March 19, 2006
JEFFERSONIANISM:
US ships in Somali pirate clash (Cathy Jenkins, 3/19/06, BBC News)
The US Navy says two of its warships have returned fire on a group of suspected pirates off the Somali coast, killing one person and wounding five. [...]The navy statement said the two warships - the USS Cape St George, a guided missile cruiser, and the USS Gonzalez, a guided missile destroyer - were conducting maritime security operations about 25 nautical miles off the Somali coast when they spotted a suspect vessel towing two smaller skiffs.
The Gonzalez sent a team to board the vessel and noticed that a group of suspected pirates was brandishing what appeared to be rocket-propelled grenades.
According to the statement, the suspected pirates then opened fire on the navy ships, which returned fire with mounted machine guns in self-defence.
One suspected pirate was killed and a fire started on board the vessel.
Talk about punching over your weight.... Posted by Orrin Judd at March 19, 2006 10:23 AM
Oh, yes. Engage a Ticonderoga with an RPG you bought secondhand from some back-alley arms dealer in Mogadishu. Yeah, that's right, you can take him.
/sarcasam
Posted by: Mike Morley at March 19, 2006 10:59 AMThis is why I keep saying muslims can't fight.
Islamic point/counterpoint tactical assesment:
-we have a couple of RPGs and some assault rifles
-They have two massive war ships
-we have allah!
-fire away.
Posted by: Amos at March 19, 2006 12:18 PMYou forget that martyrdom is their goal, not victory.
Posted by: erp at March 19, 2006 12:27 PMWhat a bunch of crap. We have two war ships, and all we can accomplish is one dead and five wounded dirty bastards?
Posted by: AllenS at March 19, 2006 1:08 PMit's the bold guppy syndrome.
Posted by: tow at March 19, 2006 1:54 PMI've gotta agree with AllanS: you mean that's all we could do? Seems Amos left out part of the converstation: the part where they shoot to kill, while we shoot to hurt their feelings.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at March 19, 2006 2:01 PMYeah you'd think the bored 20-year-old on the deck gun would have taken the opportunity to vaporize them.
Posted by: Amos at March 19, 2006 7:33 PMThey weren't Pirates - They were aquatic insurgents.
Posted by: California Job Case at March 19, 2006 11:33 PMPre- and post-combat pictures here.
What on earth could they have been thinking? I doubt they could have taken the USS Constitution in that thing...
Posted by: Mike Earl at March 20, 2006 10:37 AMTrackBack
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Two U.S. Navy ships exchanged gunfire with suspected pirates Saturday off the coast of Somalia, and [Read More]