A Place to Stand

I am astonished that this is not getting massive coverage with shadow ministers announcing how shocked etc they are. This is the AP version.

The crew of a Royal Navy vessel watched as a British couple was abducted by Somali pirates, unable to rescue them without endangering their lives, the British military said Friday.

As armed pirates boarded Paul and Rachel Chandler's yacht on Oct. 23, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary replenishment tanker Wave Knight was within view, carrying light arms and a crew of 75 merchant seamen and 25 navy sailors in the Indian Ocean, the Ministry of Defense said.

But the crew could not intervene without putting the Chandlers at further risk, and could only watch as the pirates forced the couple off their yacht, the Lynn Rival, and onto an open skiff.

The ministry refused to give further information, saying it could not comment on operational details. It said in a statement that the Wave Knight "did very well under the circumstances."

Authorities believe the Chandlers, who are in their 50s, are now being held on land in Somalia. Pirates have demanded $7 million for their release — ransom the British government says it will not pay.

Hardly in the tradition of Nelson then. Not even of Jelicoe with his Phyrric victory at Jutland. Even the Prince of Wales & Repulse went down fighting the Japanese. It is difficult to say how disgraceful it is that the British navy, at one point within 50 feet of this piracy, did absolutely nothing while British civilians were carted off. At the very least a pistol shot over the bow of this skiff would have made them amenable to an offer to let them leave in peace.

The captain of this ship is not fit to serve in the same navy as Thomas Cochrane even though I actually have some sympathy with the his predicament, caused by the rules of engagement the politicians have put him under.

The British Navy have been ordered that under no circumstances should pirates be brought aboard our ships because they would then be in a position to apply for political asylum. It seems we are all living in a political asylum.

The combination of bullying & the most abject poltroonery of the British political class is even more disgusting than each fault separately. Milosevic's act of good faith in releasing 3 incompetent American soldiers who strayed across the border & were captured by the Home Guard was rewarded by these Nazis continuing to cluster bomb civilians in the cause of "making NATO respected" by employing Islamic drug lords, child sex slavers & organleggers as "police". These same politicians are now so cowardly they cover themselves with stupid bureaucratic rules that allow pirates total freedom to operate.

I have previously discussed how the far more difficult task of preventing piracy in the Singapore Straits has been done in the tradition of our navy but fortunately without the assistance of the present emasculated muppets.

WORSE
We were lied to about this. The initial reporting of this by the MoD said that the boat had been "found" empty on the high seas. This is not the same as that the "Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel managed to get within 50 feet of the pirates" as they stood & watched.

The admission by the Ministry of Defence that a Royal Navy ship was at the scene during the hijacking conflicted with an earlier statement which suggested the couple's yacht was found by HMS Cumberland empty some time after they had been seized. HMS Cumberland was the nearest warship to the scene but was two hours' away from the hijack, whereas the Wave Knight was close enough to see what was going on.

The MoD agreed it had been "economical with the truth" but maintained that it kept quiet about the true course of events for operational reasons during a "hijack situation".

which is a lie about a lie & one which only came out because one of the sailors went public. The reason you keep quiet during an operation is so that the enemy won't know about it. Since the enemy were on the skiff they already knew & were unlikely to need to read about it in London newspapers. The reason they suppressed the truth is simply that it shows them to be useless traitors who in a more honest age would have been courtmartialed & shot. In an earlier age incompetence, not remotely as gross, would have led to the government falling. Lying to the British people about it would have ensured that none of them ever held any form of office again. The government has said that they "do not pay ransoms" which sounds brave & has led to deaths in Iraq but it is only meaningful if you do something to actually discourage kidnappings & killings as well. We should negotiate a prisoner exchange between the Cabinet & the Chandlers & then demonstrate our bravery by refusing to pay a ransom for the cabinet while doing absolutely nothing else.

Pournelle mention here He also says of Sarah Palin "She would not be my first choice for President of these United States, but that should not be taken as condemnation -- I wouldn't be my first choice either" which is reasonable perspective. I would choose President Pournelle first.

Labels: British politics, International politics