The Piracy Conundrum Continues: UPDATE: Capt. Phillips Freed

Pirates continue holding Capt. Richard Phillips on board that drifting lifeboat, and while that is a dangerous enough situation, the complicating factor is that there are more than 200 other crew members who are being held by pirates up and down the Somali coast from the numerous other hijackers in the past few months.

US Navy ships and helicopters are shadowing the lifeboat.

There is some concern that a rescue operation against the pirates holding Phillips might endanger the others. It could conceivably increase the ransoms demanded for the others.

Then again, no such action was discerned following the French efforts to release five hostages in a military operation that resulted in four being rescued and a fifth person killed along with two of the pirates. The French engaged in military ops to secure the release of their citizens shows that military ops can work and the repercussions may not be as bad as feared.

Of course, there's a solution for that too, and that involves going and rescuing all of the people being held hostage by the pirates on shore. It's the kind of action that would put the piracy to an end (big on risk, but huge on reward), and it's not something one would expect from Obama, who's been busy doing everything imaginable to emasculate the US and the US national security posture in the name of being more "friendly" to our enemies.

Such an operation could involve multiple navies and US Marines and Special Forces to infiltrate and identify all the locations where the crews are being held. LCACs and helicopters could be used to ferry in both the Marines and to evacuate the crews. Such equipment is available on the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, which is in the vicinity.

Instead, the Administration is treating this like a police standoff and demanded the arrest of the pirates involved. Somali tribal elders refused, and talks broke off.

Negotiations over the American captain taken hostage by Somali pirates broke down on Saturday, according to Somali officials, after American officials insisted that the pirates be arrested and a group of elders representing the pirates refused.

Somali officials said the American captain, Richard Phillips, and the four heavily armed pirates holding him hostage remained in a covered lifeboat floating in the Indian Ocean about 30 miles off Gara’ad, a notorious pirate den in northeastern Somalia.

The negotiations broke down hours after the pirates fired on a small United States Navy vessel that had tried to approach the lifeboat not long after sunrise Saturday in the Indian Ocean.

It was the first such approach since the standoff began on Wednesday, and the vessel returned to a nearby Navy destroyer, the Bainbridge, after the pirates fired warning shots in the air, according to an American military official.

The American boat did not return fire and “did not want to escalate the situation,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

There's a further reason that the US Navy didn't return fire, and it has more to do with identifying targets and hoping to avoid hitting Capt. Phillips, than with escalating the situation further.

This further indicates the problems with trying to address the situation as a law enforcement matter and not a military one.

It also highlights the fact that the crews themselves have to take matters into their own hands - the crew of the Maersk Alabama freed themselves. They weren't going to wait for someone to come and help them. It was quick thinking and swift action that resulted in their freedom.

Some of the crew managed to hide in a secure part of the Alabama as the pirates stormed the ship, the sailor said.

As the men described the clash, a crew member pointed to his shipmate and said, "This guy is a hero, he and the chief engineer they took down the pirate... he led him down there to the engine room and then they jumped him."

The fellow shipmate then added that he stabbed the pirate in the man and tied him up.

Another crew member shouted, "Captain Phillips is a hero."

UPDATE:
There are those who think that the rest of the world is to blame for the pirates taking up their lucrative endeavors as a result of various entities encroaching on their fishing grounds and dumping in their waters.

UPDATE:
Great news. Captain Phillips was freed after a firefight between US forces and the pirates.

An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday in a swift firefight that killed three of the four Somali pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa, U.S. officials said.

Capt. Richard Phillips' crew, who said they escaped after he offered himself to the pirates as a hostage, erupted in cheers abroad their ship docked in Mombasa, Kenya, waving an American flag and firing a flare in celebration.

The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet said Phillips was resting comfortably on a U.S. warship after receiving a medical exam.

The Navy said Phillips was freed at 7:19 p.m. local time. He was taken aboard the Norfolk, Virginia-based USS Bainbridge and then flown to the San Diego-based USS Boxer for the medial exam, 5th Fleet spokesman Lt. Nathan Christensen said.

Christensen said Phillips was now "resting comfortably." The USS Boxer was in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia, Christensen said.

The U.S. did not say if Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was receiving medical care because he had been injured or if he was being treated for exposure after his ordeal.

U.S. officials said a pirate who had been involved in negotiations to free Phillips but who was not on the lifeboat during the rescue was in military custody. FBI spokesman John Miller said that would change as the situation became "more of a criminal issue than a military issue."

It's indeed a Happy Easter for the Phillips family. And for the second time, it was because Capt. Phillips attempted to escape that he was able to be freed by the US forces. He again jumped out of the lifeboat, and this time US forces were ready to take out the pirates. Three were killed, and the fourth was taken into custody.

UPDATE:
Even with the rescue, you've got reports trying to make the pirates out to be something that they're not. It's the attempt to claim and transform these modern day pirates into emerging businessmen with unique economic opportunities for advancement:

We are tired of your calls. We have no time for journalists," is a polite translation of some of the last quotes our team managed to extract from the pirates.

"If you bother us again, we will order someone in Mogadishu to meet you," a gang member added before the line went dead.

Often, though, the pirates are friendly and helpful, though they detest use of the p-word. "We never kill people. We are Muslims. We are marines, coastguards -- not pirates," one said.

Hostages say the pirates are normally as friendly as they can be under the circumstances. While they threaten to shoot or beat them if they do not cooperate, they also roast goat for their captives and pass phones around for calls home.

If they're Muslim, they have a funny way of showing it given that they're not showing the hospitality they claim to represent.

UPDATE:
Others blogging: Wizbang, Michelle Malkin, Tigerhawk, Tel Chai Nation, Outside the Beltway, Blackfive, AJ Strata, and Gateway Pundit.

UPDATE:
Well, give President Obama credit here. He authorized the use of force to take out the pirates.

A senior administration official said the president's order authorized force for a group of military assets that arrived at the scene late last week. When more resources arrived, Obama added them to a roster of military personnel allowed to engage militarily with the Somali pirates.

Obama was told Sunday of the rescue while he was in the White House residence, administration officials said. He phoned Phillips and Phillips' family, an official told FOX News.

"I am very pleased that Capt. Phillips has been rescued and is safely on board the USS Boxer," the president said in a statement. "His safety has been our principal concern, and I know this is a welcome relief to his family and his crew."

Obama also praised the U.S. military and the other departments and agencies for their efforts.

"We remain resolved to halt the rise of piracy in this region," he said. "To achieve that goal, we must continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks, be prepared to interdict acts of piracy and ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes."

If the Administration is resolved to halt the piracy in the region, they better be looking at dealing with the pirates onshore, and not just deterring them once they're at sea.