Should the pirates' ransom demands for Capt. Phillips be met?

[cali]

Should either the U.S. government of Maersk pay the demanded $2 million to safely recover Capt. Phillips?

[old mark]

1. Pirates?

What was he doing in Pittsburg?


mark

[taterguy]

2. Why does an inland city name their baseball team after Pirates?

Were there a bunch of river pirates that I don't know about?

And wasn't the golden age of piracy pretty much over by the time Pittsburgh was settled?

[willing dwarf]

3. Alliteration

[razorman]

10. Because "Pittsburgh CEOs" didn't sound as cool.

[razorman]

9. Self delete

[izzie]

4. I understand the point of not paying but I would like to see him live.

--

[exboyfil]

6. Ransom?

I would not even let these pirates walk away from this with their lives unless they immediately surrendered. I would prefer to see the U.S. try a rescue effort (snipers, divers, and flash bang grenades). The one thing we should not do is pay tribute.

If below is true, then these rules need to be changed.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090411/ap_on_re_af/piracy

"U.S. rules of engagement prevent the Americans using their vastly superior fighting power to engage the pirates if there is any danger to civilians."

[pnorman]

5. Dubya did some "mealymouth" apologizing to "gooks", in the Hainen Island Incident.

The "Letter of the two sorries" was the letter delivered by the United States Ambassador Joseph Prueher to Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan of the People's Republic of China to defuse the incident. The delivery of the letter led to the release of the U.S. crew from Chinese custody, as well as the eventual return of the disassembled plane.<15>

The letter stated that the United States was "very sorry" for the death of Chinese pilot Wang Wei, and "We are very sorry the entering of China's airspace and the landing did not have verbal clearance ...".<24>

There was further debate over the exact meaning of the Chinese translation issued by the U.S. Embassy. A senior administration official was quoted as saying "What the Chinese will choose to characterize as an apology, we would probably choose to characterize as an expression of regret or sorrow."<25[br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan_Island_incident

pnormsn

[Adelante]

7. Companies have been paying the ransoms all along

So it wouldn't be a precedent for them. But the US government should not, imo.

[varkam]

8. Even if you pay, there's no guarantee they're going to let him live.

And, if you pay, then you're potentially risking the lives of many more people because it sends a message to other pirates and whatnot that they can get a pay day if they just happen to get their hands on the right person (e.g. bad precedent).

[soothsayer]

12. They've never killed anyone. Remember, the pirates came about after the somali govt fell in '91

and the Europeans came and overfished their waters (leaving no fish for the Somali fisherman) and dumped toxic waste into the Somali waters. Anyway, they've never killed anyone and I don't suppose they'll start now.

[tekisui]

11. The only way I would want the ranson to be paid, is to get the Captain back,

then take the pirates hostage, and take back the money. If that wasn't the plan, they shouldn't get a dime.

The four on the lifeboat are going to lose the ability to communicate with their leader on the shore. They will get fatigued, and choose to keep their lives. The Navy has to wait them out.

[newfie11]

13. Even with the ransom paid there is no guarantee they will let him go.

They backed out on letting e him go when the hostage swap was done.

[stray cat]

14. Pay the ransom like a kidnapping and try to kill/capture the kidnappers just like law enforcement