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Wed, june 02, 2010 | Youtube | Proprietary of ITN Channel 4 News.

British Naval Analyst Peter Cook analyzes the Israel Navy soldiers boarding of the Gaza Flotilla ship M/V Mavi Marmara.

June 1, 2010, UK Channel 4: Retired British Marine Officer Peter Cook is interviewed about the Israeli Naval action against the Gaza Flotilla, pointing out that the commandos cannot have been shooting as they fast roped down to the deck of the ship, since they had both hands on the ropes, and that what appeared to be rifles held by some of the soldiers were in fact paint ball guns, a crowd control tool rather than a weapon. Asked, if he had to take control of a ship, would he choose to be armed as the Israelis were, he smiled and simply said “I wouldn’t want to.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG0EfG8mnAo

Interviewer: “Well, earlier I spoke to Peter Cook. He was a Royal Marine Officer for more than twenty years and has taken part in counter-terrorism and anti-piracy operations on the high seas. He now runs a maritime security consultancy which deals with… [babbling] among other things how to deal with attacks from pirates and anti-terrorism operations at sea. I asked him how a commander should have approached this operation?”

PC: “He would have very limited resources to get onboard. He would therefore want to concentrate the force on the deck as quickly as possible and than take control of the ship, so they would probably landing as close as they could to the bridge, so they could get on to the bridge taking control of the ship and than bring other forces along side to stabilize the situation from small boats or the other naval vessels that were around them at the time.”

Interviewer: “So lets look what actually happens. We’re…, I think, in a helicopter above a helicopter and what are we looking at do you think?”

PC: “We are looking at the deck here. And this was probably one of the few areas that they could actually land a force on to. The bridge is a way bit back here… or up on there.”

Interviewer: “Lets look on what happens when they land then… here they are coming down the rope, so what’s happened here?”

PC:”Now what’s happened here is the party here has dragged the rope away. So the first man down, is not caught up, but he can see that he’s going straight into a hornets nest. He hasn’t been able to land where he wants to…”

Interviewer: “…and his whole concentration is hanging onto the rope. No longer any question of arming himself against of what’s down below.”

PC: “No.”

Interviewer: “Let’s move it and see what happens here.”

PC: “So, he goes down and is very quickly overwhelmed by the people on the deck. You then see more man coming down… ehm… more quickly, but again they are being overwhelmed extremely quickly.”

Interviewer: “Now what is this guy… what is he got here… what is this thing?”

PC: “It doesn’t look like any other Israeli weapon that I can find… ehm… it looks more like a paint gun… ehm… now that could be, because they wanted to scare and stun… ehm… the people onboard.”

Interviewer: “The paint gun would be throwing out little balloons of paint which would splat on to the victim?”

PC: “Yes, it’s a pallet of paint, it would effectively… it would sting very much, but it would shock the individual, wouldn’t harm them long term and would allow these guys to gain the initiative so they could gain control of the ship.”

Interviewer: “So… [babbling] …as a Royal Marine, is this the sort of equipment you go on a vessel like this with?”

PC: “I wouldn’t want to.”

Interviewer: “Right. Let’s move on to the next one. Okay, now what’s going on here?”

PC: “You can see the main part of his upper body, upper torso, is protected by a life-jacket which would prevent the paint… ehm… round getting through and hurting him and his face is covered by a respirator mask so that he can see what’s happening, but if the paint ball hits him he’s still going to be able to operate and won’t be distracted.”

Interviewer: “How come than in this operation of paint guns, obviously there was live ammunition as well, ’cause the captain said so on the radio. How come 10 people died?”

PC: “That’s very hard to tell at this moment in time, however I would imagine, the primary weapon may well have been some form of gun that they were using to disable and distract rather than kill, but they took them… they would have had a secondary weapon, which would have been a pistol and once they started being overwhelmed and effectively thinking that their lives were in threat or being threatened, they would than use that to protect themselves.”

Interviewer: “And Peter, your day job is in fact advice people largely to protect against piracy. What a great deal of difference between these two operations. You got alien people coming onto a ship on the high seas. Is it legal?”

PC: “As far as this ship is concerned, it is a… it’s flagged by the Comores. And therefore, when the commandos go on board, normally what would happen is this would be regarded as state property of the Comores Islands and therefore it would fall under the jurisdiction…” [interrupted by the interviewer]

Interviewer: “…an indian ocean… [babbling] too, which is presumably a flag of convenience, hardly the best to carry out an international inquiry.”

PC: “Absolutely right, it would be very difficult.”