Isn't it time for combined US and Russian troops to turn Somali in a parking lot?

zapata

the pirates thrive in countries that are backward, tho through no fault of the citizens,have no political leadership,corrupt local govts run by warlords,no means to use natural resources,for manufacture or trade,illiteracy,poor health care,,,,,,givem a boost,if surrounding nations would help,,intervention,whether us and/or the russians,would be 1/4 of the job,this is nation building,,,,,,,,boots on the ground????we ready for that???????interim,hilary will state "we will work the state of somalia through/among the african nations,and the U.N.'it'd be nice to see us and the brother rooskies collaborate in terms of relief,construction,,,,,,,peaceful stuff,if there need to be shootin,,,shootin they learned at stalingrad,,,,,,,raggety,but effective

Billy11B

That would be difficult at best - it would turn Somalia into a hotbed of insurgent activity and turn even more Muslims against us. A simple solution would be to figure out how to get a functioning government in the country so they could police themselves. If Somalia is anything like Iraq and Afghanistan the majority of the population is not radical Muslims - they are just normal people trying to make life a little better for themselves and their families.

ConcernedCitizen

No, that's misguided Bush-style thinking. The country isn't the problem; the pirates are. I'd rather see them adopt a zero-tolerance shoot-on-sight policy toward pirates and leave the country alone.

Ghost of Tom Joad

We have too many parking lots as it is. Considering the international scope of the problem here, we should go a step further and get the UN to step up and chip in troops to go in a deal with the unrest in Somalia which is the root cause of the piracy. Turn Somalia into a UN protectorate and the pirates will no longer have a base to operate from.

And I should point out that while the pirates are Muslim, they aren't radicals and are doing this purely for money and because there is no law in Somalia to put a stop to this. Their religious beliefs are pretty much irrelevant in terms of their actions.

Edit: And why do you have to make everything into a religious war? What part of religion has nothing to do with the piracy issue don't you understand? The Christians in Somalia are no more or less civilized then the Muslims in the country. In fact, religion should never form the basis of government, and that is regardless of whether that religion is Islam, Christianity, Judaism or any other world religion.

Jas B

Could you possibly be an American, to suggest the extermination of over 6 million people including over half a million christians not that their lives are any more important than the muslim population.

Seems to me that genocide as a response to piracy would make the attacker no better than the original criminals.

Somalia has suffered nearly 20 years of anarchy, chaotically ruled by rival clans backed by pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns. Its nominal government controls barely a few blocks.

With no coast guard to defend its shores, Somalis began complaining that vessels from Asia and Europe were dumping toxic waste in their waters and illegally scooping up red snapper, barracuda and tuna. The rampant illegal fishing began destroying the livelihoods of local fishermen.

According to a memo prepared last month by the staff of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, Somali clans began resorting "to armed gangs in an attempt to stop the foreign vessels. Over time, these gangs have evolved into hijacking commercial vessels for ransom as an alternative source of income."

Today, they number around 1,500, hardly a number which justify your suggestion.

Comment, can't work out how you turn a country into a parking lot without either killing the population or after doing so starving them. You are talking about less than a couple of thousand criminals, surely an international fleet of ships to erradicate them is a far more reasonable response.

bash

No. Why are you so bigoted? There are MILLIONS of people in Somalia, most of whom live on less than a dollar per day. They are starving and innocent.
Dealing with the pirates is one thing, threatening to kill off an entire group of people based on their location on a map and/or their religion of choice is utterly unAmerican.

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