Soccer Dad

A pirate's life

Currently there's a standoff off the coast of Somalia between the US Navy and a Ukranian freighter that's been seized by pirates. The freighter, it turned out, was ferrying a signficant amount of weaponry. The NYT got over a satellite phone. The pirate of course justified his actions:

Q. Have the pirates been misunderstood?
A. We don't consider ourselves sea bandits ["sea bandit" is one way Somalis translate the English word pirate]. We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.

Q. Why did you want to become a pirate?
A. We are patrolling our seas. This is a normal thing for people to do in their regions.

Q. Isn't what you are doing a crime? Holding people at gunpoint?
A. If you hold hostage innocent people, that's a crime. If you hold hostage people who are doing illegal activities, like waste dumping or fishing, that is not a crime.

Q. What has this Ukrainian ship done that was a crime?
A. To go through our waters carrying all these weapons without permission.

I guess without significant governmental authority in Somalia, the pirates see their role as policing their country's territorial waters. He says they have no interest in harming the hostages or in the weaponry on board. They just want cash.

Max Boot writes that the Navy is trying to upgrade to fight the threat of piracy, but has run into cost problems.

This Saturday, the Navy will commission its first Littoral Combat Ship, the USS Independence. A month from now, the second such vessel, the USS Freedom, will follow. These are relatively small vessels that would be ideal for fighting pirates. (They even pack non-lethal weapons for such missions.) The Navy hopes to build 55 of them, but they had to cancel those plans because of massive cost overruns. A top priority for the next Secretary of Defense must be to stop runaway acquisition programs fueled by "cost plus" reimbursement and constant changes in requirements which encourage contractors to "gold plate" their projects.