending the crew of the Maersk Alabama for "following maritime industry's best-practices . . . to prevent being successfully attacked by pirates." Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command added that
"this is a great example of how merchant mariners can take pro-active action to prevent being attacked and why we recommend that ships follow industry best practices if they're in high-risk areas."
But the US Navy position is at odds with "the rest of the international community" claims Roger Middleton from the London-based think tank Chatham House. Middleton said that "I would think it's a step backward if we start privatizing security of the shipping trade."
Middleton's view that securing personal safety is the province of the state is mirrored in some countries such as Great Britain where a 2004 Cato Institute Policy Report observed that British subjects have been
"weaned from their fundamental right to protect themselves through a series of policies implemented over some 80 years. Those include the strictest gun regulations of any democracy, legislation that makes it illegal for individuals to carry any article that could be used for personal protection, and restrictive limits on the use of force in self-defense."
By contrast, in most states of the United States, adults are free to own firearms without registration and can and do openly carry loaded handguns in public places for self-defense purposes and need no license to do so. Eric Pratt, spokesman for Gun Owners of America, a gun rights group based in Fairfax County, VA praised the USS Maersk Alabama's armed response as "wonderful news" and that "pirates better take notice."
Mr. Chatham's pacifistic prescription for ships on the high seas is not necessarily shared even in Europe. When Somali pirates attacked the Italian cruise ship Melody and it's 1,500 passengers with automatic weapons earlier this year, the pirates broke off their attack when they found out that "in the darkness, the crew would fire back. . . . 'It felt like we were in war,' the ship's Italian Commander, Ciro Pinto, told Italian state radio."
The Maersk Alabama's recent incorporation of ordinary small arms fire with evasive maneuvers and other non-lethal defenses is exactly the combined armed tactics suggested in this column some months ago in an item entitled Let's just give the pirates our ships - bullets first, ARRGH! Now that the unorganized militia is doing its part to protect American ships at sea, it's time for the US Congress to consider issuing letters of Marque and Reprisal to willing American vessel owners to destroy or capture pirates and their vessels anywhere they be found in International waters as I previously suggested here.
Comments
Well past time! I think all merchant shipping should be armed with everything up to 5" guns.
If a port of call objects to the entry of armed ships, dump the cargo in the center of the nearest channel (or on the inbound tide for liquids), lob a few shells into the center of the harbor and leave. Have the home office send the port nation a bill for their nonexistant naval escorts, and file a report with the flag nation to have any shipping from the refusal nation blocked at the flag nations terratorial limit. Point made.
Yeah, I know, unrealistic, but I can dream.
I think we should immediately allow registration of privateers to exterminate this pirate menace as well as assist in halting the flow of drugs into the US by sea routes. It's clear that Congress will not increase the size of the Navy/Coast Guard to do this, so the only solutions seems to be using the capitalist system by engaging captains willing to outfit ships at their own expense to attack this sea-scum head on.
The vessel is not the "USS" Marsk Alabama since it is not a US Naval vessel.
Self-defense predates any nation or government on Earth, since it is a "law of Nature", and not a man-made one. What part of the right to self-defense don't some people get?
Thanks for the comments folks, especiall on those typos i make from time to time - I correct them ASAP, thanks!
I think my response to the "rest of the international community" would be termed uncivilized at best, but it involves detailed instructions as to where they can go and what they can do with themselves when they get there.
Here's hoping this is the start of a trend.
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