"Pirate Ship" Sunk by Indian Vessel was Thai Fishing Boat

A few days ago when the news broke about Blackwater buying a boat and becoming anti pirates it seemed comical at first, like the Anti Pirates of Penzance.  I thought maybe they could do less damage on the high seas and earn money without draining American coffers.

A little more thought reminded me that there are lots of innocent fishers out there, and even if fathers are not taking their teenage sons onboard, the death of any innocent or untried person is a failure and a loss for the world, and for those close to them a grievious one. 

Well, thank the Indian warship Tabar for teaching us again how much evil well intentioned (or glory seeking) shoot from the hip type people can do. 

You may remember the original story.  This is from LA Times report "Indian warship destroys suspected pirate vessel":

Indian officials said the Tabar had tried to stop the suspected pirate vessel about 300 miles southwest of the Omani city of Salalah. Instead of allowing the sailors to inspect the ship, the alleged pirates threatened to "blow up the naval warship if it closed on her," officials said.

"Pirates could be seen roaming on the upper deck of this vessel with guns and rocket-propelled-grenade launchers," officials said in a statement. 

The pirates opened fire, officials said, and the Tabar, a 400-foot-long warship, fired back. Fire and explosions erupted on board the suspected pirate ship, possibly the result of ammunition going off, the military said. 
 

As the boat sank, some pirates escaped on high-speed rafts, the news release said. 

  Elsewhere the Times report also said:

There was no mention of rescuing or capturing its crew. 

 Or um any victims, of course.  I doubt the pirates took the fishermen with them.  And the Howdy Doodies on the Indian ship didn't even check around to see if there was another ship to which the pirates had access.  Good going, Dildoes.

And yes the Indian ship Tabar named above does carry helicopters as the Christian Science Monitor showed in their original report on the Tabar-pirate incident "India destroys pirate ship off Somalia" so they could have done some surveillance for victims or for another pirate ship in the area.

Now the tragic news comes out that the Indian Navy boat actually fired a Thai fishing boat that had been hijacked by Somali pirates.  And though most of the pirates got away, all but one of the fishers likely died in the attack or after the boat sunk.  One Cambodian fisherman was ultimately rescued from the ocean.

I recommend reading AP report at Yahoo News "Official says sunken 'pirate' ship was Thai boat" for details, but in particular I suggest noting the paragraphs:

It was unclear if the Indian navy had received the information because it has no direct communication links to the maritime bureau, he said.

Remember how Blackwater has managed their operation in Iraq?  Mostly with a lack of intelligence, competence, and compassion, such as the time they sent 4 of their mercenaries into Falluja in simple unarmored SUVs on a mission for which the US military advised heavy armored vehicles.  I don'tBlackwater would even care to get the facts straight before they do something dangerous.  After all it won't be Eric Prince getting hurt.

 India should be punished for their incompetence.  The patrols are very important to them.  Make them stop for a month.  Send a message to all.  Yeah, piracy is bad, but a bad response is even worse. 

And you can thank the Republicans and their enablers, on radio and TV for this problem.  Though George H. W. Bush took us into Somali in 1992 (after he lost the election) rapidly, ill equipped, and poorly planned, hate radio, right wing commentators on TV and in newspapers, and Republican candidates tagged Clinton with the failures of our intervention in the east African nation.

Therefore, obviously, the Clintons couldn't consider going back, the Bushies were intent on securing that sea of oil under Iraq for Exxon (something they have failed to do anyway-- too bad Somali didn't have a sea of oil under it -- or maybe not). Interestingly, the Islamic courts fixed southern Somalia.  They could have been someone we could deal with, but, no: "Send in Ethiopians!" (which already had war crimes charges floating around them).  No one could do anything sensible for Somalia after '92 because hate radio and friends made such a big deal about it.  

tags: somali pirates  india  indian warship tabar  

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