re: Captain Phillips ***spoilers***

quote:

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What do you mean?

The cargo ship was no longer under pirate control. The only thing the pirates had was the Captain, the $30k they gave the pirates, the lifeboat and it's contents (which included one Yeti I saw multiple times).

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Right but if you let one American get captured by Somali pirates, you open a can of worms. Do you pay for him? No. So he dies. So now americans refuse to work those waters and more money is lost over time than would have been if you simply paid the ransom. But had you paid the ransom, you would have encouraged other pirates to attack American vessels and crews, perpetuating the problem. The only response was to go in and get the guy out before any real harm came to him. Now, Somali pirates think twice before attacking American vessels.

On the other hand, he probably shouldn't have been rescued in real life since it was his boneheaded decision to travel that close to the Somali coast in the first place in direct contradiction of his orders and job responsibilities.