OK, I made it about two seconds before I started to snicker.
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister condemned the "outrageous" hijacking of a Saudi oil supertanker by Somali pirates and said Tuesday that his nation would join the international effort to eradicate piracy.
The MV Sirius Star was seized Saturday far off the Kenyan coast and was being taken to the Somali port of Eyl, one of the African country's main pirate ports.
In the Saudi government's first public comments on the attack, Prince Saud Al-Faisal said piracy is a complex problem that requires an international response. "This outrageous act by the pirates, I think, will only reinforce the resolve of the countries of the Red Sea and internationally to fight piracy," he said during a visit to Athens. "Piracy is against everybody. Like terrorism it is a disease that has to be eradicated."
The tanker's owner says the ship is fully loaded with crude -- a cargo worth about $100 million. Its owners say the ship's 25 crew members are safe.
Saud said Saudi Arabia would join an international initiative against piracy in the Red Sea area, where more than 80 pirate attacks have been registered this year. "This is an initiative in which we are going to join and so are many other countries of the Red Sea," Saud said. He did not elaborate.
Let's see the vaunted Saoodi Navy in action ...
A NATO flotilla of seven ships -- destroyers from the U.S. and Italy, frigates from Germany, Greece, Turkey and Britain -- and a Russian missile frigate are already fighting piracy around Somalia. NATO, however, says its priority is escorting World Food Program ships that deliver basic rations for 3 million hungry Somalis.
India says it is sending warships to the area, and South Korea is considering dispatching vessels.
Posted by:gorb
#11 NPR had a story on that. They bring along scaling ladders.
Posted by: trailing wife
2008-11-18 23:47
#10 Some are already there Kelly, and have gottem scalps to show for it.
Posted by: .5mt
2008-11-18 23:08
#9 Pirates are bandits with a boat. Knowledge of how to operate the boat is optional.
Posted by: Mitch H.
2008-11-18 15:37
#8 How did those pirates get onto the tanker in the first place? It's not like you can step off of the skiff to the deck. Sounds like someone in the crew may be getting a share.
Posted by: tipover
2008-11-18 13:06
#7 Seafaring community activists.
Posted by: ed
2008-11-18 12:36
#6 They were pirates? I thought they used to be bandits. Oh, well.
Posted by: trailing wife
2008-11-18 11:49
#5 Feel free to go over there and kick ass, Mr. Saudi.
Really. Have at it.
Posted by: mojo
2008-11-18 11:35
#4 I'm sure the French battle fleet will be getting up steam any moment now.
Posted by: Kelly
2008-11-18 11:34
#3 Rich. Given that wahabis were pirates before they got the hadj and oil as sources of revenue.
Posted by: JFM
2008-11-18 11:27
#2 I hope to see some good Saudi justice in action here. Gentlemen, begin sharpening your beheading swords now!
Posted by: Richard of Oregon
2008-11-18 11:18
#1 and said Tuesday that his nation would join the international effort to eradicate piracy
Ahhh, so they're going to start writing checks to the protectors rather than paying off the pirates?