Informed Comment

Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion

Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Somali Pirates Take Saudi Tanker

Somali pirates have hijacked a Saudi oil super-tanker off the coast of Kenya and are steering it toward a Somali port.


Somalia


Riyadh

posted by Juan Cole @ 11/18/2008 12:57:00 AM

7 Comments:

At 10:34 AM, Blogger Jeff said...

Excellent visual point. Why doesn't Saudi Arabia, with all that money, built a navy to patrol basically their own backyard. Why is America, France and Britain expected to police the world?

Better yet, couldn't they put a couple of guns on every tanker? The Somali pirates, from what I have seen, aren't speeding around in high tech Iranian torpedo boats. They're sailing stoeln fishing boats. A couple of 50s mounted fore and aft, plus a box of grenades, should be able to deter these jokers long enough for somebody to send a couple of F-16s over and blow them out of the water.

 
At 2:04 PM, Anonymous CSI said...

As I understand it international law and insurance regulations make it very difficult for the crew of commercial vessels to arm themselves.

 
At 4:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jeff,

the problem with shooting the pirates from the ship is that they have to let the pirates get within the range of their guns. That means, from the other side, that the pirates could get close enough to shoot RPG's at the ships.

Ships don't do well when they have holes in their hulls at or near the waterline.

Tankers and freighters should have swift boats tethered on each side, or attack helicopters topside, and radar, and when they detect an unidentified craft approaching, they should send someone out to investigate and/ or engage.

This is exactly the kind of work that Blackwater and their ilk are suited for: protecting commercial activity. Get them out of Iraq, and onto the high seas.
.

 
At 4:07 PM, Blogger Walking Wounded said...

I am struck by how desparate a 'pirate' has to be, to take to sea in an open boat, hoping to survive and sieze a prize in the face of navies and private guards who are using helos and radar.

I would contrast the US naval, air and intel assets in the Gulf, fighting a shadow war against Iran, to the force dealing with 80+ attacks and 20+ hijackings in 2008, in the approaches to the Suez.

Rightwing blogs like Opinion Journal are using the current 'piracy' news cycles to talk about whether an Obama admin will have the hair and huevos to go Rambo in the Gulf of Aden. It's an amazing bit of cognitive dissonance that challenges the Democrats to do what the "Long Warrior's" in the current admin find unwise or inconvenient.

One has to think that firing TOW missiles from the deck of a tanker, however picturesque the video might be, has a downside. Else the underwriters would be fielding more Blackwater teams aboard now. The security contractors are almost certainly making a pitch to do just that.

 
At 4:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

.
The AFP article notes the pirates are well-armed and tactically proficient.

Credit where credit is due: they are also technologically adept. How the heck did they find that target way out in the middle of the deep blue sea ? Even though the target is huge, the ocean is infinitely larger.

And where was the tanker headed ?
.

 
At 9:31 PM, Blogger Walking Wounded said...

For a maritime story, go to BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7735507.stm

The big tanker was bound for the cape, and was taken hundreds of miles off the Kenya Somalia border. BBC's sources speculate about well funded seagoing pirate motherships, investing their previous ransoms in pricey weapons, communications tech, and intel from the Dubai.

Not really ponga pirates at all. A corporate cartel venture, like cocaine smuggling using $150k airplanes.

In most sea lanes the unmaneuverable tankers want everyone to see them coming and get out of the way. A ship that large would be visible on commercial anti-collision radar, and leave a slick-track in the water for 50 miles behind.

 
At 7:50 AM, Anonymous James W said...

The situation in saudi arabia is not what it seams to an outsider looking in as all of you are as i have lived there what the usa and brittan are doing is aiding the saudi forces in training to help them do it them selves they are in no way acting as world police

 

Post a Comment

<< Home