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 ...
They used to live to 100....
“The Indian stealth ship blew the pirate mothership to Davy Jones’ Locker just yesterday. No one has said “boo”.
Or does the rule only apply to American captains?”
The Indians have no “white guilt” about attacking blacks who are criminals on the open sea.
Try as much with the American military - particularly considering the incoming administration and its mindset....
- John
^^^^^^
Lawyers, I somehow forgot the lawyers in that rant.
“...No one has jurisdiction...”
I believe, in the anti-piracy treaties of the 19th Century, pirates were officially named ‘hostis humanii’, i.e. ‘enemies of mankind’ and any and every sovereign state had authority and jurisdiction to take, sink, or otherwise deal with them as they saw fit.
Too bad the same treaties also outlawed privateers and Letters of Marque and Reprisal.
VietVet
“Once you’re beyond th 12-mile territorial boundary, no one has jurisdiction in punishing the pirates. No one knows where to take them or what to do with them.”
Jeasus Christ, how about you shoot them and sink thier ship. You sound like a Democrat.
Under British Common Law there is a standard. Shark food.
Thanks.
It seems like this problem will not go away and may get much worse. Once the pirates board a ship, they have hostages. Until the crews are willing and able to defend themselves, there isn’t much the international community can do aside from sending commando’s onto captured ships.
One point someone made was that piracy is a land based problem and the solution will have to take place in Somalia and not on the Ocean.
I’m not a Democrat...and that is an insult.
I was simply repeating what I heard from the ‘expert’ on Kirby’s show this morning. It’s what HE said.
Personally, I’m all for blowing them out of the water by whatever means possible.
because the somalis are armed. No outside government can impose its will on an armed and resistant society.
Sorry for calling you a Democrat, I realize that is a horrible insult.
S’aright. Heat of the moment and all that. No worries.
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