A Somali Sea Brigand

“The Scourge of the Seas” is as alive and well ….as is political correctness. Twenty-first century pirates off the Somali coast are still playing hell with international shipping and have been since the beginning of the Somali Civil War in 1991,  The pillage forges ahead, unabated. Headlines tell the story: “Somali Pirates seize British Super-freighter,” “Pirates seize Pakistani fishing vessel off Somalia,”  “ UK Navy Ship sets sail to fight piracy off Somalia,” “Pirates seize Indian dow off Somalia” and the great granddaddy of them all, as reported by the Times of London, “Super tanker and its $20 million cargo seized by gang of Somali pirates.” The 3000,000 ton Maran Centaurus was hijacked by nine rag-tag miscreants 800 miles off the Somali coast and a record $5.5 million ransom was parachuted onto its deck on last month.

Additionally, the plight of kidnapped British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler continues with no end in sight.

Why is this happening in 2010?

There was a time when pirates were deemed the scum of the earth, the lowest form of life. Roman lawgiver Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-47 BC) called them “enemies of humanity,” a concept rephrased by English jurist Sir Edward Coke (1552-1643) as “hostis huamni generis “ – “enemies of the human race,” which meant anyone could (and should) have a shot at them.  Seventeenth and eighteenth century English justice for pirates was swift and absolute. Many a buccaneer ended his days “dancing the hempen jig” on the business end of a rope. Punishment beyond mere death was reserved for more famous captives. Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates relates “their bodies were enclosed in iron cages (for which they were measured before their execution) and left to swing in the air until the flesh rotted off them- a process which could take as long as two years. The bodies of captains such as William Kidd, Charles Vance, William Fry and Jack Rackham were all treated this way.”

But justice for Somali piracy has fallen through the cracks. The 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention supposedly defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources. The treaty which has been approved by nearly 200 countries states that all countries have a right to capture pirates. But, we learn painfully, it did not foresee that failed states (i.e. Somalia) could not police their own territorial waters. According to Newsmax, “Somalia’s neighbor, Kenya has stepped in tot try to fill the void. It has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States and European countries agreeing to help prosecute any pirates captured in nearby waters.

Those agreements have drawn fire from international human rights groups, however, who say Kenya’s judicial system cannot be trusted to deliver justice.”

 To use Al Gore’s over-used punch line in another context, “There is no controlling authority” in Somalia’s clan-based society. The World Bank in 2008 found that as much as 73% of the population lived on an income of less than $2 a day. This, coupled with the financial success of the hijackers, has lured scores of young men into pirate gangs. Successful buccaneers are living the high life.  Robyn Hunter of BBC News, in October 2008, profiled those pirates newly cast as playboys:

“’They have money; they have power and they are getting stronger by the day’ says Adbi Farah Juha who lives in the regional capital, Garowe. ‘They wed the most beautiful girls; they are building big houses; they have new cars; new guns,’ he says. ‘piracy in many ways is socially acceptable. They have become fashionable.’ Most of them are in it for the money. And the rewards they receive are rich in a country where almost half the population needs food aid after 17 years of non-stop conflict.”

Beyond Somalia’s chaos, the world’s legal apparatus is seriously confused as to how to respond to piracy. Are the Somali pirates ordinary criminals, or a quasi-military force? Noted author on piracy Douglas R. Burgess, Jr. writes in the Decmber 5, 2008 New York Times,

“The question is not insignificant. It has virtually paralyzed the navies called to police the Gulf of Aden. The German Navy frigate Emden, on patrol this spring to intercept Qaeda vessels off the Somali coast, encountered pirate vessels attacking a Japanese tanker. But since it was allowed to intervene only if the pirates were defined as “terrorists,” the Emden had no choice but to let the pirates go. Currently, 13 vessels are held by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, while the navies of a dozen nations circle almost helplessly.

The legal confusion extends to what happens once pirates have been caught. In theory, any nation can shoulder the burden of prosecution. In fact, few are eager to do so. “

Like the dog who chases a car, what does he do when he catches it?

Political correctness  kicked in early on. Trashing the West is a sure-fire means of deflecting blame from “emerging world” misbehavior. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at a summit of Saharan states in May slammed the branding of Somali pirates as criminals saying they act within their rights to “defend their territorial water,” adding “this is a response to greedy Western nations who invade and exploit Somalia’s water illegally.” World Cup and Somali born rapper K’Naan chimed in, arguing that pirates are considered folk heroes in his impoverished country “because they represent a backlash against Western companies illegally fishing and dumping waste in the Indian Ocean.”

This mind-set gets a resounding “second” from North American and European liberals hopelessly awash in white guilt. Author Timothy Birdnow puts it succinctly in Canadafree press.com:

“Who are we to judge pirates, terrorists, Jihadists, Marxists? We must understand what drove them to these actions. The concept that America-or Europe is ultimately to blame because of colonialism or some other past sin Christendom is at the heart of this return of piracy and its kissing cousin, terrorism. These are not new. They have returned because we tolerate them.”

As with terrorists, offering pirates the protection of U.S. Courts may have unfortunate consequences. In a manner slightly reminiscent of Leslie Abramson’s outrageous 1993 tear-jerk defense of the Menendez brothers (who killed their parents in cold blood), NPR  volunteered the following account in an April 19 2009 “All Things Considered” edition titled “Prosecution of Pirate Raises Many Questions:”

“The sole surviving Somali from the Maersk Alabama piracy standoff was arraigned today in federal court. The Somali teenager ( Abduwali Abukhadir Muse) wore handcuffs and a chain around his waist as he was led inside by federal agents . He also wore a broad smile as he walked past the gaggle of Cameras. Today the judge ruled that the young man is at least 18, despite his family’s claim that he was only 16, and he will now stand trial as an adult.”

Lawyer Martin Geduldig, although not involved in Muse’s defense,  proclaimed, “You’ve got an 18-year old kid who has no education. He’s as poor as they come , and he got caught up with these pirates.” And, playing a familiar card, “In a sense, he’s as much a victim as anybody else.”

Poor kid! We will hear more of this.

A BBC report breaks the pirates down into three categories:

·       Local fishermen, the “brains” of their operations due to their skill and knowledge of the sea. Most of them think that foreign boats have no rights to cruise next to the shore and destroy their boats.

·       Ex-militiamen who used to fight for the local clan warlords, used as the “muscle.”

·       Technical experts who operate equipment such as computers and GPS devices.

The third group is the most interesting. The very skills which the pirate technocrats bring to the table could be their undoing. We have those capabilities and many more: satellite reconnaissance, more sophisticated GPS systems, the world’s most advanced air craft, including drones, sonar, radar, etc.

Somali piracy is unacceptable to most of the world. Legal ambiguities and political correctness can be addressed and overcome. We have the tools find, ferret out and defeat the high sea thieves and win the pirate war.

But do we have the will?