November 19, 2008 1:01PM

Pirates: The New Face of Terrorism?

By Alexis Glick

It sounds bizarre right? You’re probably thinking computer piracy. But that’s not what I am talking about. I’m talking about pirates, as in, Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean, pirates. Only these pirates are more dangerous than ever.

Somali pirates are weaking havoc on shipping lanes from the Indian Ocean to the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen. Yesterday they seized a Hong Kong registered cargo ship with 36,000 tons of wheat heading to Iran. This on the heels of hijacking a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million worth of crude oil. This year alone they have attacked 90 vessels and successfully seized 36 containing traditional goods to chemicals. In the process they have made millions of dollars reselling these items and have now become a major risk to National Security here and abroad.

Could this method be used as a weapon on the war in terrorism? It’s a frightening thought but don’t count it out. While we know of no specific ties to terrorism, one has to ask why these Somalian pirates have such well orchestrated plans, including access to satelitte communication about cargo shipping lines. Who is going to police an area spanning 2.5 million square miles of sea? How can we prevent terrorists for using this avenue as means of attack?

General Secretary from the International Transportation Federation David Cockroft, Chuck Nash, a former U.S. Navy captain and Phil Flynn, our resident oil expert, joined me this morning to address all of the above mentioned concerns. This story is hard to believe. The ramifications are both dangerous and costly.

13 Responses to “Pirates: The New Face of Terrorism?”

Comment by John

November 19th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

Only one way to deal with the Pirates - find them and kill them. The sooner we do, the less of them there will be!

You would think with all our technology, and money spent and or wasted on it, we should be able to do this.
Comment by David McElroy

November 19th, 2008 at 1:57 pm

Send in the Marines and the SEALS and we won’t hear from any of the pirates a second time.
Comment by chuck

November 19th, 2008 at 2:29 pm

Alexis this story I have been following too.
My impression is that these Somali pirates have been organized and trained by an Al Qaeda cell. Becouse of the pattern of the assaults. Now if the Somalis zealots think they can make the barrel oil price jack up; so far I haven’t seen that effect. But the Indian navy at least sank one of the pirate ships.
Now one solution: have several nato subs in the area of the piracy ops to keep real a close eye on them. Becouse these pirates appear to be professionally trained and this makes them act more brazen in thier acts. Also have a small carrior group in the area too.
Comment by 1776

November 19th, 2008 at 4:52 pm

Seriously!? “Only these pirates are more dangerous than ever.” Urr… how can they be more dangerous than pirates of the past? Do they wield rustier swords now days? Do they bathe less often? Do they carry disease with them all over the place and pillage, rape and kill any different than has been done in the past? No… it’s the same thing in a different time era. The end result is generally the same from both though..

1. pirates board boat
2. pirates try to take control of vessel by any means necessary (including killing people)

There is nothing “more” dangerous now than it was back in the golden days of pirates… HOWEVER, it would “seem” more dangerous if someone was making it appear that way. (enter over dramatic news person)

Now that I’ve cleared your overstatement up for ya, no need to thank me, we can actually look at the problem for what it is.

What happens when people are starving and live in constant fear? Hint: They do what it takes to “survive”.

So you have groups in a uber poor country fighting to survive and doing whatever it takes to do that. Hmm… that might encompass “pirating”. GASP!

Now, we understand “why” they are doing it… but we want to know “how” to stop it. Well, the timeless classic “those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it” still rings true today. Amazingly, pirates are nothing new…shocking… and they have been dealt with in the past… but “How”?

“Piracy’s Golden Age ended by the 1720s, when pirates were outmatched by European military forces in the Caribbean.”

Hmm… so they were “outmatched” by “military forces”. WOW… what a concept. Maybe the people who own the boats that are taking the routes in the area of attacks should put people on their ship who could “outmatch” the pirates. They could even go one step further and call them “Marines”.

So… how hard is it to come to the conclusion that if you want to “protect” your cargo, you might have to have someone on board who CAN protect the cargo? Doesn’t seem like rocket science to me but what do I know… I just have common sense and not book smarts.

And oh yea, for the person who is going to say “well that would drive the bill up for all the goods on that ship”… um.. yea… I guess it doesn’t cost anything when the entire shipment is lost to pirates.
Comment by 6ftrabbit

November 19th, 2008 at 4:57 pm

Trying to track and sink the mother ships or boats is a waste of time, they’ll just get more. Do 2 things:

1. Require all commercial ships transiting the areas to carry appropriate armament and professional security people - lot’s of mercs out there that could handle it easily, and most shipping companies can easily afford radar directed 20mm and 40mm gunmounts, and refit the ships with anti-boarding devices. Some companies (SaudiAramco )could also afford to put a helocopter gunship on board their tankers.

2. Incinerate the harbors and support areas where they refuel and resupply. Those are known and can’t move. A few F-16 raids would take care of it.

Bottom line - take it seriously and take no prisoners. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.
Comment by AC

November 19th, 2008 at 5:45 pm

I wonder if perhaps it’s time to dust off some old methods from the past to combat the threat from 21st century piracy. If the situation degenerates much further, I wonder if convoys escorted by warships, or “sanitized” sea-lanes might be worth serious consideration. Against a modern warship, a pirate vessel would provide little more than target practice, so as I understand the situation, one major problem is locating and identifying the pirate vessels at sea, as well as sorting out which ships are legitimate, and which are real pirates. Once this is done, the limited resources of naval forces can be brought to bear.

It is my understanding - which may admittedly be inaccurate - that modern commercial vessels are limited in the defensive measures they can employ, due to international law. Some use fire hoses to prevent pirates from boarding, and some of the better-equipped vessels might have defensive systems such as LRAD, but there may be legal barriers to equipping civilian vessels with military-style armaments (e.g., the Catapult-Armed Merchantmen of World War II, equipped to launch Hurricane fighters to engage German reconnaissance aircraft).

Now also might be an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the broad-area surveillance capabilities of the new generation of high-altitude/long-endurance UAVs. The US Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk has demonstrated its capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region, so it may be an ideal platform for broad-area surveillance of the Horn of Africa area. This may also be an opportune moment for the US Navy’s P-3 Orion fleet and the forthcoming P-8 Poseidon (together with allied assets) to demonstrate that, if anything, long-range surveillance aircraft will be more important than ever in the years to come.

If the situation warrants it, the use of armed force to strike known pirate enclaves ashore may be worth consideration, if legal considerations permit.
Comment by 6ftrabbit

November 19th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

When you need to drive a nail, don’t get fancy. Just grab a hammer and hit the damn thing as hard as you can.
Comment by Jack Frayer

November 19th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

Economic terrorism can be more dangerous than physical terrorism. WWII bombing of UK/German cities only hardened each others resolve. The WTC bombing united the US and the world. But economic terrorism in our global economy can easily divide us. What about massive selling of stocks by people against US capitalism? Who is making sure this is not going on either directly or indirectly? I haven’t heard of any assurance by the SEC or USGOV. Who is making sure that crazy currency speculators are not determining the future of the global economy? Who is actually responsible for this? I think the people in the US would feel better if they could hear from these people.
Comment by WallyJaz

November 19th, 2008 at 10:02 pm

I agree with John, extermination is the only solution
Comment by JD

November 20th, 2008 at 9:04 am

I’ve heard that the Al Qaeda connection may be a stretch. And that many are simply folks simply trying to make a living in a screwed part of the world. The truth is probably in the middle.

The best way to deal with these pirates is to fight back. If someone tries to rob me, they might get shot. I also heard that Blackwater is offering to provide security for these ships. Sounds like a good start to a solution.
Comment by Ken

November 20th, 2008 at 11:43 am

I agree with all of the comments so far, the bottom line is squash them like a bug.
Thes folks are no more then thugs, the idea that these people have advanced trainning as has been reported is absurd. We are talking about Somalia after all and these guy’s are illiterate at best.
If they had any sense they would take the millions they have already gotten from the various companies and done something with it. The very fact they haven’t noticed that the world powers will no longer tolerate their activities should tell you they are not very smart.
Comment by william

November 20th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

Many or majority of civilian ships do not have a ships armory, the crew has no weapons to protect themselves. These pirates use small boats to come along side undetected to climb aboard the bigger ship, and 5 or 6 armed pirates talke over the ship. The ship’s crew is held for ransom, ranom paid,and the pirates move on. A real “KISS” operation.

The shipping companies, insurance companies have been paying the money until a Saudi oil tanker was taken; Saudis’ cried and now it is a big terrorist movement. The shipping companies, insurance companies need to arm the ships, hire Blackwater, and quit paying off the pirates.
Comment by Dennis

November 20th, 2008 at 3:11 pm

The problem is beurocracy. The US Navy would need a UN resolution to address the problem. India, not needing anyone’s approval, went in and kicked ass!!!!
We have gotten way to soft and WAY TOOOOOO PC! We have the best military in the world, run by a bunch of Harvard MBA’s etc. We need some leadership who have actually fired a bullet sometime in their life and who aren’t worried about their cushy retirement.