Three Ships Three Months
Have you read about this story? There are three mysterious cargo ships on the waters for 3 months now that are not having communication with authorities. What is going to happen with this?
<a href="http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/3453118?source=Evening Standard" target="_blank">Link on ships</a>
[quote]<strong> They set sail just a few days after UN inspector Hans Blix returned with his team to Iraq to search for Saddam's weapons arsenal. <hr></blockquote></strong>
I wonder if if the UN team will ever get to inspect what is on the ships? Being that the ships are not inside the Iraqi boarders. Gee is Saddam playing cat and mouse?
It is time for the world to take out Saddam. France can sit on their hands. This is serious and the world must act forget France.
Fellowship
[ 02-19-2003: Message edited by: FellowshipChurch iBook ]</p>
<a href="http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/3453118?source=Evening Standard" target="_blank">Link on ships</a>
[quote]<strong> They set sail just a few days after UN inspector Hans Blix returned with his team to Iraq to search for Saddam's weapons arsenal. <hr></blockquote></strong>
I wonder if if the UN team will ever get to inspect what is on the ships? Being that the ships are not inside the Iraqi boarders. Gee is Saddam playing cat and mouse?
It is time for the world to take out Saddam. France can sit on their hands. This is serious and the world must act forget France.
Fellowship
[ 02-19-2003: Message edited by: FellowshipChurch iBook ]</p>
Comments
<strong>Gee is Saddam playing cat and mouse? It is time for the world to take out Saddam. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Wow. God forbid we do anything rash like find out what's on the ships, or who they belong to....
But please note that despite the headline on the article its plain speculation. I see no link to Iraq there so perhaps it has nothing to do with them. At least don´t assume untill you (not you personally) have proff.
"Oh yeah. But its too much of an coincidense not to have anything to do with Iraq". CoughAnthraxCough
<strong>
Wow. God forbid we do anything rash like find out what's on the ships, or who they belong to....</strong><hr></blockquote>
How might they do that? I assume registry numbers and such are missing/faked/useless etc. Does the US go and board it and search it? That went so well a few months ago with the North Korean ship to Yemen.
Actually, during Rumsfeld's news conference today a believe he was asked about these ships. I think he said he hasn't seen reports regarding them at this point.
on christmas day in the moooorning!
<strong>Those ships don't exist, although there is a ship "watch list" that is maintained and continuously updated. There are more than 3 ships on that list and not all connected to Iraq.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
I believe they do exist. And they're not all Iraqi owned. Remember the ship with SCUD missiles from N. Korea to Yemen that almost went under our noses?
If it is true...I'd have to admit to Saddam...brilliant idea...but how will they return to port when the Iraqi ports will be occupied with US soldiers after we invade your country?
<strong>
How might they do that? I assume registry numbers and such are missing/faked/useless etc. Does the US go and board it and search it? That went so well a few months ago with the North Korean ship to Yemen. </strong><hr></blockquote>
The problem when we boarded the North Korean ship was it was legit and, as far as I know, not violating maritime law (although they might have had an incorrect flag.)
If there's even a chance that these ships are legit (and there is) then it's insane to attempt to use these ships as a motive for war or assassination especially if you haven't boarded them and searched their cargo.
If they're violating maritime law (radios off), board them. This thread should be closed.
[ 02-19-2003: Message edited by: Randycat99 ]</p>
<strong>
The problem when we boarded the North Korean ship was it was legit and, as far as I know, not violating maritime law (although they might have had an incorrect flag.)
If there's even a chance that these ships are legit (and there is) then it's insane to attempt to use these ships as a motive for war or assassination especially if you haven't boarded them and searched their cargo.
If they're violating maritime law (radios off), board them. This thread should be closed.</strong><hr></blockquote>
The North Norean ship was an improperly registered Cambodian ship, had it's ID number painted over and another name painted on it.
I agree that these phantom ships shouldn't be used as an excuse for anything, in fact the adminstration says they don't even know anything about them, so I suppose no action will be taken because of them (not that I think they exist). However, if they did exist, boarding them would be seen as another provocation by the US, just as the NK ship was seen as such.
Randycat99, regardless of the politics behind it, that was pretty funny!
Jeff
<strong>Iraq is almost completely landlocked. How would they have slipped something out with out the US military finding out or the help of another nation? I don't see any mention of this in other news sites.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I believe I read that the thought is Iraq smuggled things out through another friendly neighboring country (Syria?) with a port so the ships would be less conspicuous.
As for provocation, I'm not sure. I'm fairly liberally minded (hush you people, quit your laughing!
Fellowship
<strong>I am not suggesting that the US or UN should take war action based on the fact these three ships are out there without communication. Some of you blow this off a little too carefree I would say. Again we should not jump to conclusions but to joke about this is really irresponsible to say the least. We could be facing a problem that is very serious.
Fellowship</strong><hr></blockquote>
It's a "Jump to Conclusions Mat"! You see, you have this mat, with different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO!
I have read quite a few things that have shown that Syria is involved in a bit of shady dealings with Iraq. Including the fact that Syria has been piping oil from Iraq at very cheap rates (like $5/brl.), againts the international embargo. Supposedly the US hasn't stepped in because Syria has been giving up a lot of intel, and we are afraid they will clam up if we turn off the spigot.
Does that prove anything, no. But it makes the "smuggled WMD through Syria" thing seem plausible.
<strong>...
I agree that these phantom ships shouldn't be used as an excuse for anything, in fact the adminstration says they don't even know anything about them, so I suppose no action will be taken because of them (not that I think they exist). However, if they did exist, boarding them would be seen as another provocation by the US, just as the NK ship was seen as such.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Every ship on the planet is tracked 24/7 via satellite. Except for small stuff, ship cargo needs to be loaded at some kind of port. So they can find out where it came from and possibly how long it was at each port. Of course the administration would have said something if it came from an "Unfriendly" nation. Since they deny knowing much about it, it probably came from a "Friendly" nation and just want to use it to add legitimacy to the current paranoia.
<strong>
Every ship on the planet is tracked 24/7 via satellite. Except for small stuff, ship cargo needs to be loaded at some kind of port. So they can find out where it came from and possibly how long it was at each port. Of course the administration would have said something if it came from an "Unfriendly" nation. Since they deny knowing much about it, it probably came from a "Friendly" nation and just want to use it to add legitimacy to the current paranoia.
Yeah, and they have no ability to cut the satellite uplink GPS so that it suddenly becomes much harder to track said ships. After all, we have satellites to spare to follow every ship on the sea all the time... <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />