[Here’s a teaser of a story we’ll be running tomorrow morning on Military.com]
The U.S. Coast Guard is using the recent capture of seven pirates in the Gulf of Aden as a test case of how to pursue swashbucklers worldwide and submit them to international courts.
According to key officials with the Coast Guard, maritime security experts and military commanders are examining a variety of ways to secure ships transiting through the East African waters and provide some semblance of order the largely lawless region between Yemen and Somalia.
“We’re focused on providing what we call a ‘consequence delivery system,’ ” said Capt. Chuck Michel, head of the Coast Guard’s office of Maritime and International Law. “In the absence of the territorial sovereign standing up, what we’re trying to set up is some kind of legal mechanism to make it more painful for the pirates to actually go out and do their activities.”
Michel said the capture by the Navy of seven pirates who tried to take over the Marshall Islands-flagged MV Polaris Feb. 11 is a “test run” of the mechanism that the U.S. military would use in the future to deter more piracy.
“The whole follow-on train that follows once you grab these individuals to actually getting them behind bars is an excruciating process,” Michel added during a Feb. 17 interview with military bloggers.
Also, we plan to have Jake Allen from The Combat Operator speak with us for Episode 3 of “Boots on the Ground” about piracy and security, as well as the recent name change from Blackwater Worldwide to Xe. We’re scheduled for a Talkshoe live podcast at 10:30 EST tomorrow. Please tune in.
– Christian
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
“The whole follow-on train that follows once you grab these individuals to actually getting them behind bars is an excruciating process”
The Spanish Coast Guard uses to RAM small, brittle embarkations which smuggle illegal North African aliens across the Gibraltar into Southern Europe, especially at night. Obviously this practice should be brutally punished (sinking civilians, not immigrating without papers), but piracy, an age-old plague, is a wholly different matter: Since no one in his right mind feels any sympathy for pirates, would there be a problem with… you know, getting it simply all over with any pirates wherever you see them, when nobody is around, the nonchalant way, not even arresting or stopping or showing yourself to them, and everyone seals his lips? Since I don’t really believe in the development and regeneration of Sub-Saharan countries on the long run (nope, Obama), this game of hunting down pirates along Africa’s coast is still gonna last a looong time anyway!
Whom would they complain to?
I say strike them at home base & at sea.
Hire Xe (ex Blackwater) for Gunners crews on US ships in the Gulf OR UK ships.
Hide guns onboard ships& on persons.
Or set up Decoy ships for pirates then strike within this”Trojan horse”.
This is winnable.
Recycle some WW2 PT Boats If needbe or types for Strikes at Sea in Pirate bases.
& Find root cause for piracy anyway.
Then less pirates.
The Marshall Islands have been an independent nation for thirty years. Why does America have to be the policeman for the Marshall Islands-flagged MV Polaris??? How many American flagged ships have been pirated?? I believe that the answer is zero, please correct me if I am wrong. Why does our Navy, paid for with our tax dollars need to act when it is not in our interest. If these ships that are being pirated are bringing Chinese-made or other foreign-made imports into America, then I say good on the the pirates. We don’t need that imported junk anyway.
If the pirates need to be stopped then let the foreign ship-owners band together and stop them. Our Navy and Coast Guard should only be used if American shipping or American exports are affected.
The reason we have pirates off the coast of Africa is because Africa sucks. We all know that. Now, I’m no fan of piracy, but let’s not pretend that many of us might not do the same in their situation. Piracy begins to affect us because those people leave their little rathole country and visit a tiny fraction of their chaos upon our shipping.
Am I making excuses for them? Nope, but I think piracy is a symptom of a larger disease. The disease is that Africa sucks. This is the same reason why people are leaving Africa and coming up into Europe. How do we fix it? We need to eliminate the causes, namely, the African dictators. If Africa starts to stabilize and begin to prosper, piracy will cease.
To Freefallingbomb.
If you would like to spout your ignorant comments, why don’t you do us a favor and go to LiveLeak.com. They like ranting assholes, like yourself, over there… hold on, you are a LL asshole. STFU and go away little boy.
Makes one long for the good ole days when you could hang a pirate on the spot, and maybe put his body in an iron basket suspended at the entrance to the harbor, or perhaps decapitate him and put his head on a pike in a public place. This “international rights” thing has just gotten way out of hand…
Good Morning Folks,
First off I would like to thank “Schrott”, I think he about tagged FFB correctly. I don’t engage in personal attacks as a matter of principle. The opinion expressed by FFB are best left on the Middle School play grounds where 12-15 year old are impressed with their discovery of profanity. The unfortunate thing is that some of these children never out grow this and become policy makers for our Government.
On another post on this issue it is commented that the USCG is trying to get a piece of the pirate action, although Admiral Thad Allen is perhaps our most able flag officer currently serving, piracy in international water is not and never has been a function of the Coast Guard. The line of departure is very clear the Coast Guard is a domestic law enforcement agency and not a Navy, unless Congress specifically passes a temporary law that they are operating under the jurisdiction, command and control of the USN.
This has been the law since 1792 and is clearly spelled out in the U.S. Code. The only reason” Gitmo” existed was that the Bush Administration didn’t want it’s blatant disregard for U.S. law to come up in court. It is unlikely that any serving U.S. President would not grant pardons to any past President or VP but the second tier and below members of this administration should be held accountable in a public forum. It is of note that the Bush administration couldn’t get any favorable legal opinion(s), other then from John Yo, or the support of any sitting judge in their handling of terrorists prisoners.
To “nb” the pirates that you refer to as being hung and left to rot in a cage at a harbors entrance did in fact have a legal court hearing and conviction. It is also noted that more pirates were pardoned by these Admiralty courts then executed. Those executed at sea were mostly sailors for a nations navy that had gone over to the pirates side and were captured, again they did have the benefit of a judicial hearing, Captains Mast or a Courts Martial before execution, Interestingly a more common punishment for such transgressions was the now banned lash.
The current President who campaign on the promise that he believed in the law and would support the U.S. Constitution has a perfect place to start. U.S. Federal Courts have a good record of sensitivity to national security issues and I doubt if that will change.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner
Sorry, Mr. Skinner, that i let loose profanity on this site and comment thread. I thought it maybe the best way to get through to FFB, if i stepped down to his level. He is a Live Leaker… I’ve seen his tag on the comments over there. Being a former soldier, i try to give this site as much respect as possible.
Keep up the good work DT.
Good Evening Mr. Schrott,
Like you I have worn my countries uniform and took the oath”… to protect and defend the Constitution of The United States.” I still take that oath seriously as I’m sure most Veterans do. Flack from the likes of FFB, who doesn’t even have the guts to use his own name is little more then a distraction.
Defense Tech has become a very widely read site in the Military, DoD and the political arena and I would like to feel that it is in at least part to the knowledgeable and civil debate that happens most of the time on the forum sections. The childish antics of FFB and others only degrades the quality of exchanges that goes on here.
On to our former Den Mother Noah Shachtman, for the few of you who don’t know he is frequently quoted in P.W. Singers new book: “Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st. Century.” Noah is one of the more serious and better informed of military journalists and his finger prints are all over the text. The book was published on Feb. 9th. and is a good read if a labored read. Mr. Singer presents some interesting observations and opinions, none of us I’m sure will agree with all of them but they are a point of where the debate can began.
I would plug Noah’s current web site, but he got pi**ed at me a few years ago for mentioning another site here, so I will return the favor.
ALLONS,
Byron Skinner
To me the answer is simple. The shipping companies should hire security teams i.e. two SoF types armed to the teeth to give the pirates a hot welcome. It would be a lot cheaper than paying ransom and would serve to reduce the pirate population. It would take some accommodation from local authorities to allow the carrying of arms. It would also help keep the Blackwater guys off the streets.