Captured Pirate Getting the Royal Treatment

The captured teenage Islamic pirate has been given the royal treatment of a Koran and a special Islamic diet. His lawyer is clearly going to try and turn this into a sideshow of making him look like the victim.

High-seas pirate tries to adjust to NY prison cell
By COLLEEN LONG
NEW YORK (AP) — The wound on Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse's slim hand, where he was stabbed by a crew member during his pirate attack on a U.S. cargo ship, has been redressed. He's been given painkillers and antibiotics for his injuries and a Quran to use in prayer.

The Somali pirate is being held alone in a cramped cell for two weeks as part of the typical entry procedure at the federal prison also housing Bernard Madoff.

But he essentially has no idea what's going on, his lawyer says, as he faces what's believed to be the first U.S. piracy prosecution in more than a century.

"Imagine yourself in Somalia," court-appointed attorney Philip Weinstein said Friday. "Imagine how overwhelmed you'd be by everything."

Weinstein and co-counsel Deirde von Dornum met with Muse at a courthouse Friday for the first time since a federal judge ruled Muse, whose age is disputed, could be tried as an adult with piracy, conspiracy and brandishing and firing a gun during a conspiracy in the boarding of the Maersk Alabama on April 8.

The Maersk's captain, Richard Phillips, of Underhill, Vt., was held captive five days until Navy sharpshooters killed three other pirates floating in a lifeboat with him.

The decision by the federal government to bring Muse to justice in the United States has thrust the skinny teenager into the international spotlight and has raised legal questions about whether the U.S. is going too far in trying to make an example of someone so young.

The most serious count against Muse carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Prosecutors portray Muse as the brazen ringleader of the pirates who shot at the ship's captain and bragged about prior marauding on the high seas. They say he gave wildly varying accounts of his age after his capture but is believed to be over 18. His parents, contacted in Somalia, say he's 15.

During court proceedings Tuesday, the 5-foot-2 Muse looked bewildered and so scrawny that his prison clothes were several sizes too big. He put his head in his hands and cried when his lawyers mentioned his family.

Weinstein and von Dornum are working now to simply establish a relationship with Muse, who doesn't understand the American legal system and knows only of a world where justice is dispensed with brutality and violence.

"We're at the beginning of the beginning," Weinstein said. "He's confused, overwhelmed. He doesn't quite appreciate fully what's going on."

The lawyers also are trying to get a Somali interpreter approved to work at the prison when they want to meet with Muse, who speaks only a few words of English. Until then they must meet with Muse at the courthouse.

Muse spends his days and nights in a 7 1/2-by-8-foot cinderblock cell with only a bunkbed, a sink and a toilet at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, in lower Manhattan. The lockup houses a range of criminals, from Madoff to assorted murderers and mobsters.

Muse, who is Muslim, has been given a special diet. So far he's been eating lots of salads and vegetables.

"He was given cold cuts, and he wasn't quite sure what to do with them, but that's being worked out," Weinstein said. "The prison is trying."

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Pirates vow to Kill Americans and French

The Somalian Islamic pirates have vowed revenge on Americans and the French, for killing five of their thug brothers in daring rescues last week. One "moderate" Muslim leader has said that the killings of the pirates would only escalate piracy. Which in reality means that he supports the pirates and is just trying to come off as a moderate.

Hat tip to the Munz at Munz's Place.

Pirates vow revenge after rescue mission
By Abdiqani Hassan

SOMALI pirates have threatened revenge after two separate hostage-rescue raids by foreign forces killed at least five comrades, raising fears of future bloodshed on the high seas.

The latest raid by US forces this morning saved American hostage Capt Richard Phillips. Three pirates were killed and one was taken captive, the US Navy said.

That rescue mission and one by France last week have upped the stakes in shipping lanes off the anarchic Horn of Africa nation where pirate gangs have defied foreign naval patrols.

"The French and the Americans will regret starting this killing. We do not kill, but take only ransom. We shall do something to anyone we see as French or American from now," Hussein, a pirate, told Reuters by satellite phone.

"We cannot know how or whether our friends on the lifeboat died, but this will not stop us from hijacking," he said.

Sea gangs generally treat their captives well, hoping to fetch top dollar in ransoms. The worst violence has been an occasional beating.

"We shall revenge," said another pirate, Aden, in Eyl village, a pirate lair on Somalia's eastern coast.

Some fear the US and French operations may make the modern-day pirates more like those of previous centuries.

"The pirates will know from now that anything can happen. The French are doing this, the Americans are doing it. Things will be more violent from now on," said Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Program.

"This is a big wake-up to the pirates. It raises the stakes."

Piracy is lucrative business in Somalia, where gangs have earned millions of dollars in ransoms, splashing it on wives, houses, cars and fancy goods.

After a wane in business early this year, pirates have struck back. They presently hold more than a dozen vessels with about 260 hostages, of whom about 100 are Filipino.

Eyl, Haradheere and other pirate havens along the Indian Ocean coastline have come back to life with the windfall of successful operations.

Somalia's anarchy - whose 18 years of civil war have given sea gangs assault rifles, grenade launchers and little central control - has long been ignored by world powers.

The saga over the capture of Capt Phillips has thrown international attention on the long-running piracy phenomenon that has hiked up insurance costs on strategic waterways where warships now patrol.

"Killing three out of thousands of pirates will only escalate piracy," said Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abu Yusuf, spokesman of the moderate Islamist group Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca.

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Captain Freed, 3 Pirates Dead!

While Hillary Clinton thought that the pirate situation was funny, our great US Navy did not. They took it seriously and rescued the Captain while killing three of the four Islamic pirates. This is a wonderful Easter gift for the brave Captain Phillips and his family. God has blessed them.

American captain rescued, pirates killed, U.S. official says

(CNN) -- The captain of the Maersk Alabama was freed Sunday after being held captive since Wednesday by pirates off the coast of Somalia, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told CNN.

The official said Capt. Richard Phillips is uninjured and in good condition, and that three of the four pirates were killed. The fourth pirate is in custody. Phillips was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge, a nearby naval warship.

Earlier Sunday afternoon Maersk Line Limited, owner of the Maersk Alabama, said the U.S. Navy informed the company that it had sighted Phillips in a lifeboat where pirates are holding him.

Phillips was spotted another time earlier in the day, the Navy said.

A man who answered the door at Phillips' home in Underhill, Vermont, told CNN's Stephanie Elam that the family has known the news for hours. He said details would have to come from Virginia, apparently referring to the home base of Maersk Line Limited, based in Norfolk, which owns the ship.

On Saturday, the FBI launched a criminal investigation into the hijacking of the U.S.-flagged cargo ship by Somali pirates, two law enforcement officials told CNN. The probe will be led by the FBI's New York field office, which is responsible for looking into cases involving U.S. citizens in the African region, the officials said.

The Maersk Alabama reached port in Mombasa, Kenya, on Saturday. Crew members aboard the freed cargo ship described how some of their colleagues attempted to "jump" their pirate captors.

A scuffle ensued and one of the sailors stabbed a pirate in the hand in the battle to retake the container ship, one of the sailors told CNN.

Snippets of information are starting to emerge about how the Alabama's crew managed to retake the ship after it was hijacked by pirates Wednesday about 350 miles off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.

Crew members smiled broadly as they stood on the ship's deck under the watchful eyes of security teams. Although the crew was kept away from the media, CNN's Stan Grant got close enough to ask crew members what happened after the pirates climbed aboard the ship.

One crew member said he recalled being awakened around 7 a.m. as the hijacking began.

Some of the crew managed to hide in a secure part of the Alabama as the pirates stormed the ship, the sailor said.

As the sailors described their clash with the pirates, a crew member pointed to one shipmate and said, "This guy is a hero. He and the chief engineer, they took down the pirate. ... He led him down there to the engine room and then they jumped him."

The shipmate added that he stabbed the pirate's hand and tied him up.

"Capt. Phillips is a hero," another crew member shouted from the deck of the freed ship.

Since Phillips was captured Wednesday, the destroyer USS Bainbridge has been in the area of the lifeboat, trying to free him.

An attempt by Phillips to escape from the 28-foot covered lifeboat was thwarted by a pirate, who dove into the Indian Ocean after him. Phillips' captors appear to have tied him up afterward, Pentagon officials said.


The Alabama resumed its course on Thursday for Mombasa, its original destination, carrying food aid and an armed 18-person security detail.

Maersk president and CEO John Reinhart told reporters Saturday that the crew will stay on board in Mombasa while the FBI conducts an investigation.

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Pirates Take Another US Boat~Send Reinforcements to Lifeboat

While we have one US Captain who is being held hostage for four days, Islamic pirates have hijacked a US tugboat. Maybe it had something to do with our Secretary of State laughing at the hostage situation. Besides this hijacking, the pirates have sent out reinforcements to try and help the lifeboat with the US hostage. On the world stage, Obama and co. are looked upon as a bunch of politically correct weaklings and what we are seeing is just the beginning.

Seafarers official:Pirates hijack US tugboat

By MICHELLE FAUL and TOM MALITI
NAIROBI, Kenya – The head of a Kenyan seafarers' program said Saturday that Somali pirates had hijacked an American-owned tugboat with 16 crew in the Gulf of Aden.

Nairobi-based Italian Ambassador Pierandrea Magistrati said he only could confirm that "there is a boat that has been hijacked, I believe by Somali pirates."

The hijacking took place as the American captain of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama was still being held hostage on a lifeboat being watched by two U.S. warships.

The head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, Andrew Mwangura, said maritime industry sources had informed his organization that the Italian-flagged U.S. tugboat was towing two barges when it was attacked. He said it was unclear if the attack took place off the coast of Somalia or further north near Yemen. He said did not know what was on the barges.

Mwangura said the attack was launched around 11 a.m. (0800 GMT) Saturday.

More U.S. warships were trying to stop Somali pirates from sending reinforcements to the lifeboat where the American captain was being held for a fourth day hundreds of miles from land, a diplomat said Saturday.

The Nairobi-based diplomat, who receives regular briefings on the situation, said the four pirates holding Capt. Richard Phillips in a lifeboat under the close watch of U.S. warships some 380 miles off shore had tried to summon other pirates from the Somali mainland.

The diplomat, who spoke on condition on anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said that pirates had been trying to reach the lifeboat. A Somali who described himself as having close ties to pirate networks also said the pirates were trying to reach the lifeboat.

The Somali told The Associated Press that pirates had set out in four commandeered ships with hostages from a variety of nations including the Philippines, Russia and Germany. The diplomat told the AP that large pirate "motherships" and skiffs were heading in the direction of the lifeboat.

A second Somali man who said he had spoken by satellite phone to a pirate piloting a seized German freighter told the AP by phone Saturday that the pirate captain had reported being blocked by U.S. forces and was returning Saturday to the pirate stronghold of Harardhere.

Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, he said the pirate told him the ship was in sight of a U.S. Navy destroyer Saturday morning local time, received a U.S. warning not to come any closer and, fearing attack, left the scene without ever seeing the lifeboat.

A Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations said in Washington Saturday morning that there had been no developments overnight. He declined to comment on the report that the U.S. Navy had turned back the pirates.

The diplomat said from Nairobi that at least two American ships and U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft had been attempting to deter pirate ships and skiffs from contact with the lifeboat but he did not know if the pirates and Navy ships had come into contact.

The Somali man said the pirate also told him that two other commandeered ships from Taiwan and Greece that were trying to reach the lifeboat feared a showdown with the U.S. Navy and returned to Eyl, a port that serves as a pirate hub, on Friday night. It was not immediately possible to contact people in Eyl Saturday.

The Somali man said the fourth ship that had tried to reach the lifeboat was a Norwegian tanker that was released Friday after a $2 million ransom was paid. The owner of the Norwegian tanker Bow Asir confirmed Friday that it had been released two weeks after it was seized by armed pirates off the Somali coast, and all 27 of its crew members were unhurt.

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Hillary Laughs at Islamic Piracy~Video

Here we have our clueless Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laughing at the threat of Islamic piracy. I wonder if the family of the American Captain being held hostage thinks that this is funny? Classless, just like Obama.

Hat tip to the Munz of Munz's Place