US to send marines and spec ops to combat pirates?

[PainRack]

I keep reading that Associated Press states that the Pac Fleet admiral has been saying that America wants to base Marines and special forces on ships transiting in the Malacca straits and Australian waters in an effort to fight piracy and terrorists. is this true? I can't find a inkling of this online/

[Bob McDob]

Doubtful. It's something that needs to be done, but I don't think the US would be able to justify sending troops against what, for most intents and purposes, are a group of petty thugs that rob refugees.

[phongn]

Pirates do a lot more than "rob refugees."

[Vympel]

Wouldn't it be better to use littoral combatants to chase down pirate vessels?

[Nathan F]

We did it once before, nothing to say we won't again.

Hence, "...to the shores of Tripoli..." in the Marine Hymn. The first 'War on Terror' was Jefferson's attack on the Barbary pirates back in the early 1800s.

[Montcalm]

I heard that some of these modern day pirates are police officers from shithole countries.

[Elheru Aran]

Question: have any of these pirates harassed American shipping through the area?

If so, I think that it's a good idea, even if not necessarily plausible from a diplomatic standpoint. These pirates are obviously a pox upon a good deal of shipping in that area; they have to be dealt with in some way. I would try for a diplomatic situation first, to be sure; perhaps see what could be done to arrange for a stop to the piracy; but if that arrangement was violated, examples would have to be made.

To do so the SEAL's would probably be best, especially if accompanied by a destroyer or two. SEAL's have gunboats, high-speed racers with guns, minisubs, and who knows what else-- plus they're extremely suited to this kind of littoral combat role. Shallow-water Navy would be suitable, but I don't have any data on their resources so I can't say for sure about that. And the USMC would work, but they're primarily land forces except for their helos and the AV-8 Harriers.

The main reason for this piracy, really, is primarily economic; they don't have enough money, they come from little islands where tourists never go, the resources of their home islands are depleted. So they turn to piracy to compensate for that. Unfortunately, the US is overextended already; it'll be hard to provide such assistance, and the countries to which the islands belong (primarily Indonesia and the Philippines, I believe) are too poor to really provide much help, plus corrupt (how do you think so many ships get ripped off without any naval/coast guard stopping it from happening?).

Hmm... perhaps it would be best for Australia to do this? After all, they're much closer, thus it's more personal for them.

That's my take on it anyway...

[Montcalm]

I don't know if they attack merchant ships,but some do attack small boats like yacht and sailboat.

[Col. Crackpot]

what diplomatic channels does one go through to negotiate with pirates? Thats like negotiating with the Mafia instead of arresting/shooting them.

[Durandal]

what diplomatic channels does one go through to negotiate with pirates? Thats like negotiating with the Mafia instead of arresting/shooting them.

The Pirate's Code. Duh. Didn't you see Pirates of the Caribbean?

[Sir Sirius]

Am I the only one who thought that "Pirates" referred to people who pirate music, software Etc. after reading the threat title, rather then "real" pirates?

[phongn]

I don't know if they attack merchant ships,but some do attack small boats like yacht and sailboat.

Real merchant shipping does get attacked. As for US shipping, we don't have that much AFAIK -- the US Merchant Marine has been in a long decline for many years.

[Sea Skimmer]

Wouldn't it be better to use littoral combatants to chase down pirate vessels?

That would cost a fuckload and just wouldn't work. The pirates in those waters use modest sized speedboats and carry nothing more then rifles and grappling hooks. There mixed in among thousands of similar boats and fishing craft (many of whose crews are also armed to ward off pirates and poachers), which are spread among thousands of islands. The only way to get them is the wait for them to attack first, apparently Thailand has kept is waters fairly safe by staging ambushes with marine detachments on civilian boats.

However I highly doubt the US has any plans to do this with its own forces. There are only around 250 major ships flying the US flag in the whole world and Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia all have plenty of infantry to spare and helicopters to shift them around from ship to ship. If anything is done is going to be on the lines of sending a modest Marine and special forces detachment to train local forces to do the job (though they probably already know how to do it better).

[The Yosemite Bear]

My first instinct was to think this was an RIAA article.

[Patrick Degan]

We did it once before, nothing to say we won't again.

Hence, "...to the shores of Tripoli..." in the Marine Hymn. The first 'War on Terror' was Jefferson's attack on the Barbary pirates back in the early 1800s.

I take it you've read Jefferson's War. Largely a good book, but the authour's clumsy attempt at a parallel between the Barbary Wars and the present-day "War on Terror" shows a stunning ignorance of historical context.

In any case, the far closer parallel would be with the U.S. Navy's interdiction effort against Carribean piracy in the 1820s.

[PainRack]

US may deploy crack troops

WASHINGTON : The United States is considering deploying Marines and special operations forces on high speed vessels along the Straits of Malacca to flush out terrorists in one of the world's busiest waterways.

The potential deployment of US forces along the narrow straits straddling Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia would be part of Washington's new counterterrorism initiative to help Southeast Asia, said Admiral Thomas Fargo , the top US military commander in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Regional Maritime Security Initiative is being devised by the United States military to combat transnational threats like proliferation, terrorism, trafficking in humans and drugs, and piracy.

It allows sharing of information and intelligence that puts standing operating procedures in place with Southeast Asian countries for effective action against terrorists and other criminals, Fargo said.

"There is very large, widespread support for this initiative," said Fargo , who heads the Hawaii-based US Pacific Command, directing Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force operations across the vast region.

"I just came back from Singapore and had a very solid conversation with the Singaporeans, and they're going to help us with this," he told US legislators quizzing him this week on budget allocations for his command, the largest in the United States.

Asked whether the Pacific Command was adequately resourced to implement the initiative, Fargo said that while previous mechanisms used in the war against drugs would be relied upon, new approaches were being considered.

"You know, we're looking at things like high-speed vessels, putting special operations forces on high-speed vessels, putting Marines on high-speed vessels so that we can use boats that might be incorporated with these vessels to conduct effective interdiction," he explained.

He did not discuss specific plans. The Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia where hundreds of American troops are stationed -- to train local soldiers to battle terrorists in the country's troubled south.

On whether Malaysia and Indonesia would extend cooperation to the US initiative, Fargo said: "I expect a broad range of support.

"All of the countries are concerned about the transnational threat. This is a pretty vast space and no country can do this by themselves. So it's going to be a multinational, mutilateral effort, if you will, to deal with this particular problem."

Fargo cited India as one of the first countries to provide patrols along the Straits of Malacca immediately after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

Southeast Asian waters, particularly in the Straits of Malacca near the Indonesian side, are the world's most pirate-infested region. More than a quarter of the world's trade and oil transits the straits.

Southeast Asia is also home to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the regional chapter of the al-Qaeda terror network accused of deadly bomb attacks in Indonesia and the Philippines.

There are numerous other groups in the region that have been branded terrorist by the United States and local governments, including the Abu Sayyaf Muslim kidnap-for-ransom group in the southern Philippines.

Fargo said Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines have arrested more than 200 JI members, while Indonesia have prosecuted 34 JI members involved in the deadly Bali bombings, most of whom have been sentenced for their crimes.

Fargo said Southeast Asia was a "crucial front" in the US war on terrorism.

"Destabilization of the governments of this region, moderate, secular, and legitimately elected, and with large Muslim populations, would result in decades of danger and chaos," he said.

- AFP

However I highly doubt the US has any plans to do this with its own forces. There are only around 250 major ships flying the US flag in the whole world and Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia all have plenty of infantry to spare and helicopters to shift them around from ship to ship. If anything is done is going to be on the lines of sending a modest Marine and special forces detachment to train local forces to do the job (though they probably already know how to do it better).

The Malacca straits ranks only second in terms of ship tonnage passing through(the Suez is 1st). Furthermore, a significant portion of Japan oil supply transit through the Straits, so, its fairly important to America allies, if not American companies which do trade in the region.


As for anti-piracy in the region....... well, the demise of Indonesia as a military power after the Asian economic crisis has simply left a huge swath of the ocean unpatrolled. While piracy had always been a problem in the region, the utter collapse of Indonesian maritime anti-piracy efforts, not to mention the possible collaboration of coast guard personnel with pirates themselves has made safeguarding naval vessels extremely diffcult. The pirates bases are also extremely isolated, making an overland assault diffcult.

[PainRack]

Errr, can someone help me dress that link? Also, tell me what I did wrong again?

Fixed, also you reversed where you should put the url and the sentence. ~GR