The US commander tasked with tackling Somali piracy, has balked at the idea of attacking the bandits from land or the air.
On Friday, the commander of the US Navy's 5th Fleet said a land or aerial attack could target civilians as the pirates are "irregulars -- they don't wear uniforms," Reuters reported. "If you're going to do kinetic strikes into the pirate camps, the positive ID and the collateral damage concerns cannot be overestimated," said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney.
The strikes amount to an easy way out of the problem, he added
The comments come while the Bush administration has presented the UN with the proposal that all the concerned parties be allowed to "take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia'' to tackle the problem.
The imposing international naval armada dispatched to the Horn of Africa for the purpose has been conflicted about arresting the suspects in the absence of a guarantee that they would be subjected to due process. |