Dinah Lord

Netherlands: Hey, jail is great says Somali pirate.

I love it here and I can't wait to send for the wife and kids!  Thanks Dutch government!

From nrc.nl

No, Willem-Jan Ausma has never had to defend a client quite like this: one who is quite happy being in prison, and is almost looking forward to being found guilty and sentenced. "For the first time in his life he has access to a real toilet. For the first time in his life he is in a safe environment," Ausma says about his Somali 'pirate' client.

Sure, 24-year-old Yusuf hasn't seen his family in more than four months. "But he intends to send for his wife and children as soon as he is released from prison. He knows he cannot easily be sent back to Somalia. He loves it here in the Netherlands."

An excellent question about the Somali pirates and all that ransom dough.

Where the hell are they keeping it?  Back in November, Kenya's Foreign Minister estimated the amount for 2008 alone to be at $150 million.  (I've seen the $100 million number thrown around, too.)  Anyway you slice it, that's a lot of jack to keep lying around. 

From Media Monitors Network.

Where in Somalia are these pirates hiding the $100 million, which is in cash, not bank drafts? On the one hand, they are free to do as they please with the money because they have no fear of being arrested because there is no government to impose law and order. On the other hand, Somalia has no banks, so if the pirates have made deposits, in which country or countries are the banks?

It begs answering, because if you believe this piece - the 'wafer-thin banditos' are spending $500,000 out of every million on food, snacks and cigarettes.

According to Farah Ismael Eid, a pirate who is serving a 15-year term In Somalia´s notorious Mandera prison, the money he and his pals collected was divided thus: 30% for government officials 20% for the bosses, 20% for necessities like guns, food and cigarettes, 30% for the gunmen.

That is a lot of ciggies folks. If one is to believe these figures that means pirates spend $500,000 out of every million-ransom dollars on snacks, smokes and guns. One assumes these wafer thin bandidos are not big eaters, and an AK-47 can be bought in this part of East Africa for under $100 bucks. This means Somali pirates are puffing their way through almost half a million dollars in cigarettes every week.

But if you believe this piece - - the piracy operations are run like a classic MBA school exercise and  Dinah's here to tell you there's no way those types are not going to earn the float off of $100 mil. 

What?  What's that you say?  The pirates' roughly $250,000 worth of seed capital is provided from a successful Somali outside of the country through the Hawala money laundering system?  Well, what do you know.  (Have a little time to kill?  You can listen to the NPR's Money Planet podcast on the subject referencing the role of Hawala in pirate financing here.  Starts at the 10:00 minute mark.)

Gee, do you think that is the way that the money is getting out of the country, too? 

Um, yes. 

In other pirate news (slightly tardy - but better late than never)  US hands over 3 dead pirates to Somalian police.

And just to maintain my personal record of the Islamist - Pirate linkage.  (Because the pirate attacks continue apace and you know the question is going to come up again and again.)

Poor widdle Pirate! Lefty lawyers line up to get him off the hook...

Abduhl Wali-i-Musi, the sole surviving Somali pirate from the hostage-taking of an American ship captain, has just arrived in New York and already knees are jerking, hearts are bleeding.

From the NY Post:

Ron Kuby, a New York-based civil rights lawyer, said he has been in discussions about forming a legal team to represent the Somali suspect.

"I think in this particular case, there's a grave question as to whether America was in violation of principles of truce in warfare on the high seas," said Kuby. "This man seemed to come onto the Bainbridge under a flag of truce to negotiate. He was then captured. There is a question whether he is lawfully in American custody and serious questions as to whether he can be prosecuted because of his age."

And community organizers are crawling out of the woodwork to assist the poor, misunderstood, yute.   (Omar Jamal is knee deep in the case of the Lost Boys of Minnesota, too.

A Twin Cities Somali community activist said he is on his way to New York this morning on a mission to ensure that an accused pirate is treated justly in a court appearance this afternoon.

Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul, said he spoke Monday with the parents of Abdiwali Abduhl Wali-i-Musi, the sole surviving Somali pirate from the hostage-taking of an American ship captain.

Jamal said he intends to be in court today with Wali-i-Musi and carrying a letter from his parents in Somalia explaining that Jamal has permission to arrange for Wali-i-Musi's defense.

Jamal said it's likely that Wali-i-Musi will be represented by a federal public defender or an attorney arranged by the family, possibly from a civil rights organization on a pro bono basis.

"We need him to get any benefits of this judicial system," Jamal said as he headed to the airport for a flight to New York. "Our primary concern is that the family doesn't lose their mind."

Somalia: Pirates get three year jail term.

Boy, they really threw the book at these guys, didn't they?  This is why I prefer hanging them from the yardarm - avoid all that pirate prison overcrowding they're complaining about .

From Xinhua.

A court in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, Sunday sentenced 17 suspected pirates to three years in jail each after they were accused of involvement in piracy that is plaguing the Horn of Africa coast.

    The men were part of suspected pirates handed over by the French navy joining the international effort to patrol the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden where piracy activities forced many countries to send warships to prevent the Somali pirates from hijacking ships on the important route.

Lawyers for the suspects said their clients are fishermen who were mistakenly captured as pirates but the judge presiding over the trial said the men were caught red handed in piracy acts and have also confessed to their crimes.

...

Hundreds of suspected pirates are now being held in prisons in Bossaso, the commercial capital of the state. The inmates remain in prison for several months without trial and some have escaped in mysterious circumstances.

Local authorities say they do not have necessary facilities to hold the inmates and try them properly because of lack of funds for prison guards, lawyers and judges.

The US is currently weighing where to try the remaining pirate from the Alabama hijacking and AG Eric Holder will have the final say in the matter.  You will be happy to know the penalty for piracy is life in prison in the US.  (I was.)

 We'll see what that turns into after the lefty lawyers get hold of his case.

Officials said the pirate surrendered to U.S. forces. Details of the surrender were not immediately clear but, under international law, the Navy has the right to hold pirates captured at sea and does not need to negotiate extradition with another country.

The U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Somalia.

The U.S. is treating the matter as a criminal case because officials have found no direct ties between East African pirates and terror groups. (Go back to sleep, sheeple!)  Because the U.S. is not at war with Somalia, piracy cases are governed by U.S. and international law.

The FBI investigates crimes committed on the high seas but piracy cases are unusual. Assaults on cruise ships are the most common offenses investigated at sea.

Somali Islamist leaders: “I can say the pirates are part of the Mujahideen [religious fighters], because they are in a war with Christian countries who want to misuse the Somali coast.”

And they commend the taking of Captain Richard Phillips.  They're also ticked that the Arab countries didn't give them a 'grant', too.   Just for the record. 

From Garowe Online:

Rebel leaders in southern Somalia associated with Islamist factions have hailed recent pirate attacks off the coast of the Horn of Africa region, Radio Garowe reports.

In separate comments, Al Shabaab spokesman Muktar Robow “Abu Mansur” and Ras Kamboni Brigade leader Sheikh Hassan Abdullahi “Turki” have hailed ship-hijackings by Somali pirates.

In Baidoa, capital of Bay region, Abu Mansur told reporters that the pirates are “protecting the Somali coast.  Foreign powers want to divide the country [Somalia] and the pirates are protecting the coast against the enemies of Allah [God],” Abu Mansur said. He condemned the interim government of Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, saying the government “sold the sea” to the neighboring Republic of Kenya.

...

Separately, Sheikh Turki, a notorious Islamist guerrilla leader accused of terror ties by the U.S. government, told supporters in the southern port city of Kismayo that Kenya “will not be allowed one meter of Somalia.”

He criticized Somali pirates as “money-seekers,” but praised pirate attacks: “I can say the pirates are part of the Mujahideen [religious fighters], because they are in a war with Christian countries who want to misuse the Somali coast.”

Sheikh Turki specifically commended Somali pirates for kidnapping Mr. Richard Phillips, the American captain of the Maersk Alabama vessel that escaped a pirate attack last week...

He is still being held hostage by pirates.  (ed. note:  Not anymore!)

“We will fight against Kenya and any other country if they try to take away Somali territory or waters,” Sheikh Turki said.

He accused the government of President Sheikh Sharif, the former leader of Somali Islamists, of “lacking funds” and “failing to get a grant from the Arab countries” as reasons for “selling the sea” to Kenya.

He condemned recent fighting between Al Shabaab and Ahlu Sunnah fighters in the central region of Galgadud, saying: “It is unfortunate but the other group is only using the Ahlu Sunnah name.”

Sheikh Turki’s Ras Kamboni Brigade merged forces with other Islamist factions in Jan. 2009, forming the new group Hizbul Islam [Party of Islam].

Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam factions have rejected Somalia’s new government and vowed to wage war until foreign troops withdraw from Somali soil.

Also for the record:  The President of Somali's official statement here - he's "really concerned".  The President of Puntland's official statement on Piracy can be found here.  It sounds like he's looking for cover . 

Speaking of running for cover.  Unidentified copters buzz Somali pirate hub - sends local residents into a panic.

And you had to know this was coming:  Somali pirates vow retaliation after Captain freed.

"From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them," Habeb said. "Now they became our number one enemy," he said of U.S. forces.

(Funny.  I don't recall them getting all ripped up at the French when they killed the pirates during the rescue of the Tanit.)

Captain Phillips freed.

Praise the Lord and God Bless the Navy Seals was my first thought.

Team America - phuk yeah!  Was the second.

From Klew.TV

A U.S. intelligence official says American ship Capt. Richard Phillips has been freed through an operation by the U.S. Navy.

According to CNN, three pirates who had kidnapped the captain were killed in the operation, and one other is in custody.

Capt. Phillips was not injured in the rescue operation.

He is reportdly being transported to the Navy cruiser USS Bainbridge, on the scene off the coast of Somalia.

Shamelessly lifted from FReeper Potlatch

Somalia: The Dinah-Pirate nexus.

The Somali pirates have always interested Dinah because her grandfather was in the Merchant Marine and used to sail this route on a regular basis.  So I've been blogging about them - well, since I started blogging.

(P.S. Don't let the Green Shirts know, but he served as a Chief Steward on a variety of oil freighters for the Esso line, now the evil ExxonMobil.  And please keep the fact that my other grandfather owned a coal mine on the down low, too.  Thanks!)

He lived with us after he retired and he used to wake me up every morning to go to school by flicking on the lights and saying "Rise and shine with the Esso line!"  He also used to recite Robert Service poems and sing racy songs to us.  He played solitaire by the hour and would walk for miles every day, but he never lost his sea legs. 

Oddly enough, he died in a Florida Keys hospital as a hurricane passed over.  (We were in Florida for my brother's wedding to a French Canadian exotic dancer - but that's a whole other story.)

So when I hear about any sailor being taken hostage by Somali pirates I think of him. 

-- In 2008 there were 293 incidents of piracy against ships worldwide -- 11 percent up on the year before. Attacks off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden increased nearly 200 percent.

-- All types of vessels have been targeted. The pirates boarding the vessels were also better armed than in previous years and prepared to assault and injure the crew.***

(***Okay, I know I have been banging the Pirate - al Qaeda nexus here  like a drum, but doesn't this at least make you wonder about it?  Although, if you believe this guy it's because of better weather and cold hard cash.  Why not make sure there's no al Qaeda connection, people?  Where's the harm in that?)

And this just in:  Pirates seize US owned - Italian flagged tugboat.

Pirates seized a US-owned and Italian-flagged tugboat with 16 crew on Saturday in the latest hijacking in the busy Gulf of Aden waterway, a regional maritime group said.

Andrew Mwangura, of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, said the crew were believed to be unharmed on the tugboat, which he added was operated from the United Arab Emirates.

Here are a list of the ships still being held by the pirates:

I love the fact that the USS Halyburton is steaming towards the Alabama.

Halliburton - Halyburton.  Get it? 
USS Halyburton leaving Malta  --->

But if their goal is to resolve the incident without military force then what are they going to do?

From WWJ Newsradio

The piracy crisis over a lone hostage in the Indian Ocean took on the familiar air of a cops-and-robbers standoff, with the U.S. Navy seeking advice Thursday from seasoned FBI negotiators.

Their goal: Resolve the incident without military force.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says the Navy is talking with the pirates. It was unclear who spoke for the Navy but another official said earlier Thursday that the commanding officer of the destroyer USS Bainbridge had tried to contact them.

As the FBI joined the delicate negotiations, President Barack Obama, facing one of his first national security tests, declined to comment when asked about the standoff. Vice President Joe Biden said the administration was working 'round the clock' on the problem.  (ed. note:  That makes me feel better.  /not)

The incident epitomizes the limits of U.S. power in an age of increasing threat from violence-minded, faceless groups and individuals.

Like we don't know they're Muslims with connections to al-Qaeda.  Gee, al Qaeda was quick enough to take credit for the attacks back in September of 2008.

In a recent communiqué, the Islamist organization claimed responsibility for this year’s surge in pirate attacks in the vital Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. Dozens of vessels from different nations have been seized and held for ransom, shaking the world’s shipping industry. Al-Qaeda calls its maritime campaign “a new strategy which permits the mujahedeen” to hijack shipping, since “fighters who aspire to establish the caliphate must control the seas and the waterways.”

Counterterrorism consultant Olivier Guitta revealed the al-Qaeda connection in his Asia Times column, writing that the terrorist organization “intends to take control of the Gulf of Aden and the southern entrance of the Red Sea.” Guitta called the area “strategic” for the radical Islamic group.

Al-Qaeda’s goal is the removal of Western military bases from the Arabian Peninsula. It believes sea lanes “weakened by acts of piracy,” combined with mujahedeen attacks, will force concessions from Western powers. And while Al-Qaeda has not abandoned its more traditional tactics – it has a presence in both Somalia and Yemen and attacked the American embassy in Yemen this month, killing 16 – the organization is increasingly focusing its terror on the high seas.

About the USS Halyburton

Their motto:  "Not for self but for country."

USS HALYBURTON (FFG-40) is the thirty-fourth ship of the Oliver Hazard Perry class of guided missile frigates.

HALYBURTON is homeported in Mayport Florida, and is assigned to Destroyer Squadron Fourteen.  Surpassing 20 years of commissioned service, USS HALYBURTON continues to provide invaluable service to the fleet. 

USS HALYBURTON is a multi-mission platform capable of performing a variety of roles ranging from convoy escort to air, surface and undersea warfare.  HALYBURTON is capable of embarking two LAMPS MK III SEAHAWK helicopters, which enhance all warfare capabilities and are designed to meet today’s ever changing threats.

Hillary thinks pirates taking Americans hostage is pretty funny. Or something. Obama is mute.

Oddly enough, I don't think it's funny at all.  Update:  She must be in a good mood about scoring tickets to the American Idol finale.  (I kid you not.)

I guess it's better than Obama who refuses to discuss it all.

President Barack Obama on Thursday refused to answer questions about the hostage situation off the coast of Somalia. The president was asked about the incident as he met with U.S. homeowners to discuss refinancing mortgages. 

At the close of the White House event, the president was asked by a reporter if he was concerned about the piracy incident.

Obama responded: "Guys, we're talking about housing right now." Reporters were then ushered out of the room as they usually are after such events. As of midday Thursday, Obama had not yet commented publicly on the incident.

Let me tell you, if I was held hostage somewhere and these two acted like this with regards to my situation, when I got loose I would come back here and give them both a piece of my mind.   I would blister them both.

This just in:  John Kerry calls for pirate hearings - that'll help for sure!