From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of I am the eternal Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 2:32 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Pirate question Rick, we never expected them to go as far as 350 miles away from the coast. At that distance, it would take satellite tracking and we never intended to make that area a US protectorate, though we might have to now.
There's money involved in arming one of these ships, and many of them aren't ours. There's also training. Plus these ships run skeleton crews. It's really boring and matter of fact being out there, so it's not like there's active surveillance for pirates going on. Yes, a suitably armed ship can protect itself, but these are merchant marine ships flying under all sorts of flags. Pretty much we'd need to work a deal with other countries and send a contingent of coast guard and/or navy vessels. This might even have to go to the UN. As is usual with police forces, it'll be 99.99% US and one ship from Britain. But what I'm getting at is that you wouldn't need military ships to protect them if they carried their own protection. Seems to me that considering the value of their cargo and the frequency of these incidents, it would be a worthwhile investment.
