Posted on 11/19/2008 3:03:26 PM PST by Lorianne
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somalia's increasingly brazen pirates are building sprawling stone houses, cruising in luxury cars, marrying beautiful women - even hiring caterers to prepare Western-style food for their hostages.
And in an impoverished country where every public institution has crumbled, they have become heroes in the steamy coastal dens they operate from because they are the only real business in town.
"The pirates depend on us, and we benefit from them," said Sahra Sheik Dahir, a shop owner in Haradhere, the nearest village to where a hijacked Saudi Arabian supertanker carrying $100 million in crude was anchored Wednesday.
These boomtowns are all the more shocking in light of Somalia's violence and poverty: Radical Islamists control most of the country's south, meting out lashings and stonings for accused criminals. There has been no effective central government in nearly 20 years, plunging this arid African country into chaos.
Life expectancy is just 46 years; a quarter of children die before they reach 5.
But in northern coastal towns like Haradhere, Eyl and Bossaso, the pirate economy is thriving thanks to the money pouring in from pirate ransoms that have reached $30 million this year alone.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailybreeze.com ...
I think this is a job for some 52’s, make some examples of the fruits of piracy. The other villages will get the message.
I wish they’d stop calling them pirates. They’re just Democrats without the Haavad sheepskin.
Skinny is taking boats?
Time for Skinny to die.
I assume these towns are on a map. Remove them from the map.
And then kill the next one....and then the next one...and then...
Kudos to the Indian Navy for blasting to hell one of these barges of worthless human debris.
Bomb the towns, duh?
Kill them.
not going to happen.
When you don’t finish a job it always comes back to haunt you.
We should have nuked this muslim cesspit and turned it to glass back in ‘93 and we wouldn’t be having problems today.
Not to mention all of the arrogant Somalis that subsequently came to the US and are now living on welfare while they spend their time trying to force Islam on us.
They just said on Special Report w/Britt Hume that the Brits don’t know what to do with the eight pirates they captured.
I’m sure there’s quite a few folks here who remember what the Chief of Police in LA had to say with regards to the rash of hijacked aircraft back in the ‘70’s:
“Hang ‘em. Hang ‘em at the airport.”
Sounds like AP-O is pro-pirate and anti-US, as usual.
Hey, these guys are organizing the community and spreading the wealth around, what’s the problem?
Bump w/thanks, Dio...
Can you say “collateral damage”? I knew you could!
Help the terrorist, die with the terrorist. Help the pirate, die with the pirate!
Where is a ship of the line when you need one? Just one battlecruiser would clarify matters in a day.
Well it’s a good thing we had that exit strategy back in 93. Other wise, we still be there!
Another awesome decision by the Clintonians...
“Somalia’s increasingly brazen pirates”
The Somalia pirates are no different then Marxist/Socialists the world over.
The use the threat of force or force to tax the evil rich.
The left should be cheering these guys.
They are no different than our own IRS.
Conservative Seattle radio host Kirby Wiolbur discussed this just this morning on his radio program. He had a an expert on his show. The expert (who’s name escapes me) mentioned that the shipping companies usually just pay the ransom and don’t even report it.
The reason is that their insurance rates will go up if they report it. In their eyes, it’s better to pay a million bucks on a 100-million dollar cargo. Plus, the investigation could tie up the ship in a port for weeks, thereby taking it out of money-making service until the investigation is done.
That’s why most companies never mention it. The fact that a ULCC got taken really put it in the spotlight.
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