USS Halyburton joins USS Bainbridge in confrontation with Somali pirates
Why
The captain of the Maersk Alabama, Richard Phillips, made a bolt for freedom but was recaptured by the pirates holding him hostage before one of the U.S. ships could get to him. A ship that is at the scene is the U.S.S. Halyburton a, guided missile frigate. Katharine Houreld and Malkhadir M. Muhumed have written an article in the Associated Press regarding this event. Their article, "Pirates recapture US hostage after escape attempt," that says that Phillips jumped overboard of a lifeboat he shares with the pirates and started swimming towards the U.S. ships but couldn't quite get there before getting recaptured. The situation is escalating. There are four pirates holding Phillips hostage. They are concerned that if they let him go they will be harmed or captured by the American forces. The United States has been sending additional firepower into the area to be prepared for any event. The name of the ship that was attacked was the U.S.-flagged Alabama. The plot was thwarted by Phillips who managed to get his crew to safety. Incredibly this is the sixth ship to be hijacked by pirates this week. They have extorted tens of millions in ransoms so far. The pirates have been in touch with other ships carrying hostages from other countries. These hostages number about 54 and are Chinese, Russian and German to name just a few nationalities. The pirates' logic is that they will have more bargaining power if they have all the hostages with them. The negotiations with the pirates are being done with the aid of the FBI. It is the typical illogical thinking of criminals to feel they deserve to have some escape route provided with the hostages in possession and then further say "We'll negotiate the ransom later." It doesn't seem as though U.S. actions are aimed on letting anybody go free although we have apparently been paying for hostages. As a country we don't seem to do well with hostage situations. When Israel had people taken hostage in 1976, they rescued them in Entebbe with only one casualty. It took 20 minutes. However, the United States systematically did nothing regarding their 52 diplomats held hostage 444 days by Iran.
Search Terms:
uss halyburton, uss bainbridge, uss haliburton, uss boxer, uss halliburton, halyburton
References:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1639294/captain_held_by_pirates_in_lifeboat.html,http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i6102wQbaSI2LFjuecSxBE1lWzOg,http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aNbTueHwH0z4&refer=us,http://worldperiscope.blogspot.com/2009/04/pirates-vow-to-fight-if-attacked.html
