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| Africa Horn |
| Navy seizes 17 armed Somalis, gives them halal meat and nicotine patches... then sets them free! |
| 2011-04-12 |
| When a Royal Navy warship captured a crew of Somali pirates, it seemed like a rare chance to strike back at the ruthless sea gangsters. The 17 outlaws were armed with an arsenal of AK 47s and rocket-propelled grenades, and had forced hostages on a hijacked fishing vessel to work as slaves for three months. But instead of bringing them to justice, the British servicemen were ordered to provide the pirates halal meals, medical checks, cigarettes -- and in one case even a nicotine patch -- before releasing them in their own boats. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #6 As a Brit, this is definitely getting embarrassing: "He also said he was unconvinced that they had enough evidence to convict the pirates – even though they were heavily armed, were carrying hostages and had confessed." Good Lord! |
| Posted by: PCarroll 2011-04-12 18:33 |
| #5 Didn't Iran already do that moose? And look what happened then. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-04-12 17:34 |
| #4 (beep....beep....beep....) |
| Posted by: mojo 2011-04-12 16:10 |
| #3 I think what is needed is for the pirates, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, to capture about a dozen British swabs, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, to turn into a propaganda campaign. The British have gotten into the unlovely habit of reveling in self-doubt and recrimination for so long that they need a shock to wake them up. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-04-12 10:05 |
| #2 Did they also return their guns and rocket launchers with a good "Carry on!"? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-04-12 08:13 |
| #1 ...before releasing them in their own boats. Then they sank the boats, right? "We have no idea where they went after we released them." [wink, wink] |
| Posted by: Bobby 2011-04-12 06:32 |