I could be wrong, but I don’t think these guys are Jihadis. They’re more straight up criminal scumbags, who may or may not be nominally Muslim, given that they’re Somali.
Good point. Even if they are nominal, this would still be blown out of proportion as “proof we are at war with ____” fill in the blank whomever needs money, is poor, is fatherless because of something America did, etc. As much as every one of us, myself most adamantly, want to open fire and control the situation, that might be a bad idea. I did not read until later about the boat being covered. Maybe the captain will be able to do something amazing with this criminals instead of killing them. But sending them home cashless and impotent would be great.
No way the big guys would let 'criminal scumbags' get millions of dollars in ransom money. The Jihadis are running the show.