Pirate Attack!

[RB TexLa]

on CNN now


Two US Navy ships attacked off east coast of Africa.

[nonconformist]

1. IT'S THE RAPTURE!

Good thing I have been touched by his noodly appendage!

[Gman]

2. This may well be the stupidest thing

I've ever heard of anyone doing.

[RB TexLa]

4. pretty much suicide n/t

[flvegan]

3. Pirates v. US Navy? WTF?

Attacked by pirates...you've got to be kidding me.

[Richard Steele]

5. Great. The frickin' ice caps are HISTORY now....

[monktonman]

8. Pirates dont exist....those scientist's are wrong

[Richard Steele]

10. OOOkaaay....well, anyhow, welcome to DU!

[monktonman]

12. oooookay?

Dude do I really need to explain. I mean cum on, use your imagination.

[amber dog democrat]

6. Is this another Gulf of Tonkiln incident ?

I can't even imagne someone attacking ....well unless its another USS Cole incident.
Need more info

[TAPat]

7. See, I knew it was the middle ages again! nt

[RB TexLa]

9. I guess since the layoffs at Capital One .........

[linazelle]

11. WWFSMD?

:shrug:

[Ready4Change]

13. Any links?

I can see this happening in one of 2 ways.

1. Pirates drive up to Navy boats and open fire.

2. Navy vessels drive up to pirates and signal them to stand down for boarding and search. (Terminology?) Pirates freak, open fire and attempt to run off.

In the first case, the pirates would HAVE to be morons. In the second case, they might have been hoping to go unnoticed, but got caught.

Which case was it?

[RB TexLa]

14. no link on Cnn.com

All I've heard them say is the ships where fired on with RPG's and they fired back and board the ship taking launcher(s) and guns.

[maddezmom]

15. found this link: US warships kill 'pirate' after attack off Somalia

MANAMA (AFP) - US Navy ships killed one suspected pirate and wounded five others when they returned fire on a group of suspected pirates in the Indian Ocean off Somalia, a statement said.

"USS Cape St. George and USS Gonzalez returned fire on a group of suspected pirates in the Indian Ocean, killing one and wounding five," said the statement by the US Naval Forces Central Command and the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet.

The incident happened approximately 25 nautical miles off the central eastern coast of Somalia in international waters, it said.

The two warships were conducting "maritime security operations ... when they spotted a suspect vessel towing two smaller skiffs bearing west toward the coast," it said.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060318/pl_afp/usnavysomaliapiracy_060318173026

[Ready4Change]

17. Ah. Second case, then.

The next paragraph in that article:

'The Gonzalez sent a team to board the suspect vessel and "noticed the group of suspected pirates were brandishing what appeared to be rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers."'

So, the Navy ships saw a suspicious group of ships (one ship towing 2 others) approached, launched a team to board, and then the pirates opened fire.

These weren't complete idiots who set out to attack navy ships, but criminals who got caught in the act, and then were stupid enough to try to fight their way out of it. (IOW: Still idiots, but of a different sort.)

Thanks for the various links.

[VTMechEngr]

16. Links here:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1741288

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2006/20060318_4540.html

http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060318/API/603180673&cachetime=5

[Bigmack]

18. My tinfoil hat has so many layers...

... of tinfoil that I don't have any idea what happened in this case, but I do know I can't believe anything the government has to say. About pirates or anything else.

Does that say something about me... or something about the government?