Australian Navy castrated with warn and disarm policy
When I read the headline “Aussie navy stops Somali pirate attack’ this afternoon my heart swelled with pride. Finally our navy was more then just an asylum seeker taxi service.
Curious as to how the firefight went down, what artillery they used and how many pirates they sunk I eagerly clicked on the headline.
Within minutes I sat there with my head cradled in my hands wondering which fruitloop came up with the massively impotent ‘warn and disarm’ policy.
You’re on the high seas and you receive an emergency call from a nearby ship, ‘Pirates ahoy!’
Throwing your ship into overdrive you race against the clock to thwart the thieving bastards. Finally you see them on the horizon… just in time.
Upon seeing you the pirates throw up their hands and surrender you go to check your Australian Navy handbook and then realise we must have one of the most limp dick policies for dealing with pirates in the world.
Upon capturing a Somali pirate vessel, Australian navy officers seized weapons, checked the pirates had enough fuel, food and water to get home and then sent them on their way.
Jesus christ warn and disarm? Giving a Viagra pill to a eunuch doesn’t even begin to describe the level of limp dick going on here.
And really, does anyone seriously think the Somali pirates have learnt anything. Upon seeing a navy vessel they probably started shitting bricks. A helicopter report stated that “the crew had disposed of a number of items overboard, including a ladder.” upon sighting our navy.
Then to add insult to injury upon questioning “they denied intending to attack BBC Portugal or engaging in piracy activities.”
I don’t blame the Somalis for lying through their teeth, if we act like morons we’re going to be treated like morons.
I’m just grateful they didn’t claim they were asylum seekers fleeing persecution. God knows the bleeding hearts wouldn’t rest until we’d towed them all the way to Christmas Island.
Does anyone, navy or otherwise seriously think that letting these clowns off with a slap on the wrist is the best course of action? I imagine there’s a conversation going on in a pirate cave right about now;
‘OMG WHAT HAPPENED??’
‘well we were heading right for our target when these Australians showed up!’
‘OMG… HOW DID YOU ESCAPE?’
‘well… they took away our guns but then they gave us food, water and petrol. We’re all a little bit shaken up and slightly confused.’
‘wait…. you’re out there trying to plunder ships and they gave you supplies and told you to get lost?’
‘uh-huh’
‘THIS IS GREAT NEWS! Hey *clickclick* tell *clickclickclick* to prepare a boat with some rusted out AK’s, and tell the lads we’re eating tonight!’
These guys kidnap ships, hold crew for ransom and are a huge pest along the coast. Why are we treating them like babies?
I’m all for establishing if a boat is actually a pirate boat or not but when you receive a distress call from a merchant ship and spot a vessel speeding towards it with heavily armed men and ladders, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure what’s going on.
‘Warn and disarm’ sounds like a complete waste of resources and time. If we’re sure they’re pirates just sink them, it’s not like anybody’s going to mind. If you want to be a pirate in 2009 you accept the dangers that come along with it.
I mean where’s the deterrent, what exactly are you risking when you take to the seas to steal and kidnap? Get caught and we’ll send you home with some food and water – yeah that’ll stop piracy.
Hey Navy, grow some balls and BLOW THESE BASTARDS OUT OF THE WATER ALREADY!
September 24th, 2009 at 8:24 am Smithee(Quote)
It gets worse. Even if they are caught in the act of piracy they will merely be detained until they can be landed in Kenya. Kenya then escorts them to the Somali border and it’s back to pirating.
You can thank the UN.
September 24th, 2009 at 1:01 pm another douglas(Quote)
Too right Smithee – the UN are not allowing any country to retaliate against the Somali pirates. I see the pirate reports every day ( I work in shipping ) and its time the navies of the country currently patrolloing the area to really give it to the pirates. O fcourse the issue is that they still have a few vessels and ships crew as hostages, therefore the military have to be careful. The only ones who have really scared the pirates are the USA ( trial curently ongoing in the US for AbduliAbiqari ? – not sure on spelling )and the French who managed to save some hostages and kill some pirates, and now the pirates have said they they are targeting the US and France vessel s and crew.
Its time to stop them now, as the Somali pirate success in giving rise to more attaches by pirates in asian waters thinking they can get away with it too.
September 24th, 2009 at 5:57 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Whilst the UN do some good things with peace keeping forces and what not I think it’s sad they have adopted this softly softly approach to sea piracy. Between clearly wasting everybody’s time with their engagement with pirates policies and letting Ahmadinejad hijack every world conference he’s involved in with his specific causes, I’m finding there’s more and more to dislike about the UN.
I mean pre-planning boycotts of speeches and everything is very well, but it doesn’t really address anything. So you just walk out and then in a couple of months the same thing happens. Without drifting too far off tangent seems to me the same thing is going on with pirates.
Confiscating weapons and letting them loose just means you’ll be seeing them in a few days/weeks back on the open seas doing what they do. They waste our resources rearming themselves and we waste our resources supplying them before letting them go.
I don’t particularly think the US or the UK are all that worried about threats from the pirates. That US mission a few months ago where they snipered the lot of them in the dark, on a rocking boat is what we should be doing.
Pirates spotted? Set up a sniper squad and have some target practice. Sure it’s harsh but how many US captains have been taken hostage since?
September 26th, 2009 at 11:20 pm aussiebear(Quote)
In Yemen, they send in their special forces via helicopter to recapture a ship held for ransom. They kill 3 and capture 7 pirates.
In the French Navy, they have the GIGN (special forces) parachuted in via C-130, as well as French Commandos Marines to conduct direct action against pirates. (Hostage situation almost went sour, so they had to intervene.)
In the Russian Navy, they fire on pirates after encountering RPGs from them. This scares the crap out of those pirates, and they do the runner!
In the US Navy, they have Navy SEALs (special forces) and snipers to blow away pirates in a “Don’t f**k with us!” attitude.
In the Australian Navy, we treat pirates like misbehaved children at school. We take away their toys and send them home to mummy…We call this “warn and disarm”.
…And you wonder why boat smugglers are having so much fun! (I read that asylum seeker detention places are overflowing, and we’ll now resort to using our military bases to house them!)
You know what’s even more sad? Puntland (a region northeast of Somalia) even sent their security forces to recapture a hijacked ship! The kill and capture pirates!
September 26th, 2009 at 11:25 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
If all those other countries can blow the shit out of pirates why can’t we?
As for people smugglers… it’s somewhat depressing to know that we don’t have enough supply to house our own (pedophiles living in NSW aside), yet we seem to have no trouble housing illegal asylum shoppers.