While taking time out from playing golf, our president led an attack on nasty pirates of indeterminate religion and skin color to rescue an American citizen (one)who was being held hostage.
It is now time for me to write the things you won't see other people writing.
1. I would like to join everyone else in their admiration of US Navy SEAL teams (or whatever secret name they are calling themselves this year). But let's get real. This operation should have been considered as the lower end of their specialty. Killing a few skinnies should not have proven difficult in any way.
2. Pirates have no civil rights. Not even the right to be actually declared a pirate before a SEAL team swoops in and shoots them. Remember the big stink everyone raised about the new defense authorization act that said we could indefinitely detain people with out trial for terrorism? What do Pirates get? Where is the outrage? Is there really any moral difference between a pirate who takes a hostage off a private yachts and holds them until they pay their fines (randsome) and a SEAL team that kidnaps those same pirates, transports them to the other side of the planet and holds them indefinitely with no hope of paying their fines to be released?
3. Killing pirates is a pretty good use of the US Navy. How many ships do you think the US Navy needs to kill every known pirate in the whole world. The fact that all the pirates have boats should help simplify the task. I am guessing the answer is somewhere near 1 of those LHDs and a few FFGs. Navy guys: don't pin your hopes on this event to save you in the budget fight.
4. WTF was a white American blond woman doing in Somalia in the first place? If you are stupid enough to intentionally travel to those places in the world that don't have law and order or sail your yachts into pirate infested waters... you get what you get. The taxpayers of the USA have absolutely no vested interest in squandering our blood and treasure bailing you out. Get a clue, people. Stay out of the Islamic world. Stay out of countries on the State Department "no travel" list. Stay out of countries that can't tell the difference between pirates and coast guard. Don't sail your yacht into one of those three known places on the globe that are infested with pirates.
5. Danish guy got lucky. Snowflake's chance in hell that Denmark was going to send their commandos to get him.
6. Send the rescued woman a bill for all the costs of using the US navy to rescue her. Don't sugar coat it with, "they were there anyway". She will wish she had just paid the pirates directly.
10 comments:
There should be riots in the streets in Pittsburg and Tampa Bay.
I am sensing there isn't a lot of love for pirates.
"Denmark was going to send their commandos to get him."
Denmark has commandos? What to they do protect the pastries?
Res Ipsa
And ninjas. When are we going to hear a story about Navy SEALs taking out ninjas! Fair is fair, after all.
"Is there really any moral difference between a pirate who takes a hostage off a private yachts and holds them until they pay their fines (randsome) and a SEAL team that kidnaps those same pirates, transports them to the other side of the planet and holds them indefinitely with no hope of paying their fines to be released?"
Pirates kidnap civilian women.
SEALs "kidnap" murderers, thieves, and kidnappers of innocents.
Yup, no moral difference there - if you're a complete moral imbecile, anyway.
Thanks for visiting Anon 8:36,
It seems that you are trying to make a distinction between the two different groups SEALS and Pirates. They are both in the business of causing harm to other people and they both make a living at it. Both ply their trade with the sanction of their homeland. Since the end of the Iraq war in 2003, almost everyone killed by the SEALS including Osama Bin Laden has been technically a civilian. And since they got no trials, they were technically "innocent civilians".
So I am still not seeing your distinction. The Pirates seem to be following a set of principles (a pirate "code" if you will. But the SEALS follow a set of rules that changes to fit the need.
Think hard and give me an answer. This thought exercise is not pointless. I already know the distinction, but it seems lost on you.
Somalia sanctions murder, robbery, and kidnapping? Really?
There is an obvious and morally important distinction between the motivations of the SEALs and the pirates and who they target.
I'll play your #2 game.
There are many differences, but the biggest for us is this: The pirates aren't Americans; SEALs are.
Additionally, SEALs are responsible to their commanders, who are responsible to other commanders, so on and so forth until you get to our President and Congress. They represent the will of the American people...for good or bad. If we don't like how the SEALs are being used, we should change the leadership. Even if we suppose pirates work for Somalians, it's not the same arrangement at all. There is not even Somalian law to which Somalians can hold their own pirates accountable.
Is there really any moral difference ?
Sorry, I don't really care. It's enough that one rescues Americans and the other harms Americans.
Send the rescued woman a bill
Like we bill everyone that visits the emergency room with neither money nor insurance. We just don't actually expect payment.
We call it "rescuing Americans". The Somalis call it a Jail break, Armed invasion by a foreign power, murder, destruction of private property and obstruction of justice. All of that would be illegal if we tried it in Germany or Texas.
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