Blackwater gunboats will protect ships – Africa, World – The Independent — FYI

The American security company Blackwater is planning to cash in on the rising threat of piracy on the high seas by launching a flotilla of gunboats for hire by the shipping companies.

The firm, which gained international notoriety when its staff killed civilians in Iraq, has already equipped one vessel, called The McArthur, which will carry up to 40 armed guards and have a landing pad for an attack helicopter.

The McArthur, a former survey ship, arrives in the Gulf of Aden, the scene of the recent high-profile hijackings and shootouts with Somali pirates, at the end of the year. It is to be joined by three or four similar vessels over next year to form the company’s private navy.




  1. Wretched Gnu says:

    Look forward to Blackwater incinerating all fishing boats that come within 20 miles of the Saudi tankers they’ll be protecting.

    Like all gun cowards, Blackwater shoots from afar and imagines that they’re “strong”. In reality they are weak, trembling pansies from head to toe.

  2. Paddy-O says:

    # 32 Wretched Gnu said, “Like all gun cowards, Blackwater shoots from afar”

    You want hand to hand vs. people with RPGs?

    Are you REALLY this stupid or, do you just play stupid online?

  3. SparkyOne says:

    I would much rather they were at sea than here at home assisting the DEA with “security issues”.

  4. The Monster's Lawyer says:

    pirates on pirates. It’s a frickin orgy.

  5. grog says:

    the responses glorifying this turn of events shows the soul of conservatives.

    any chance to kill people with justification gets them frothing at the mouth.

    i don’t like pirates either and if a private company wants to escort ships, well that’s great, awesome actually, but dude, chill out.

  6. grog says:

    #6 @FedUp
    George W. Bush is, in fact, the first American president to have an MBA. And from an elitist Ivy League school, and he calls the shots. What say you that?

  7. gmknobl says:

    Private security firms controlling the major middle east commerce route is a BAD idea.

  8. Paddy-O says:

    # 38 gmknobl said, “Private security firms controlling the major middle east commerce route is a BAD idea.”

    Considering no country is willing to, I’ll take that over the current situation of pirates controlling it…

  9. grog says:

    @pedro

    heh.

    i’m not being politically correct, i stated clearly that i support the move.

    i just don’t see a need to get so excited about the dirty business that is war.

    dulce est decorum est pro patri a mori

  10. qsabe says:

    Good idea.

    Insurance company’s don’t want armed ships traveling between countries. They forbid weapons on the ships they insure, for good reason. An armed escort in dangerous international waters is a smart move.

  11. Fedup says:

    #37

    To answer your question, George Bush is a dumbass that never had the balls to release our military to do what needed to be done. Blackwater will be working for private companies with complete freedom to do what must be done.

  12. soundwash says:

    /random thoughts

    on the surface, sure sounds great..
    -this is not good.

    Did The Law of Sea Treaty get fully ratified yet?

    this whole pirate thing popping out of nowhere
    in the news stinks of a larger,long term scam..

    it’s too easy to play both sides of the fence
    on this and profit BIGTIME from this.

    -who aquires all of blackwater’s hardware should *somehow* blackwater goes bankrupt.. (absurd notion yes, but…)

    these guys are getting way too big..
    (anyone ever find out where the 2.1 trillion the pentagon “lost/could not acccount for”) -announced by cheny on 9/10/2001) (i believe the figure is alot more now)

    wait ’till you have these guys “assisting” in law enforcement or the army on US soil during the coming hyperinflation/depression.. -you do not want for-profit mercs who are practically immune to any prosecution and un-accountable to the
    Constitution, enforcing *any* laws.

    -you people think allowance of a private “navy” is good? -who’s laws, if any, do they act by?
    the law of the sea?

    -this is very bad sign.

    -s

  13. fedup says:

    Let’s just get the poor hijackers and hold their hands and we can all sing:

    “I’d like to teach the world to sing
    In perfect harmony
    I’d like to buy the world a Coke
    And keep it company
    That’s the real thing”.

    I fear the liberals on the supreme court a hell of a lot more than I do any doomsday scenario involving Blackwater. We need more Blackwaters and less Black Robes!

  14. soundwash says:

    #49 -but not before they have the ground work laid out for a simultaneous game release, plus expansion pack for Battlefield… :s

    -s

  15. ECA says:

    Ok,
    PEOPLE..
    This is strange, as all they are getting MOSTLY in that area, is a few Yachts, and Tankers.
    there isnt enough money in that..
    they are going after CRUISE SHIPS that have LOTS of people on them, WITH MONEY and JEWELS and MAYBE a kidnap victim..
    They are also Pirating PRIVATE yachts..

    http://tinyurl.com/5lbzkg
    Iv done a little looking around.
    THIS isnt the only location its happening.
    This is a Major OIL ROUTE..
    I would like a List of ship types, they have Raided. All I see is they Jump a ship and take the crew and SHIP and then RANSOM them back.
    EVER try to STOP a tanker? this is like STOPPING a freight train..

  16. Greg Allen says:

    This, IMHO, is the proper use of a group like Blackwater.

    It was an INCREDIBLY STUPID move to use them to replace use soldiers in a US war.

  17. grog says:

    now here’s something none of us saw coming…

    Somali Islamist insurgents have begun searching for the pirates who hijacked a giant Saudi-owned oil tanker last Saturday, reports say.

    A spokesman for the al-Shabab group, Abdelghafar Musa, said hijacking a Muslim-owned ship was a major crime and they would pursue those responsible.

    article on the beeb

  18. Mr. Fusion says:

    As grog pointed out, the pointy headed conservatives on here seem to have a great blood lust.

    However, …

    I wouldn’t get too excited at Blackwater kicking butt. The Russians and Indians already have Navy ships in the area and are sending more. Neither force are pansies and would blow a private, armed ship, such as Blackwater’s, out of the water while sipping tea.

    No country will allow armed merchant vessels into their harbors. Foreign Naval Ships only enter a harbor if invited. Otherwise they become subject to forfeiture. No ship owner or insurer would allow that.

    BTW, I heard on the radio this morning that the State Department is rescinding Blackwater’s immunity from prosecution in Iraq. Apparently Blackwater isn’t too pleased that the Iraq government is about to prosecute.

  19. Glenn E. says:

    Blackwater is composed of international mercenaries. Not only ex-US military types. And they could be hired to work for just about anyone. So it’s conceivable that at some point their could be Blackwater personnel defending another nation’s interests against America’s.

    This is usually what happens every few years, after we’ve backed some rebel faction in a country. They eventually become a problem when we side with a new regime, and the now stronger rebel faction hasn’t been appeased. Like the Afghan rebels, we may have to battle Blackwater some day. And was Blackwater’s founding, just another of George Bush’s ways around the Geneva Convention? First Gitmo, now a privateer army. What’s next, Walmart sellin nukes?

  20. ECA says:

    53,
    HOW the hell, can you HIDE a OIL TANKER??

    54,
    the USA has a fleet there ALSO.

    But will the Somoli LET THEM IN THEIR WATERS??

  21. Mr. Fusion says:

    #55, peedro,

    Take a long walk on a short pier. Your contributions to this, and all posts, is somewhere between total troll and trying real hard to troll.

  22. Paddy-O says:

    # 57 ECA said, “But will the Somoli LET THEM IN THEIR WATERS??”

    Somalia doesn’t have a navy much less a gov’t that actually controls the country. In other words, who cares if they want anti-piracy forces in their territorial waters?

  23. Mister Mustard says:

    #6 – FedEx

    >>I know, and isn’t it great ! No iphone
    >>carrying MBA’s making the rules. Just former
    >>Navy Seals with state the art weapons free
    >>to kill everyone of these bastards found in
    >>a boat.

    Heck yeah. They took care of the insurgents in Iraq in a Noo Yawk Minit. Those bastards are all dead, right? We won that war, right? There’s peace in the middle east, right?

    mission accomplished?


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