Thinking Out Loud - Pirates . . . Arrrrrggghhhh!!

Pirates. They have been the stuff of epic and legend. We all grew up playing pirates, watching pirate movies (from Erol Flynne to Johnny Depp) and have had romanticized ideals of them. But truth be told, they are criminals and thugs. The "gentleman pirate" is only the stuff of fiction.

We have now been reminded of this in a most graphic way. It is high time we act in a way as to remind the pirates what has been done in the past to clean up the seas.

As long as man has sailed the high seas, there have been pirates, men (and woman) who would take what someone else has through force of violence. Pirates have stolen, raped, maimed tortured and been a cancer on the big blue. They have also been hunted to near extinction. Britian and Spain knew what to do to discouraged piracy in the past, and we need to return to these ways again. International Law recognizes Pirates as "enemies of humanity."

As recent as the 1980's, under Ronald Reagan, it had been policy that the use of deadly force was authorized when dealing with pirates. Since the late 1800's, after Britain, Spain and France had hunted these criminals down and executed them, piracy took to the shadows and began harassing private vessels. They stayed under the radar of Maritime law by keeping their numbers low and not "going for the big hauls." But now they are organizing once more. This time under a different umbrella from the Tortuga safe haven of the 19th century. Now they are operating from the lawless lands of Africa and under the organization of terrorists.

Al-Queada funded and organized pirates are ravaging the high seas in search of the ultimate booty . . . ransom money, which shipping lines are willing to pay because it is cheaper than arming the crew or going around pirate infested waters. Only problem with that is the money the pirates get is being funneled to kill American lives.

Well, now they have upped the ante. They hijacked a ship under an American flag. The American registered Maersk Alabama will be seen as the wake up call. But what about all those ships that had been hijacked by pirates during the past year and the 200 crew members still held captive? Why is it going to take this one act of piracy among all the other acts of piracy that have been escalating under terrorist regime to get the world fighting mad?

Because it was perpetrated on an American vessel, bringing in the American Navy and recorded for world opinion by international media.

The pirates have vowed revenge. It has been reported by Associated Press that Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding a Greek ship anchored in the Somali town of Gaan, said "We will retaliate (for) the killings of our men." He further goes on to say, "Every country will be treated the way it treats us. In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying." Another report from AP has 30-year old pirate Jamac Habeb claiming that "From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them (the hostages). (U.S. forces have) become our No. 1 enemy." This from the pirate base in Eyl.

It is amazing to me that these reports are brought to us by the news media that still treats piracy as a matter-of-fact business. It is not.

What will Obama do? Will we see offers of negotiations with these scum, dialogues explaining away their actions as simply a response to the economy and the Bush mistakes? The result of American arrogance? Or will the current President and his Administration wake up and heed the call of the Maersk Alabama's first mate, Shane Murphy. "It is a crisis. Wake up!"

It is high time, nay, past high time, to put this mercenary arm of world wide terrorist organizations out of business for good. There are complaints that the pirate infested waters off Somalia cover some 1.1 million square miles of ocean and is too big for the world's navies to patrol. But in the late 19th century, the navies of Europe, with less sophisticated equipment and tactics, expunge the major impact of piracy. We should be able to do this much better now.

Instead of glamorizing pirates and their life style, we need to return to the old days where pirates were hung out in cages at the entrance to ports, to discourage anyone from taking up this life. We need to blockade the ports of Somalia and Kenya where they sail from and let it be known that anyone engaging in this despicable career will be killed, or captured and interrogated with extreme prejudice. We then need to follow the money trail back and disembowel (figuratively, financially) the terrorist backed people that fund and gain from these pirate hijackings. And break the income source from the terrorist themselves.

It should not just be about American lives at risk. It should be the international shipping crews lives that are at risk everyday. Shipping companies need to step up as well and remember that even though they say they are taking the civilized route that is fiscally more sound (i.e. - paying the ransom vs spending more on security or re-routing), it is ethically unconscionable to allow this funding of those that would murder American and Allied military personnel. They need to stop this negotiating with pirates, stop paying the ransom, in the name of commercial expedience.

End piracy now! Grow a backbone Mr. President and recognize the dangers. Shipping companies should be required to arm their crew with weapons suited to the cargo they carry (water cannons for those fuel tankers) and/or the available aanti-boarding grids that surround the deck (to warn crews of pirate invasionsbefore they can get any further). internation dander should be raised by these water bourne vermin!

Call me unsympathetic to the pansy shipping lines and governments who cave to these fish tank bottom feeders. Tell me that pirate hunting is not the job of the world's navies. (the former I would agree with and the latter I would whole heartedly claim as historically false.) Either way, it makes no difference to me, so long as it makes you think. Because this is just me, Thinking Out Loud.

Have a great day!

Sources:
LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-piracy-crew14-2009apr14,0,5055632.story

Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090413/ap_on_re_af/piracy

Piracy - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate