The Ramifications of Piracy

As we already know, following a firefight the likes from which there exists little information, Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips was freed from his Somali captors on Sunday, April 12th. Three of the four Somali pirates were killed and a fifth Somali, not on the lifeboat, is in apparent custody.

In the meantime, the MV (Merchant Vessel) Maersk Alabama itself rests at anchor in the harbor of Mombasa, Kenya, a country just to the south of Somalia on the eastern coast of Africa, the rest of its crew intact and unharmed. A large and detailed map of Africa is here.

Seized by those four Somali pirates on April 8th, the Maersk Alabama was retaken a short time later by the crew. Captain Phillips surrendered himself for the crew and an exchange had been planned: one of the Somali pirates captured by the crew for Phillips himself. Unfortunately, the crew had little skill in negotiations with thugs and made the mistake of allowing the pirate to go free prior to the release of Captain Phillips.

Phillips was then kidnapped by force for ransom and placed into one of the Maersk's own covered lifeboats with the pirates. Adrift on the sea but equipped with a satphone, the pirates commenced "negotiations." The Maersk Alabama left the site for Mombasa, its original destination, and the FBI (its HRT unit) -- allegedly "in charge" of the destroyer USS Bainbridge -- conducted verbal negotiations.

During this time, the Somali pirates planned to have other pirate vessels make contact with the drifiting lifeboat and transfer Captain Phillips aboard one of those boats, in order to take him back to Somalia -- where, on land and hidden away, they would have a much stronger hand for a successful ransom. The US Navy stymied the plan by deploying two ships which deflected the pirate vessels.

Captain Phillips attempted escape once but was recaptured. He tried a second time on Sunday by again jumping from the Maersk's lifeboat. This allowed US Navy SEALS to fire into the lifeboat and kill the remaining pirates.

Now that the entire crew is safe, there appears to be consideration by the US military to make a land incursion into Somalia itself. Neil Livingstone and other security analysts suggest the 1801 decision by then-President Thomas Jefferson to send a naval force to assault the land bases of Barbary pirates, who were extorting money from U.S. merchant ships off Libya’s coast, is a tactic that would work in this scenario as well.

In the meantime, John Press of Culturist John succinctly writes:

We should, at very least, stop Somali immigration until their piracy of our ships stop. Such culturist immigration policies would remind us that we have a culture as well as a duty and right to protect it.

I can only concur. Common sense would logically demand this.

You inherently know that no one in the current Obama Administration would even remotely touch this concept as it involves verboten subject matter: melanin count and Islam.

However, do you see or hear any Republicans calling for such an immediate and logical measure? I do not. This bespeaks, sadly, volumes about our current GOP ranks.

BZ