Valiant Navy Seals Rescue Captain as Life is Threatened. World Calls for Increased Attacks on Somali Pirates

Well thank goodness that's over.  Our wonderful Navy Seals got those dirty, ugly, hairy pirates just as they were about to kill Captain Phillips.  Hooray!  Lets keep up the killing.  It'll be easy to wipe out more pirates!  Just think what good this will do for the world and if the US Navy can't control the world's waters, it means the end of the greatness of the US. 

Military and world opinion certainly was ripe today.  To start with the confident statements from the military were a little hard to swallow, though I always held out hope that there might have been a modicum of truth under the hype.  This morning right after the incident I read the statement (on my cell) as I was making a coffee run from my eldest daughter's house who has turned against drinking hot brown crude in the morning.  (You try to teach them the best way to live, but must accept how they want to live.  She wanted me to drink tea!)

The captain was rescued after 3 of his captors were killed while appearing to threaten his life.  Not many details.  As soon as I got home I logged on  to read similar statements which were extended to restate the serious threat of the Somali pirates.  In fact, the articles had glaring omissions of fact over the the great harms the world's fishing, mining, charcoaling  and dumping fleets have done to the Somalis.  Boatloads of propaganda were being dredged up for the classic "We Won!" articles.

Later there was more information that went down a lot better than the first self serving statements, with even  a little humility greasing the way

From Reuters "U.S. Navy rescues captain, kills Somali pirates ":

A U.S. Navy commander made a split-second decision to fire on the pirates because he believed that Phillips, who tried to escape on Friday, faced imminent danger amid tense hostage talks with his captors and deteriorating sea conditions.

"They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain," Vice Admiral William Gortney, head of the U.S. Naval Central Command, said in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain.

"The on-scene commander took it as the captain was in imminent danger and then made that decision (to kill the pirates) and he had the authorities to make that decision and he had seconds to make that decision."

Afterwards though, the news and analysis dwelt heavily on calls for more of the same without much review of theft and destruction of Somalia's  resources and people by illegal actions by citizens of nations that are our allies!

We were fed BS like in Robert S. Kaplans NY Times OpEd "Anarchy on Land Means Piracy at Sea" in which the Atlantic writer ends up decrying the fact that the world's greatest navy can't control some miserable little pirates.  I can imagine that England felt just that way about 300 years ago, when they couldn't stop the pirates getting in their way of raping the world.  In this case it is more likely that we are being called to protect our allies' rape of the world.  And if Americans are not dumping or illegally fishing in Somali waters then  it is most likely simply because the waters of the GoA and the eastern shore of Africa are so far away from us.

One has to go back a while to read much on the other side of the story. 

A Reuters' piece "FACTBOX: Who are the pirates off Somalia's coast? " helps:

Excerpt:

-- Hundreds of illegal fishing boats were in Somali waters at any one time engaged in a $90 million a year business, mainly in tuna, the Kenya-based Seafarers Assistance Programme (SAP), reported in 2006. Toxic and industrial waste was also being dumped there, while there was a roaring trade in illegal charcoal.

$90 million a year.  Imagine what that could do for Somalia.

An Al Jazeera report "'Toxic waste' behind Somali piracy " tells how the barrels of toxic waste, including nuclear material were tossed onto shore by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami poisoning the soil and fresh water.  This is not just AJ, but I also heard a verbal edition of this from BBC last fall, complete with the UN spokesman's explanations. 

Some reports accurately say at first Somali 'pirates' considered themselves a type of Coast Guard.  And whatever you think of their activity now, they mitigate some of the great damage done their nation.

A Christian Science Monitor report "Stolen tanks add urgency to piracy fight " notes:

Piracy spread off the coast of Somalia after the collapse of its Siad Barre's regime in 1991. Two years ago it was all but stamped out by the Union of Islamic Courts, which controlled most of southern and central Somalia for six months.

Though they also report:

Though the Islamists shut down the pirates when they were in power, it seems they are happy to use them to help bring weapons, cash, and fighters into the country as they wage war against the government and Ethiopian forces. 

So the Bush administration decision to push Ethiopia to invade Somalia was doubly stupid, and one which the world is paying for now. 

I can only hope any decision by the Obama administration to patrol the waters off Somalia does just that and stops by every suspicious ship whether Somali pirate ship or thieving, dumping vessel that has come from any nation in the world,even our own allies.  Each illegal ship should be charge major fines on pain of siezure of property.  

Write to your Congress people and let them know you understand the real damage done to Somalia by illegal activities and demand they inform the president that they expect American naval forces to enforce all laws, not just those that help enrich our allies and trading partners.

tags: ethiopia  illegal fishing  piracy  islamic courts  illegal dumping  somalia  african horn  

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