Camp Pendleton Marines join Somali pirate standoff (USS Boxer)

[Renew Deal]

SAN DIEGO - Marines from Camp Pendleton have joined in the standoff with Somali pirates who are holding an American freighter captain hostage on a lifeboat off the Somali coast, it was reported today.

The USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship based in San Diego, joined the U.S. military assets in the Indian Ocean near the covered lifeboat that is out of gas and drifting about 30 miles off the Somali coast, the Orange County Register reported.

The Boxer gets some of its munitions from the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station and has Marines from Camp Pendleton aboard, some of whom are from Orange County, the newspaper reported.

The Somali pirates tried to hijack the American-flagged container ship MV Maersk Alabama on Wednesday. They were unsuccessful, but to save the crew and the boat, its captain, 53-year-old Richard Phillips of Vermont, let them take him hostage.
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http://www.myvalleynews.com/story/37106

[mackerel]

1. A friend of mine who was worked as a merchant marine

for 20 years believes they ought all surround the life boat but stay 12 miles off the boat
and starve the Somali's out. He says they'll start negotiating more quickly with us.