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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Four Americans murdered by Somali jihadist pirates

The piece doesn't use the word jihadist or Islam, but we know better.  The game now has escalated, the jihadists in Somalia, by murdering American tourists and seizing their boat they have opened up a can of whoopass.  We try our best to match violence with the same level of violence, but if the jihadists now are willing to dispatch those who formerly would have brought in money for their release, what choice do we have?  The most unfortunate part is that, if someone decides to sail in waters known to be inhabited by jihadists, and they are taken prisoner, they must face the reality that they will probably die. 

Jefferson and Adams had to deal with the Barbary pirates 200 years ago.  We paid hundreds of thousands in jizya until we took action and built a navy capable of defeating the pirates.  We have the navy, we just need the guts.  More will perish, and we will stand off and watch, hoping that if we talk a good game, the jihadists will leave well enough alone.

Pish tosh, I say.


From AP/Yahoo Feb 22 by Jason Straziuso and Malkhadir Muhumed

4 American hostages killed by pirates off Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya – A U.S. Navy destroyer was shadowing a hijacked yacht with four Americans aboard when a pirate fired a rocket-propelled grenade, followed by bursts of gunfire. U.S. special forces scrambled onto the occupied vessel only to find the four Americans fatally wounded.

The yachting enthusiasts from California and Washington killed off the coast of East Africa on Tuesday were the first Americans slain by Somali pirates since a wave of attacks began six years ago. One of the American couples had been sailing around the world since 2004 handing out Bibles.

The deaths of the four travelers, all in their late 50s or 60s, appeared to underscore an increasingly brutal and aggressive shift by pirates in their treatment of hostages.

Killing hostages "has now become part of our rules," said a pirate who identified himself as Muse Abdi. He referred as a turning point to last week's sentencing of a pirate to 33 years in prison for the 2009 attack on the U.S. cargo vessel the Maersk Alabama — just two days before the hijacking.

"From now on, anyone who tries to rescue the hostages in our hands will only collect dead bodies," Abdi said. "It will never, ever happen that hostages are rescued and we are hauled to prison."

Soon will come the strongly worded letter from Obama condemning the murders.....wait for it...

(.)But Tuesday's bloody events are apt to leave U.S. military planners in a quandary: Do they go after the pirates harder? Do they attack their bases on Somalia's ungoverned shores?

Uhhh...
 
One maritime expert said it's too early to tell.

"This is a first," said Gibbon-Brooks, the analyst. "We don't know if the situation is related to a straight execution. We don't know if it was related to an attempt to break free. We don't know if it was related to an accident."

Does it really matter the circumstances under which these four innocents were murdered?  Without identifying the ideology driving these jihadists, the reader is left clueless, and confused.  Worrying about the reason just gets more murdered.

Read it all

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