Word: somali
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...darkness fell on April 12, Captain Richard Phillips was bound at gunpoint on a lifeboat bobbing in the Indian Ocean, held hostage by a band of Somali pirates who had attacked his container ship five days earlier. Saving Phillips' life meant taking out his three captors in as many shots--which the Navy SEAL snipers who rescued him managed to do from the swaying fantail of a destroyer 75 ft. (about 25 m) away. It was just "a day at the office" for the élite fighting force, as author and Vietnam-era SEAL Dick Couch said...
Have we awakened a sleeping giant or stood up, at long last, to a local bully? President Obama's decision last weekend to authorize force against the Somali pirates holding Captain Richard Phillips brought the end of a crisis, but it may be the beginning of a longer military effort. This year pirates have attacked dozens of vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, which leads into the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Egged on by generous ransom payments, they're holding more than 300 sailors hostage. Phillips, captain of the Maersk Alabama, was the first...
...reputation for decisiveness, never did settle whether to allow the Marines he sent to help keep peace in Lebanon in 1982 to use deadly force to protect themselves. The Iranian speedboats that threatened oil tankers in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s confused the U.S. Navy, much as Somali speedboats have befuddled the navies now trying to police the Indian Ocean. (See pictures of modern-day pirates...
...softness. There is the fear that he won't have the strength to stand up to the Israelis (or the Iranians) or to the left wing of his party on health care or to the porkers on the defense budget. On the other hand, there are three dead Somali pirates who attest to this President's ability to make tough decisions in a timely fashion. Obama won't stand up to everyone, always; he is, after all, a politician. But the quality of fights he does choose will determine whether he builds his legacy on rock or sand...
...least a glimmer of hope that the piracy problem in Africa can also be tackled. The success in the strait clearly shows how committed and carefully orchestrated naval action can combat pirates. But analysts warn that the lessons of Malacca also tell us how much more difficult fighting the Somali pirates will be, because of the very different conditions on shore in Africa. The countries along the strait possess the resources and organized governments necessary to stand up to piracy. Those crucial elements are lacking in destitute and disorderly Somalia, where most of the pirates that are terrorizing the Gulf...