There has been a flurry of reports this past week about pirates ravaging international waters off the coast of Somalia. After capturing an Italian-flagged tugboat, another set of swashbucklers took over an American Maersk cargo ship and took the captain hostage on one of the ship’s lifeboats.
With these scourges pillaging the high seas, it brings me to really wonder — how far have we come as a human race if we still can’t stop pirates? Of course, these aren’t your stereotypical silver screen pirates, but weren’t we having problems with piracy 200 years ago? We can put a man on the moon, we are working on a cure for cancer, and we can even take a tumor off your brain through your nose, but we still can’t stop pirates?
Let’s compare, shall we, the maritime- marauders of yesteryear to today’s open-water terrorists. The garb is much different. Unlike the pirates of centuries past, who were “all in a gowne of falding to the knee,” as Chaucer describes in “The Canterbury Tales,” today’s seafaring scourges can be seen in anything from camouflage fatigues to denim jeans and windbreakers like those photographed on the Maersk Alabama.
Weaponry has surely changed as well; today’s pirates aren’t going to loot your boat with cannons from their sail boats and ships, swords or hooked hands anymore. Instead, they utilize automatic machine guns and motor boats. Still, modern warfare tactics the Navy now employs highly outweigh the skill and scheme of any current pirates. They shouldn’t be considered any more of a threat than the sword- bearing pirates that existed as far back as the 1500s.
Unlike the pirates of the 1800s, many of which hailed form Morocco, modern pirates have no initiative other than money. The Moroccan pirates that captured the U.S. merchant ship Betsey in 1784, and those like them, saw piracy as a type of jihad. Their religious views pushed them to plunder boats and siege ships because the American and British people were viewed as sinners. However, these Somali pirates, it is reported, have no religious or political motive. Money is their main concern and they will do whatever it takes to get it.
“This is a business to them. They are not intended on carrying what cargo we’re carrying. All they want to do is see a dollar figure,” said John Harris, CEO of HollowPoint Security Services, which specializes in maritime security.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for international actions against these terrorists.
“We think the world should come together to end the scourge of piracy,” she said.
There is no question that piracy is an issue which must be dealt with considering the high amount of sea trade that the entire world relies on to import and export goods. But what good is having a Navy and enough firepower to blow up a state on each vessel if we can’t save Captain Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama from a lifeboat that’s still in open water within hours of arrival?
Phillips gave himself up to the pirates as a hostage in exchange for the safety of his crew during the takeover of his ship last Wednesday. It was with the authorization of President Obama that the Seals were told to act accordingly if they felt Phillips was in imminent danger. After being presented with the opportunity, and seeing Phillips with a gun pressed to his back, Navy Seal snipers worked together and took their shots.
Thankfully, the captain was rescued Sunday when he jumped overboard the lifeboat he was being held on, and the snipers shot and killed three of the pirates holding him hostage. A fourth pirate is being held in custody on the USS Bainbridge.
President Obama spoke Monday to a group at the Transportation Department saying that he was proud of the United States Navy and other agencies that helped in the
rescue of Captain Philips. President Obama also said that he aims to “halt the rise of piracy in that region.”
Unfortunately, Somali pirates have vowed revenge on the Americans and French sailors they come across. The French military stormed a yacht that pirates had taken over on Friday. In the invasion, two pirates as well as one hostage was killed. In an interview with Reuters, a Somali pirate known only as Hussein said Monday, “we do not kill but take ransom.” He threatened, “The French and Americans will regret starting this killing.”
Obama has a lot on his plate at this point. In the midst of a war in Afghanistan, as well as trying to pull military groups out of Iraq, this pending feud with pirates off the Horn of Africa could prove to be a dangerous and fatal venture on the part of the American government. Well thought-out and strategic precautions will need to be implemented quickly to ensure the safety of our shipping boats and their crews.
“Piracy may be a centuries-old crime, but we are working to bring a 21st-century response,” Clinton said.
I respect that the government is doing what they can to keep these plunderers at bay. However, though there has been some effort made to protect the shipping lanes off the coast Somalia and other major ports, there has to be a way to stop pirates completely from attacking ships. This is an age-old brand of terrorism that should have been thoroughly dealt with 200 years back.
The human race needs our governments to realize that these nautical terrorists can be stopped and should have been a long time ago. I think we should call on the governments of the world to evolve, rise to this occasion and put piracy to an end.
Mikaela Akuna is a journalism sophomore and Mustang Daily reporter.