Hi Billy,
On Apr 28, 2009, at 7:20 PM, [email protected] wrote:
Ernie :
I'd say he is mostly right, maybe better than 90 % right.
The solution to the overall problem ? Short of a massive change
in values across Europe and elsewhere, blockade all Somali ports.
Simple, effective, no casualties or very few, low risk, and
essentially harmless. At least if there are no idiots who
decide it makes sense to confront navy warships.
There are only 4 ports of consequence to worry about.
Maybe a dozen lesser port that could be quarantined with patrol boats.
Use local navies, not only the USA, India, France, and GB, Make the
blockade a regular part of training or other exercises.
That's it . Piracy problem solved. in maybe 2 months, maybe 30 days.
Why isn't this done ? One word : Islam.
While you may be partly right, I think you vastly oversimplify the
issue in your desire to blame Islam for everything. :-)
Part of the problem is that Somalia is poor and African, as well as
Muslim, and anything that smacks of imperialism will be a hard sell.
Viz, the hue and cry that would result from blockade of a Muslim
country.
In other words, there are many, many problems in the world that will
continue to defy solution as long a Islam exists.
Get rid of Islam and we get a new world system. that has a halfway
decent chance of success.
Funny, from what I remember of world history prior to 900 A.D., I
don't recall things being materially better. :-P
Isn't it just barely possible that there are *other* problems in our
global political system at least as bad as Islam?
-- Ernie P.
O no, we can't get rid of Islam, we can't DO that .
Uh huh. That kind of logic should be called what it is, a death wish,
appeasement, and suicidal.
My thoughts on the subject
Billy
=============================================
In a message dated 4/28/2009 4:26:25 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected]
writes:
Strange enough I suspect he may well be right...
-- Ernie P.
The bizarre case of pirates’ human rights
from Amitai Etzioni Notes by Amitai Etzioni
We are told that the reasons we have such a hard time stopping the
pirates is that our forces have a very hard time locating them in the
vast sea. An odd statement, given that the pirates have no trouble
locating our ships in the same sea, and they have no drones,
satellites, AWACS, and all the other means of modern technology.
Moreover, we hardly need to look for them; they present themselves to
us, quite regularly. Most recently they captured six ships with a few
weeks.
The main reason pirates roam freely is only whispered in the corridors
of power, because it is very politically incorrect to openly state
that pirates are protected by a radical interpretation of human
rights. The various navies involved are operating (or more precisely,
are not operating) because of one or more of the following points:
• Do not capture the pirates because if you do, they will have to
be brought to trial in some national court. There are no international
courts in which they can be tried. To try them, you will need evidence
that will hold up in such courts. Most ship hands do not have the kind
of police training needed to collect evidence properly, observe the
chain of evidence, and so on.
• Once brought to your homeland, the pirates may seek—and possibly
be granted—asylum. (In several European countries one can gain asylum
by showing that he or she is coming from a part of the world in which
there is a sufficient level of indiscriminant violence that one’s life
would be in danger by remaining there. One need not show that he or
she was specifically persecuted.) Thus, courts may let them walk and
you would then have dozens of Somali marauders roaming free in your
country.
• You will be unable to ship them back to Somalia for trial because
there they would likely be subject to torture or execution.
• Piracy is a crime and crimes are a matter for the police to deal
with, not armed forces. But national police forces have no
jurisdiction, a high seas catch-22.
• Pirates cannot be shot when they close in on your ship because
they may be fishermen engaging in their peaceful business. The fact
that they are armed cannot be used as evidence because in these parts
of the world practically all men are armed.
• If you fail to respect their rights, you may be hauled in front
of one or more of your national courts, the European Court of Human
Rights, condemned by United Nations, and excoriated by the parts of
the media and by human rights activists.
Ignored is the fact that human rights—which ought to be observed—must
be balanced with concerns for the common good, as they are in the
domestic courts of all free nations. No reasonable interpretation of
rights allows them to trump all other considerations, especially gross
violations of the safety of innocent people going about their
business, business which, in the case of the Maersk Alabama, consisted
of carrying humanitarian aid destined for Somalia! Thus, while even
pirates, if captured, should not be tortured or held indefinitely
without a hearing, a ship’s sovereignty should be extended to an area
around it. Any armed party entering this zone, should be asked to
leave or surrender; if they refuse and do not heed a warning shot,
they should be treated as a hostile force. Civilian airlines have
armed marshals. Our commercial ships and cruise ships may need some of
those now, equipped with a 007 license.
At least the way I see it, to treat human rights on the high seas the
way we do at home is a much preferred alternative to the desperate
suggestion—now increasingly mentioned—that we ought to invade Somalia,
in order to get at the pirates’ bases. Such a land-based operation is
surely going to involve killing many innocent Somalis, aside from
inflicting a considerable number of casualties on our own troops.
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