Global Effort Clamps Down On Piracy

Exclusive: Naval Ships From Around The World Have Come Together To Protect The Gulf Of Aden

(CBS)  Navy ships from every corner of the globe have converged on the Gulf of Aden to fight piracy - and protect some valuable cargo. Each day, $200 million worth of oil passes through the area. Pirates are currently holding 14 ships for ransom, but with about 50 warships now patrolling the area, the pirates' luck is beginning to change. CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar has an exclusive report from the Gulf of Aden.

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On a superhighway of the high seas, Chinese warships escort a 15-ship convoy to safety. These waters are so strategically situated that for the first time, China has sent its warships to patrol far from home.

There are 60,000 square miles of water down in the Gulf of Aden, now patrolled by more than 50 warships. The latest to arrive? The Iranians.

Last week as the American-flagged Maersk Virginia was pursued by pirates, there was an unusual example of Iranian-American co-operation. The Iranian warship offered to help, but pirates were warned off by an Italian naval helicopter.

Japanese, American, French - this is an enormous international effort aimed at thwarting piracy.

"While we may have different agendas outside of what is going on here, all the ships are actually able to work together," said Cmdr.Craig Baines, of the HMCS Winnipeg.

As the number of warships has grown, the number of attacks has dropped. In the last three weeks, there has not been one successful hijacking.

"It is becoming more difficult for the pirates to find ships to attack because we do have more of a presence," Baines said.

The real solution, commanders here say, is not on the sea, but on land - finding legal and political solutions to deal with pirates - and that may prove more difficult than any chase on the high seas.

[number1GI]

Lets put a positive spin on this story folks. I say lets positively blast the pirates out of the water. LOL

[andylance1]

The Iranian Navy is just trying to spread out to make it more difficult to track their submarines. In the event of an Israeli attack on their A-bomb factory, they will start sinking ships from Israel and the US.

The only way to stop Somali pirates is to bomb their port cities whenever they attack international shipping.

[ibsteve2u]

"Chinese warships escort a 15-ship convoy to safety. [...] The latest to arrive? The Iranians."

Good old self-interest at work.

The more secure the trade routes are, the more American companies will go offshore in search of lower wages and higher profits/more stock dividends/bigger CEO bonuses, thus eliminating more of America's industrial base while simultaneously putting more Americans out of work, perhaps yielding a dispirited, impoverished population that is reluctant to fight for a nation that gives them nothing in return for their blood, sweat, and tears - and one that doesn't have any significant war material manufacturing capacity left in any event.

But of course nobody in a position of power in any other country in the world would think that way, right?

They're all good capitalists who - like ours - put money before petty things like national self-interest and religion, right?

They all want America to reign supreme forever, right?

[pepperwood2]

There are 60,000 square miles of water down in the Gulf of Aden, now patrolled by more than 50 warships. The latest to arrive? The Iranians.

Now isn't that an amazing believe it or not story. The Iranians are coming to rescue the Infidels and to capture all those Radical Militant Muslim Pirates & Somali Warlords and take them back to Iran to stand trial. Why who would of thunk this possible. Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. Praise be Jesus!

[armyoftwelve]

It isn't enough to just patrol the seas...

Ships in the area should travel by convoy, maybe with a light international armed escort.
The rest of the international forces should blockade somalia.

[Livinontheedge]

The Senate Armed Services Committee who was invstigating Dick Cheney's claims that torture saved thousands of live and produced Intel that stopped future terrorist attacks has found these alleged claims from Cheney to be Untrue.

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says former Vice President Dick Cheney's claims -- that classified CIA memos show enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked -- are wrong.

The Michigan Democrat told the crowd that the two CIA documents that Cheney wants released "say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques.

[stn_sage]

And what countries do these pirates derive from?! No matter!

When it comes to armed piracy on the open seas, the 'tried and true' methods are always the best! That is, 'blow them the 'H' out of the water'!

After all, they're pirates, not missionaries collecting for an orphanage! A dead pirate is a pirate that's not capable of attacking any more ships, nor killing any other crewmen!