Hostage negotiation deal

[capncnut]

People are calling out for a deal to be made with the Somali pirates who have been holding a British couple hostage for 100 days. New video footage of the couple appealing for help shows the wife rambling incoherently, looking undernourished and frail.

Click (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/31/chandlers-somali-pirates-help-plea) for article.

I know it's a sad and tricky situation, but as far as I'm concerned, the only deal that should be made is the government warning the pirates that if they don't let them go then we'll have the military carpet bomb the whole fucking area. We can't give in to them. If we do, it will be open season for the UK.

[SymphonicX]

The trouble is that would be an idle threat at best - they're never going to carpet bomb a civilian area for the sake of two hostages.
Also bear in mind this isn't a political group - which in normal situations means that bending to their demands and issuing a ransom would indeed validate their political agenda.
It's a tough situation but the only way to sort this would be for the families of the people involved to come up with the cash and get them sorted. These hostages must come with their own forms of expense to the hostage takers such as food and shelter - they must be dying to get rid of them.

As I say, a tough situation but the fact is, if they are to be returned safe then someone has to pay the money. These people in Somalia are too poor and too well armed to ever think about doing "the right thing".

[p2501]

Kind of redundant, you could carpet bomb Somalia from one end to the other and then back, for three weeks straight and no one would notice. It's one of the few places on the Earth that actually makes New Jersey look tolerable. Hell i think Hati is in better shape right now that Somalia.

having said that. 1) the couple are both morons for going anywhere into that region, regardless the reason/ignorance or need. 2) If the Uk Government steps in, they're stuck in a quagmire of nw they've set a precident for getting involved whenever some waterhead gets themselves kidnapped. which is a spot no one wants to be in.

so, i dunno. it's a shitty place, but they got themselves into it.

[capncnut]

Seems the pirates are backing down a little bit, and have agreed to let the couple see each other for a while. What are the chances that they will just let them go, at the end of the day? I mean are they really going to keep it up forever? And let's face it, if they kill the hostages and you might well see our boys go in.

[SymphonicX]

they'll kill the hostages if they don't get the money because they have a point to prove.
The UK however, has no point to prove. You won't see action in Somalia off the basis of this. The whole economy of that country is in total ruins, this is a direct result of that. When you're starving I'm sure the lines between right and wrong are severely diminished, especially when AK47s are more prevalent than rice and cabbages. Of course, not justifying this, but crime is a natural response to poverty. The UK aint gonna run in there, guns blazing, out of some notion of petty revenge motivated by emotional responses from our society, as the situation there is too volatile, and is rooted away from politics and firmly in a corrupt group of people who live in abject poverty that would make you physically sick.

[darth los]

Some of these "pirates" are actually very well off and have an estimated worth of several million. Now, these are the head honchos of course and the "kids" they have doing the actual hostage taking are probably doing it for food, shelter and just to say they belong to something.

Killing them really wouldn't do much as their replacements are already on standby.

:cool:

[AcesandEights]

Just this morning read about some Somali pirates concluding a ransom deal to release 22 crew members from some Greek cargo-ship (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35186855/ns/world_news-africa/).

The ship owner won't say how much they paid out.

[Tricky]

Sadly the British armed forces no longer have the ability to really do anything about this anyway even if they wanted to, we're far too tied up in the rest of the worlds shitholes & too cash strapped due to that dickhead Gordon Brown, but regardless of that, as has already been said that couple were morons for sailing anywhere near that place, there has been numerous headline stories about piracy in those waters for at least several years now, they cant really plead ignorance on this. It would be tragic if they died because of this, but I dont know what the solution is :(

[Dtothe3]

See, I'd have a bit of confidence in my governemt if they sent their navy here and encouraged Somali pirates into a less risky lifestye. I think making our biggest ships look like Yachts with fat retirees at the wheel would be difficult though.