Tag Archives: Piracy

Common Sense Is Obviously Becoming More Rare

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On Thursday, MSN News reported that the European Union human rights court has ordered France to pay thousands of euros to Somali pirates for violating their rights.

The article reports:

The Somali pirates were apprehended on the high seas by the French army on two separate occasions in 2008 and taken back to France for trial.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said that French authorities should have brought the pirates before a judge “without delay” when they arrived on French territory after being held at sea. The EU’s top human rights court said French authorities were wrong to keep the pirates in custody for an additional 48 hours before bringing them before a judge.

“Nothing justifies such an additional delay,” the court said in its verdict, adding that it constituted a “violation of their rights to freedom and security”.

France was ordered to pay between €5,000 and €2,000 ($6,100 and $2,500) to each pirate for “moral damages”, plus amounts varying from €3,000 to €9,000 ($3,700 and $11,200) to cover legal costs.

They are pirates. They earn a living by attacking ships, stealing and kidnapping and killing innocent people. They gave up their rights to freedom and security when they chose piracy as a profession. Would the court have ruled this way if any of its members had any personal knowledge or experience with Somali pirates?

It Pays To Fight Back

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On Thursday, the Washington Free Beacon reported that piracy off the coast of Somalia has decreased during 2012.

The article reports:

Successful ship hijackings have decreased from 31 in 2011 (and 49 in 2010) to only four so far in 2012. Attacks against ships have also decreased, falling from 199 reported attacks in the first nine months of 2011 to 70 attacks over the same span in 2012—a 65 percent drop.

So what caused the drop? Many commercial shipping companies have put armed guards aboard their ships. As yet, the pirates have never taken control of a ship that has armed guards.

The article concludes:

Ending the threat of piracy will not be cheap, however. The “cost of preventing piracy off the coast of Somalia is substantially higher than the costs piracy inflicts. Nevertheless, shipping companies are willing to pay a premium to prevent disruptions in their operations.”

Excuse me for a bit of oversimplification here, but the best way to deal with the bully who steals your lunch is to clean his clock. I don’t support a vigilante society, but there are times when it pays to arm the potential victim. That is a lesson that all of us need to keep in mind when we hear someone explain why they think that disarming America’s civilians is a good idea.

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They Did What ???!!!

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an old pirate ship.

Image via Wikipedia

I’m hoping this story is just a nasty rumor, but since I fear it may not be, I am reporting it. Big Peace is reporting today about an Arabic Al-Arabiya story entitled (pathognomonically), “ ‘Umar ‘Abd-al-Rahman at Forefront of Egyptian-American Prisoner Exchange Deal.”

The story states:

The Egyptian government began taking steps to respond with the American offer to release 50 Egyptians being held in American prisons–including Shaykh ‘Umar ‘Abd-al-Rahman—in exchange for the release of 19 Americans accused in the case of foreign funding of civil society organizations. This is according to what was confirmed by Major General Muhammad Hani Zahir, an expert in military studies and international counterterrorism. 

Zahir in comments to the newspaper ‘al-Masriyun’ said it was necessary for Egypt to exploit America’s weak position, especially after condemning its citizens in cases affecting Egyptian sovereignty over its territory. He added that Egypt should not permit this exchange to take place unless the American administration agrees to release more than 500 Egyptians being held in American prisons, of whom the Egyptian foreign ministry knows nothing.

We need to understand that kidnapping and taking hostages are a standard way of raising money and gaining things that would otherwise be unattainable in the Middle East. We are stupid if we have even considered making this offer. It will only lead to more situations where Americans are held hostage.

In speaking of the rules that govern Islamic societies, the article at Big Peace reports:

Indeed such odious “rules” were iterated by all four classical schools of Islamic jurisprudence, across the vast Muslim empire. Specifically, Ibn Abi Zayd Al_Qayrawani (d. 996), head of the North African Maliki school at Qairuan, and the famous Syrian jurist Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) of the Hanbali school under the Mamluks, wrote the following:

[Ibn Abi Zayd Al_Qayrawani ] There is no inconvenience to kill white non-Arabs who have been taken prisoner… 

[Ibn Taymiyya] …If a male unbeliever is taken captive during warfare or otherwise, eg., as a result of a shipwreck, or because he has lost his way, or as a result of a ruse, then the imam may do whatever he deems appropriate: killing him, enslaving him, releasing him or setting him free for a ransom consisting in either property or people. This is the view of most jurists and it is supported by the Koran and the Sunna…

It is time to come to the realization that all civilizations are not created equally and that to negotiate with barbarians is folly. We need to delay (and eventually cancel) all aid to Egypt and demand that they release the Americans they are holding hostage. This situation is an example of why America needs a strong President and a strong military. Currently we have a weak President who is trying to destroy our strong military. November of this year is the time to bring change to the White House.