Going from bad to horrible.
When Joe Biden said that Barack Hussein would be tested in the first six months, I (and everyone else) thought it would be something big. Huge.
We were wrong. They didn't need something big. A little thing is appropriate. A little thing bringing down a little man.
What should have been a non-incident is now turning into a front in the global jihad.
There is almost a poetic twist to all of this. First, it was the first time Muslim pirates would seize a US ship after 200 years. The bravado and expert handling of the jihad pirates off the Barbary coast proved quite the deterrent (along with the most powerful navy in the world).
Secondly, the American exceptionalism was exhibited when the crew wrested control of the ship from the pirates. This was pure America. But POTUS Hussein was not going to get off scot-free. Enter the Captain.
For the life of me, can someone explain why the FBI was called in? This is not a law enforcement act. And can someone explain to me why the US Navy did not jam the pirates' satellite capabilities? Why were they allowed to call in their jihad reinforcements? Why were they chatting with CNN?
Why wasn't the lifeboat with the Captain on it under 24 hour surveillance, so that when the Captain made his dramatic escape he had cover? That lifeboat should have been blown out of the water as soon as the Captain took flight and began swimming for his life.
WTF is going on? Who would have imagine that France would make us look so small and cowardly? Man up, Obambi! France is looking powerful and courageous next to us. Parallel universe, I tell ya. (French storm hijacked yacht: 4 hostages freed - 1 hostage 2 ...)
Source: Reuters (hat tip van)
NAIROBI, April 11 (Reuters) - Pirates seized a U.S.-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.
Never negotiate with terrorists. Never.
Another act of jihad piracy noted:Pirate attack foiled by water-hoses
I see from the Logical American in the comment section that the media has banned any tie between the jihadis and piracy. Check this out (Oct '08)
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.
And this from Robert (Nov '08)
"Somalia Islamists vow tough anti-piracy drive," from Agence France-Presse:
MOGADISHU (AFP) — A hardline Islamist alliance controlling Somalia's main southern port of Kismayo on Wednesday promised tough measures to protect ships and traders from marauding pirates.
"We will set up marine forces and will protect all ships and vessels from the pirates off the coastal areas we control," Sheikh Hasan Yaqub, spokesman for the Islamist administration in Kismayo told AFP.[...]
Kismayo, one off the largest cities in Somalia, was captured in August by an alliance of Shebab fighters -- who are conquering much of the country -- and warlord Hassan al-Turki, who is on a US terrorism list.
Yaqub said that on Wednesday alone, 20 small ships bringing goods from the United Arab Emirates had offloaded their cargo in Kismayo under the watch of the local authorities' security forces.
"We will never allow those gangs to cause havoc in our waters anymore and we will protect all vessels," he said.
Omar Abdiyare, one of the Somali traders whose vessel arrived in Kismayo Wednesday, said local businesses had asked the Islamist rulers to set up an anti-piracy force.
"We are very concerned at the growing number of attacks by pirates so we asked Islamists to protect our ships as much as possible off the coastal areas they control," he said.
The Kismayo administration has imposed a very strict form of Sharia law in recent weeks. Under Islamic law, piracy is punishable by death.
One can't help but wonder if this is all going to lead up to endless semantic quibbling about when piracy is or is not "really" piracy.
John Bolton video on Confronting the Piracy Problem
