Stars and Stripes reports that the US Navy commander off the coast of Somalia may get the word to get more proactive in regards to fighting Gulf of Aden pirates;
The U.S. naval commander in charge of fighting piracy off Somalia said he expects “within the week” to receive authorization to begin capturing pirates, then delivering them to an unnamed country in the region for detention and trial.
“Once we get that authority, we’re going to change my orders,” said Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, which until now have been, “disrupt, deter, but do not capture.”
“We have to make it unpleasant to be a pirate,” he said.
Until now, navies in the Gulf of Aden region have been escorting and aiding commercial ships, but not going after pirates, who typically disguise themselves as fishing vessels when navies are present. U.S. vessels always have had the authority to chase and even kill pirates, Gortney said, but they have not done so because of the lack of instruction on what to do with detainees.
‘Bout damn time. of course up until now the pirates have been more of a threat to themselves than shipping.
Idiotic, to say the least. The British have orders not to capture any pirates because the very first thing they will do is to claim asylum. There is only one way of dealing with them, sink their boats and let them swim home.