Rand Simberg says that the symptoms correspond to those caused by radiation poisoning. "Pirates die strangely after taking Iranian ship," by Andrew Donaldson for the Times of Johannesburg, South Africa, September 28 (thanks to LGF):
A tense standoff has developed in waters off Somalia over an Iranian merchant ship laden with a mysterious cargo that was hijacked by pirates.Somali pirates suffered skin burns, lost hair and fell gravely ill “within days” of boarding the MV Iran Deyanat. Some of them died.
Andrew Mwangura, the director of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, told the Sunday Times: “We don’t know exactly how many, but the information that I am getting is that some of them had died. There is something very wrong about that ship.”
The vessel’s declared cargo consists of “minerals” and “industrial products”. But officials involved in negotiations over the ship are convinced that it was sailing for Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to Somalia’s Islamist rebels....
Sounds like psi-ops.
Great idea.
Correction: if it is put out by the jihadis who do not want their candy pipeline interfered with - not such a great idea.
Funny, I almost sympathize with the pirates. Compared to the Iranians they're benign.
One look at Ahmedinejad and I need a Tums.
Am I alone in thinking this may be very serious?
Fly a drone over that ship with a Geiger counter on board. If it's hot, the pirates have gotten what they deserve. The crew are dead as well,or soon will be, deserved or not.
Some hard choices:
Put special ops on board with anti-radiation gear, to kill any remaining pirates and gather evidence indicting Iran for shipping WMDs. If they confirm fissionable materials, recover the team, and sink the ship. Iran has just committed an act of war, and needs to be punished -- and not with diplomatic sanctions.
OR:
Assume the radiation source is an ineptly- or negligently-packaged nuke, and may detonate or "fizzle" at any moment. Withdraw and sink it with torpedoes. Then declare unrestricted warfare on Iran.
RSI
But...but...but...Iran doesn't have nukes. **snerk**
Agreed, Redstate, but I'm afraid we're too tapped out in Iraqistan to do much else. The Bush Doctrine has devolved into the Wimp Doctrine.
Looks like someone got caught with their hand in the nukie jar.
Bushco is occupied with Wall Street imploding, they won't do a thing even if it is the real thing.
That said, its worrisome if true, because it means there's a leak(doubtful or otherwise the ship would have already have had a dead crew) or some pirate opened up a shielded container containing the radioactive materials.
Whatever it is though, its hot as hell to induce the symptoms so rapidly as described in the article.
If we had any brains the DoD would dispatch a NEST or SEAL team to check it out.
How many ports has the ship docked in? Fishing grounds may be contaminated. IAEA, where are you?
Allah loves you when you die raiding, kidnapping, torturing, or attacking...as long as you die, it is OK with Allah...
I don't buy this, at least not yet.
If there was something toxic on board, why didn't it kill off the crewmen?
I think it is a decoy to distract.
Sorry jewdog...I must disagree...
If you seriously believe that the Military power of the US is "tapped out", then you just don't know what the US is capable of.
I remind you that Iran and Iraq fought for what...8 years?...to a stalemate.
We defeated a re-armed Iraq in a few days. Do you really think that Iran can put up a better fight than Iraq did?
They choke the oil off at the Straits...we destroy their countries military capabilities. Simple as that.
They're scouring the black market for spare parts for planes that wouldn't last 5 minutes against a raptor, let alone the older planes we have.
The only danger I see is world reaction to our pounding their asses into the ground...cause it won't be pretty.
And how long would it take for them to drag Israel in? They'd strike out like the animals they are, once wounded, at anyone within reach that can be perceived as an enemy.
And them boys can fight...and have a reason to.
Death is life in Iran so anything is possible.
Islam is a lie and truth is killing it...that's why they're trying so hard to shut people up.
They just had to look in those crates...
We're biding our time because we want it to be Israel's war. Oh, well get in on it alright, but we won't be guilted into rebuilding a jacked-up country after destroying it again. Iran isn't like Afghanistan, where it's like, 'ok, we put all your rocks back where we found them when we got here.' I want McCain to comeout and say it's go-time against Iran and make Obama take a stance.
And Alaskan's right about how many troops we have. We could easily just leave Iraq. Or Taiwan. Or Germany. Or lots of places, plus we have private soldiers. He's wrong, I think, about the depravity of the Iranians. I really think they're better than the rest of the Muslim world. They're not Arab and they don't wanna be anymore. Nobody in Iran under 30 has an Arabic name, and everyone over 30 does. I think they'll have a very small Muslim population left when it's all over and done with, and besides, they've sent their sickest, most evil people into Lebanon and Syria as Hezbollah soldiers.
jdamn
Yer right. I should have been more specific. The Ayatoilets and such are the scumbags in Iran. If the Iranian people had their way, those twits would be out in a heartbeat.
Unfortunately, the animals are at the reins, and it will take rivers of Iranian blood to remove them from power. In one fashion or another...
It's hard to converse with a tank.
Islam is a lie and truth is killing it.
"If there was something toxic on board, why didn't it kill off the crewmen?
Posted by: Monty "
The crewmen did not open the cargo to see what was in the crates..The crewmen were only delivering the cargo, not pilfering it...
jewdog you said... Funny, I almost sympathize with the pirates. Compared to the Iranians they're benign.
The pirates are Muslims in other words no better than Ahmedinejad, they are just following what their holy books tell them to do and dont feel sorry for them they are going to paradise where they have all these luscious women waiting for their every need, and for those who prefer boys their is the young gorgus boys there for them, well isnt that what the Quran says???
RedStateInfidel, you are right, but just how many other ships with this stuff have they got through.
Maybe someone has stumbled onto the way to discourage Somalie pirates. Just include some containers of extremely deadly stuff with the cargo having the box marked "Extremely Conidential. Do not open without proper authorization"
Spot On,
Sounds good, but it's also reckless. Accidents happen. Anything that appears to be so deadly can contaminate a lot of people before ever reaching its destination, whether or not that was the goal.
What about the idea of a merchant ship being used to deliver chemical weapons? How many dock workers have been exposed to whatever was on that ship?
The 'Ayatoilets' are pushing 60 these days. I wouldn't be too intimidated. Now, if we were British, they would totally hate us, but younger Iranians are obsessed with AMerican culture, with democracy, and the there are even lots of Iranian women bleaching their hair and getting eating disorders, which I guess is a good sign in a sick way. But they hate the British because they think that they installed Khomeini. Having been raised in an Islamic society, they're of course incapable of taking responsibility for their own actions/failures. Have you read Khomeini's 'manifesto?' Sheesh! Like the British would install that, like they forced them to have a revolution and take American hostages. Even Ali Sina sees it that way. Scary.
Is it just me, or is this not getting the coverage it should? -- I do see *lots* of coverage on the Ukrainian ship with old/decrepit tanks, but nothing comparatively on a ship that by any measure sounds like a new-fangled 'dirty-bomb'...
Casus Belli? EC/Russian/US navies going to the area, ostensibly to watch the Ukrainian ship. Something isn't right here folks.
The rapidity and the extent of the poisoning sounds like what happened to first responders and the cleanup teams at Chernobyl.
Scuttling that ship might not be such a good idea. On the other hand, what's to be done with it? I think it should be examined by a team in radiation gear, before anything is done. Maybe there's some way to neutralize the hot stuff.
PMK-
To reduce risk, we could put a lock on the box and add to the label, "Note to crew: To be opened by Pirates only." Just kidding. You obviously are correct.
osgo...
Actually I bleeb those are newly manufactured T-72s. The tanks... Not decrepit yet but the design is ancient. No threat to an Abrams fer sure.
In an Oxcart society they look pretty scary. There's also lotsa ammo and spare parts. Buncha Muslim Pirates runnin' around in tanks screamin' Allah Akbar...yeah...that's what they need.
They start offloadin' that stuff and they're toast.
But...when they started messin' with a Russian ship they sealed their on fates. Anyone wanna bet?
Islam is a lie and truth is killing it.
Abscedere was wondering what to do with this nightmare ship.
How about we tow it to an Iranian port, THEN scuttle it!
The crew were at least smart enough to know not to touch the cargo - opening this cargo was actually the biggest favor they could have done for the world. It is much better to have it's contents (which we all know damn well it's weapons grade uranium) in a cargo ship then on the top of an ICBM or strapped to the back of some Islamic "Freedom Fighter" who was brainwashed into thinking "PAYDAY" is just a second after pushing the plunger. The solution is quite simple really - simply unload this cargo - load it into a couple of B52s, and return it to its owner VIA Airdrop. Heres your sh*t back Hadji!!!
All clever suggestions aside about various gratifying ways to deal with this scum, in fact the entire cargo needs to secured intact and undamaged. The cargo and ship's records will be needed as evidence so that a complete and thorough investigation can be made to trace it back to its source, and the network of suppliers and handlers can be uncovered. If it really is weapons grade uranium, as has been suggested above, then there is only one place this could have originated, and that is the former Soviet Union. It's likely that this is not a one-off incident, and there exists a network connecting source and buyers, and a well-greased pipeline between the two.
The ship should be seized by the U.S. Navy before the Russians can intercede and taken, with cargo, to a friendly port where a complete complete forensic investigation can be undertaken.