Jaw jaw may be better than war war, but just kill 'em

Rico says the post title incorporates a quote from Winston Churchill (who should know), for those who didn't recognize it. But The New York Times has an article about the latest in the Somalia piracy situation:

Negotiations over the American captain taken hostage by Somali pirates broke down on Saturday, according to Somali officials, after American officials insisted that the pirates be arrested and a group of elders representing the pirates refused. Somali officials said the American captain, Richard Phillips, and the four heavily armed pirates holding him hostage remained in a covered lifeboat floating in the Indian Ocean about thirty miles off Gara’ad, a notorious pirate den in northeastern Somalia.
The negotiations broke down hours after the pirates fired on a small United States Navy vessel that had tried to approach the lifeboat not long after sunrise Saturday in the Indian Ocean. It was the first such approach since the standoff began on Wednesday, and the vessel returned to a nearby Navy destroyer, the Bainbridge, after the pirates fired warning shots in the air, according to an American military official. The American boat did not return fire and “did not want to escalate the situation”, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The developments surrounding the fate of the captain came as his ship, the Maersk Alabama, a 17,000-ton cargo vessel, pulled into port at 8:30 Saturday evening in Mombasa, Kenya, with its nineteen remaining American crew members.
In Norfolk, Virginia, John Reinhart, the chief executive of Maersk Line Limited, said at a televised news conference: “The crew is relieved, obviously. It’s been harrowing for them.” He added, “They won’t consider it done until the captain comes back.” Mr. Reinhart also noted that the crew was not allowed to leave the ship because the FBI— whose New York office has been charged with investigating the seizure— considered the vessel a crime scene. Crew members indicated in brief, shouted exchanges with reporters that Captain Phillips, 53, had given himself up in order to save the crew, which was able to regain control of the Alabama.
“He saved our lives!” said Second Mate Ken Quinn, of Bradenton, Florida, as the ship was docking. “He’s a hero.”
In Captain Phillips’s hometown of Underhill, Vermont, just outside Burlington, yellow ribbons adorned fences and trees as residents of this town of about 3,000 reacted with dismay when they heard that talks had broken down. Michael Willard, who is also a merchant seaman and is a friend of the Phillips family, said: “It’s obviously of concern because we are not trained for being kept captive for hostage situations.” He added, “He is their safety card.”
Not far from the Phillips home, at the Wells Corner Market, an owner, Laura Wells, said: “If the Navy is going to do something, they better do it now, because they cannot let him get to shore. Once he gets to shore, he is lost, because we don’t know where he would be taken.”
The pirates— demanding $2 million in ransom— seized Captain Phillips on Wednesday and escaped the cargo ship in a motorized lifeboat. According to a senior military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the continuing talks, Captain Phillips is still alive, and the pirates have put him on the phone roughly once a day.
On Saturday, a group of Somali elders from Gara’ad, mediating on behalf of the pirates, spoke by satellite phone to American officials, according to Abdul Aziz Aw Mahamoud, a district commissioner in the semiautonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia. The elders proposed a deal in which the pirates would release Captain Phillips, with no ransom paid, and that the pirates would then be allowed to escape.
But Mr. Abdul Aziz said that the Americans insisted that the pirates be handed over to Puntland authorities, and the elders refused. By noon local time, the Americans cut off communications with the elders, he said.
Puntland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Faroole, said that he was working closely with American officials to free the captain and “we’re really concerned about the recent attacks.’’ “We’re committed to reorganizing our security forces,’’ he said. "We want to do more to crack down on piracy.’’
Mr. Abdirahman also said that the pirates holding the captain hostage were not headed for Puntland but for farther south on the Somali shore. The four pirates, according to the district commissioner, were split between two clans, one from southern Somalia and one from Puntland.
Mr. Abdul Aziz said he had heard reports that when the attack on the Alabama took place, the pirates were coming from another ship that they had hijacked. The pirates saw the American ship nearby and sent one of their small dinghies to commandeer it, which may explain why there were only four pirates aboard the Alabama. In previous hijackings, pirates have swarmed merchant ships with four to five boats. Captain Phillips is one of about 250 hostages being held by Somali pirates.
Although the Gulf of Aden is heavily patrolled by a international fleet, pirates hijacked another ship on Saturday. Maritime officials in Kenya said that pirates seized an Italian flagged tugboat, the Buccaneer, with sixteen crew members. The foreign ministry in Rome confirmed that ten of the tugboat’s sixteen crew members were Italian citizens.

Rico says he grows tired of people being quoted as "speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter"; if they're not authorized, tell 'em to shut the fuck up...