US Marines seize ship from pirates off Somalia

(MANAMA, Bahrain) – US Marines seized a pirate-controlled ship in the Gulf of Aden according to a statement from the Fifth Fleet.

Early Wednesday, pirates captured the German-owned vessel M/V Magellan Star. Crew members locked themselves in a safe compartment of the ship once the pirates had boarded. At 5 a.m. local time, 24 members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Maritime Raid Force boarded the Magellan Star, capturing all pirates without firing a shot. No injuries to the crew, Marines, or pirates were reported.

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Pirates vow revenge after Obama passed age-old test for US presidents

Shipping containers at the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group based in Copenhagen, Denmark.[Photo from corporate website press gallery.]With the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips on Easter Sunday, pirates are vowing revenge on both the US and France for the deaths of comrades who were holding Phillips hostage. Piracy is nothing new—by now most are aware US presidents have faced issues with rogues on the high seas dating to Thomas Jefferson’s struggles with the Barbary pirates. Some experts translate history in a manner that can be confusing. One line of thinking suggests The Barbary Wars had nothing to do with religion, but were actually about trade. Regardless of the pirates’ faith, Jefferson would have acted.

But Jefferson had a wakeup call like the one the current US president may soon have. As in many other parts of the world, pirates off the coast of Somalia are often Islamic. Christopher Hitchens, in the essay ‘Jefferson versus the Muslim Pirates’ at City-Journal, recounts what Jefferson heard when he and John Adams met with Tripoli’s ambassador to London in 1785. Hitchens recounts: “When they inquired by what right the Barbary states preyed upon American shipping, enslaving both crews and passengers, America’s two foremost envoys were informed that “it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

Hitchens points out one aspect of piracy many historians have ignored: between 1530-1780, approximately 1.5 million Europeans and Americans were enslaved in Islamic North Africa. In the US, the only history taught about slavery relates to trans-Atlantic slavery in America. Schools rarely include discussion of slavery practiced by a number of countries before America was a nation and long after American president Abraham Lincoln freed US slaves. Slavery never was and is not entirely the white man's burden; it is a human global burden and the practice existed in domiciles of all skin colors.

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Vice Admiral Gortney says vessels need self-protection to combat piracy

The Sirius Star at anchor off the coast of Harardhere, Somalia, as seen by a U.S. Navy aircraft flying overhead. The ship was attacked Nov. 15 more than 450 miles off the East coast of Africa, and was forced to proceed to an anchorage in Somali territorial waters (U.S. Navy photo by Aviation Warfare Systems Operator 2nd Class William S. Stevens.)U.S. Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, Commander, Combined Maritime Forces, said ships must take security measures to help combat piracy. Approximately 10 days after Gortney gave his recommendation, a ship owned by Oceania Cruises was attacked. A news release on the Oceania website reported the Nov. 30th attack:
“M/S NAUTICA was transiting through the Gulf of Aden within the prescribed Maritime Safety Protection Area which is patrolled by international anti-piracy task forces. As the vessel sailed past several groups of non-hostile fishing vessels, two small skiffs were sighted by the Officer on Duty and deemed potentially hostile. The skiffs, approaching from a range of approximately 1000 meters [1,094 yards], attempted to intercept the vessel’s course. Captain Jurica Brajcic and his officers immediately began evasive maneuvers and took all prescribed precautions. NAUTICA was immediately brought to flank speed and was able to out run the two skiffs. One of the skiffs did manage to close the range to approximately 300 yards and fired eight rifle shots in the direction of the vessel before trailing off. No one aboard NAUTICA was harmed and no damage was sustained.”

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Military analyst’s warnings about piracy prove true with Somalia attacks

Maj. W. Thomas Smith, Jr., is a military expert, author and journalist whose work has appeared in top media around the globe.Exclusive feature about piracy and Somalia

(Columbia, S.C.)—Maj. W. Thomas Smith Jr. (SCSG) — military analyst, counterterrorism/counterpiracy expert, and former U.S. Marine infantry leader — says Islamists may well be “capitalizing” on high-seas piracy. As a journalist, Smith has reported from battlefields in the Balkans and the Middle East—from the West Bank to Iraq (two tours) to Lebanon—and he covered the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks from "ground zero" in New York. Smith agreed to an exclusive Q&A with The US Report about piracy.

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