Hi again folks. Like millions of Americans this week, I’ve been following Matt Lauer’s interview with Motorized Vessel (MV) Maersk Alabama captain Richard Phillips and his wife on NBC’s The Today Show.
It was a story of human courage, determination, decisive executive action, and brilliant military execution reminiscent of the Israeli rescue of the hostages of Air France Flight 139 at Entebbe, July 3-4, 1976.
It was, as well, a dramatic statement of American international policy and one for which the United States is legendary. We don’t care who you are. You will not do this to us.
For all of that, it should probably be noted that the Somalis are not the world’s best buccaneers. In this case, they were certainly not as informed as they needed to be. They saw this big unarmed American ship in what they considered their waters and went after it with a real simple game plan.
Board, capture, take it into a protected port in northern Somalia and hang onto it until the owners paid a ransom. That done, everybody goes on about their business and sorry for the inconvenience.
Good plan, by pirate standards, and pretty much like 1,000 or so others made and carried out in the several years the Somalis have been learning and refining the craft of seagoing hijacking and kidnapping.
The Maersk Alabama is owned by a Danish company but is homeported out of Norfolk, Virginia and is of American registry. When it was interdicted, it was bound for Mombassa, Kenya, with a cargo of food and agricultural supplies for both the United Nations and the US Agency For International Development.
Before the pirates could board, the vessel’s crew disabled it and alerted most of the known world that they were in imminent danger of capture. So what the pirates, former fishermen, most of them, got was a big vessel that wasn’t going anywhere and a tough proud crew who were no more about to surrender their vessel than John Paul Jones or David Farragut were theirs.
Well, as I mentioned before, the Somalis are not hardcore at this business. They quite simply haven’t been at it all that long. While the sea is definitely in their blood (some say they were there when the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean were created), they are Neptune harvesters in a part of the world dramatically overfished and predominantly by a modern international industry with no respect for Somali territorial waters.
The Somalis first began attacking other FISHING vessels in order to protect their way of making a living. There’s not a mariner from the Banks to Bristol Bay who can’t relate to that. There are only so many fish and every boat represents families and communities which must be fed, clothed, sheltered and otherwise provided for.
In the roughly 15 years or so they’ve been at it, the Somalis have discovered that piracy pays better than fishing, at least for now. Theirs is a chaotic land where tribe, clan, village and family mean much more and have far more impact that a strong national government and infrastructure.
The ransom collected by these pirates ~ and it is in the majority of the cases ~ pays overhead and is distributed along traditional power lines to all those involved. Regardless of the moral and legal implications, piracy is the major industry of northern Somalia and is run like one.
And in contrast to the Barbary Pirates of some three centuries ago and those of other nations which plied this craft during the European empire building period, the Somalis are remarkably well-behaved. In a report to the United Nations Security Council in November 2008, International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos reported that:
Of a total of some 440 acts of piracy and armed robbery reported to have taken place off the coast of Somalia since IMO started compiling relevant statistics in 1984, more than 120 attacks have been reported this year alone. More than 35 ships have been seized by pirates and more than 600 seafarers have been kidnapped and held for ransom. Currently, 14 ships and some 280 seafarers from 25 nations are being held hostage in Somalia. Two seafarers have already lost their lives.
President Obama and the United States Navy responded appropriately, for even two deaths are unacceptable. America is certainly not alone in this sentiment and this is the second time her navy has apprehended Somali pirates.
The maritime military of other countries have interdicted Somali mother ships and assault boats. Last November, Indian Naval Ship (INS) Tabar attacked and sank a pirate 'mothership' in the Gulf of Aden when it refused to respond to warnings. The Canadians and the Dutch are among those NATO forces which have engaged. The Japanese are joining a growing internatioinal anti-piracy task force. The Chinese and the Russians are already there. This kind of combined operation does not bode well for the Somali bucaneer community,
The nature of that community, however, is changing as it grows to incude those whose motives have nothing to do with the loss of one livelihood at the hands of those who are now expected to make restitution.
Under the leadership of militants and organized crime, piracy will become what it was four hundred years ago. Crews will be slaughtered and hosed into the sea, along with passengers not fit for ransom or the slave trade. Cargos will be offloaded at the nearest protected port and brokered. The vessel will be either stripped for salvage or sold and the profits used to finance among other things, human greed and international terrorism.
If tolerated, piracy will become a major option for a lot of interesting people. Wherever boats and ships of value gather, there will be a bucaneer or several just waiting for the opportunity to swash, buckle, rape, murder, plunder and party with the gang back in the ‘hood. Along the Great Barrier Reef, the Mekong Delta, in the canals of Venice, the mouth of the Thames, a stretch of the Mighty Mississippi, a Great Lakes waterfront, the banks of the Hudson or the St. Lawrence Seaway, no one will be safe.
The world community is not going to let that happen. It’s not good economics. Just like it wasn’t good economics thirty years ago to help the Somalis protect their fisheries. I do hope someone gives just a little thought to what these desperate people might turn to next to keep from starving to death.
They are not likely to go gently into their good night.
For More Information
Pirates’ captive: ‘I didn’t think I’d ever get out’ - TODAY People
International Maritime Organization
Somali Pirates Are Getting Rich: A Look At The Profit Margins - TIME
BBC NEWS Africa Somali pirates living the high life
Who are Somalia's pirates? csmonitor.com
Somali Pirates Tell Their Side - They Want Only Money - NYTimes.com
U.S. Navy Apprehends Somali Pirates for the First Time - Political Radar
Indian Navy destroys Somali pirate ship as hijackers demand $10m ransom
Somali Pirates: Canadian Nato Forces Foil Attack On Norwegian Tanker U.S. Captain Is Hostage of Pirates; Navy Ship Arrives - NYTimes.com
It was a story of human courage, determination, decisive executive action, and brilliant military execution reminiscent of the Israeli rescue of the hostages of Air France Flight 139 at Entebbe, July 3-4, 1976.
It was, as well, a dramatic statement of American international policy and one for which the United States is legendary. We don’t care who you are. You will not do this to us.
For all of that, it should probably be noted that the Somalis are not the world’s best buccaneers. In this case, they were certainly not as informed as they needed to be. They saw this big unarmed American ship in what they considered their waters and went after it with a real simple game plan.
Board, capture, take it into a protected port in northern Somalia and hang onto it until the owners paid a ransom. That done, everybody goes on about their business and sorry for the inconvenience.
Good plan, by pirate standards, and pretty much like 1,000 or so others made and carried out in the several years the Somalis have been learning and refining the craft of seagoing hijacking and kidnapping.
The Maersk Alabama is owned by a Danish company but is homeported out of Norfolk, Virginia and is of American registry. When it was interdicted, it was bound for Mombassa, Kenya, with a cargo of food and agricultural supplies for both the United Nations and the US Agency For International Development.
Before the pirates could board, the vessel’s crew disabled it and alerted most of the known world that they were in imminent danger of capture. So what the pirates, former fishermen, most of them, got was a big vessel that wasn’t going anywhere and a tough proud crew who were no more about to surrender their vessel than John Paul Jones or David Farragut were theirs.
Well, as I mentioned before, the Somalis are not hardcore at this business. They quite simply haven’t been at it all that long. While the sea is definitely in their blood (some say they were there when the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean were created), they are Neptune harvesters in a part of the world dramatically overfished and predominantly by a modern international industry with no respect for Somali territorial waters.
The Somalis first began attacking other FISHING vessels in order to protect their way of making a living. There’s not a mariner from the Banks to Bristol Bay who can’t relate to that. There are only so many fish and every boat represents families and communities which must be fed, clothed, sheltered and otherwise provided for.
In the roughly 15 years or so they’ve been at it, the Somalis have discovered that piracy pays better than fishing, at least for now. Theirs is a chaotic land where tribe, clan, village and family mean much more and have far more impact that a strong national government and infrastructure.
The ransom collected by these pirates ~ and it is in the majority of the cases ~ pays overhead and is distributed along traditional power lines to all those involved. Regardless of the moral and legal implications, piracy is the major industry of northern Somalia and is run like one.
And in contrast to the Barbary Pirates of some three centuries ago and those of other nations which plied this craft during the European empire building period, the Somalis are remarkably well-behaved. In a report to the United Nations Security Council in November 2008, International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos reported that:
Of a total of some 440 acts of piracy and armed robbery reported to have taken place off the coast of Somalia since IMO started compiling relevant statistics in 1984, more than 120 attacks have been reported this year alone. More than 35 ships have been seized by pirates and more than 600 seafarers have been kidnapped and held for ransom. Currently, 14 ships and some 280 seafarers from 25 nations are being held hostage in Somalia. Two seafarers have already lost their lives.
President Obama and the United States Navy responded appropriately, for even two deaths are unacceptable. America is certainly not alone in this sentiment and this is the second time her navy has apprehended Somali pirates.
The maritime military of other countries have interdicted Somali mother ships and assault boats. Last November, Indian Naval Ship (INS) Tabar attacked and sank a pirate 'mothership' in the Gulf of Aden when it refused to respond to warnings. The Canadians and the Dutch are among those NATO forces which have engaged. The Japanese are joining a growing internatioinal anti-piracy task force. The Chinese and the Russians are already there. This kind of combined operation does not bode well for the Somali bucaneer community,
The nature of that community, however, is changing as it grows to incude those whose motives have nothing to do with the loss of one livelihood at the hands of those who are now expected to make restitution.
Under the leadership of militants and organized crime, piracy will become what it was four hundred years ago. Crews will be slaughtered and hosed into the sea, along with passengers not fit for ransom or the slave trade. Cargos will be offloaded at the nearest protected port and brokered. The vessel will be either stripped for salvage or sold and the profits used to finance among other things, human greed and international terrorism.
If tolerated, piracy will become a major option for a lot of interesting people. Wherever boats and ships of value gather, there will be a bucaneer or several just waiting for the opportunity to swash, buckle, rape, murder, plunder and party with the gang back in the ‘hood. Along the Great Barrier Reef, the Mekong Delta, in the canals of Venice, the mouth of the Thames, a stretch of the Mighty Mississippi, a Great Lakes waterfront, the banks of the Hudson or the St. Lawrence Seaway, no one will be safe.
The world community is not going to let that happen. It’s not good economics. Just like it wasn’t good economics thirty years ago to help the Somalis protect their fisheries. I do hope someone gives just a little thought to what these desperate people might turn to next to keep from starving to death.
They are not likely to go gently into their good night.
For More Information
Pirates’ captive: ‘I didn’t think I’d ever get out’ - TODAY People
International Maritime Organization
Somali Pirates Are Getting Rich: A Look At The Profit Margins - TIME
BBC NEWS Africa Somali pirates living the high life
Who are Somalia's pirates? csmonitor.com
Somali Pirates Tell Their Side - They Want Only Money - NYTimes.com
U.S. Navy Apprehends Somali Pirates for the First Time - Political Radar
Indian Navy destroys Somali pirate ship as hijackers demand $10m ransom
Somali Pirates: Canadian Nato Forces Foil Attack On Norwegian Tanker U.S. Captain Is Hostage of Pirates; Navy Ship Arrives - NYTimes.com
2 comments:
There's been very little mentioned in the news about just how Somalia got into this fix in the first place. Somalia has been a failed state for decades. Bush the Elder, after his defeat in 2002 by Clinton, made what I always thought was a brilliant political move. He sent the Marines to Somalia to help alleviate a huge humanitarian crisis. Now, why would the US care about starving Africans? Because at that time the Chinese were extending their influence into the region, arming the warlords and hoping to gain a foothold in the Horn of Africa. Can't let those commies take over... Better establish a US presence.
Here's why Bush's move was so savvy. Were the lame-duck incursion to be a success -- bringing stability to the region and feeding a bunch of hungry kids -- then the GOP would get the credit. Were the situation to deteriorate and turn into a debacle (which it did; remember "Black Hawk Down"?) then Clinton would get the blame.
China and the US eventually decided Somalia was not worth the effort. Both pulled out of the region, the warlords gained full control, and Somalia went from a failed state to a doomed one. This leaves out more recent history, like the Ethiopian invasion and the spillover from the tragedy in Darfur. I don't know that there IS any solution to Somalia's problem. Obviously their current industry -- piracy -- cannot be allowed to continue. That still leaves the region under the control of well-armed militias, and the people starving. It's a mess -- and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Depressing, is what it is.
A very interesting read. While it's obvious, as you stated, that we can't allow piracy to continue, I do feel some sympathy for this poor country and its desperate people. It IS sad.
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