I'm shocked.
Posted on 07/06/2011 7:28:59 AM PDT by Pan_Yan
* Payments technically breach sanctions, say U.N. officials
* Britain, United States say al Shabaab are terrorists
* Pirates say forced to deal with militants
* UK shipping says ransoms only way to rescue hostages
NAIROBI, July 6 (Reuters) - Ransoms paid to Somali pirates to free merchant vessels are ending up in the hands of Islamist militants, laying shipping groups open to accusations of breaching international sanctions, U.N. officials told Reuters.
John Steed, the principal military adviser to the U.N. special envoy to Somalia and head of the envoy's counter-piracy unit, said links between armed pirate gangs and Somalia's al Qaeda-affiliated rebels were gradually firming.
"The payment of ransoms just like any other funding activity, illegal or otherwise, is technically in breach of the Somalia sanctions regime if it makes the security situation in Somalia worse," said Steed.
"Especially if it is ending up in the hands of terrorists or militia leaders -- and we believe it is, some directly, some more indirectly," said Steed, a retired military officer.
Ransom demands have risen steadily in recent years. According to one study, the average ransom stood at $5.4 million in 2010, up from $150,000 in 2005, helping Somali pirates rake in nearly $240 million last year.
...
In February al Shabaab seized a number of pirate gang leaders in Haradhere and forced them to accept a multi-million dollar deal under which the pirates would hand over 20 percent of future ransoms.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Geez, it’s like the Mafia
I'm shocked.
Pirate ransom money ending up in the hands of terrorists.
Paint me surprised! [/s]
We shouldn’t allow anyone to pay ransom to the pirates; companies that do should be “sanctioned” and sued out of existence. No money, no pirates.
Of course, we should also be laying waste to their ports, sinking their mother ships, machine gunning any surviving pirates in the water, etc.
Being a pirate (or the spouse, offspring, or neighbor of a pirate) should be a guarantee of a short miserable life.
Sometimes “collateral damage” is the solution, not the problem.
Instead of boots on the ground these problems call for B-52’s. We should also re-fit 747’s for carpet bombing until they cry uncle. Strings of 2,000 lb bombs have a remarkable pacifying effect on “militants”.
How else are they going to feed the families here in Minneapolis with this horrific gubmint shutdown ?
You win 'post of the thread.' Here is your major award.
You're going to bomb them back to the stone age? It's SOMALIA. Besides, they are fighting over Euroweenie money paid in ransom by countries that are unable to defend themselves and insurance companies that think a $5 million dollar ransom is acceptable but putting someone with guns of the ship would be a liability issue.
In February al Shabaab seized a number of pirate gang leaders in Haradhere and forced them to accept a multi-million dollar deal under which the pirates would hand over 20 percent of future ransoms.
I look upon it as an entrepreneurial spirit seldom seen in this day and age.
Like who of us Freepers did not already know that these so called "Pirates" were not either out and out Jihadists, supporters thereof, or sympathetic to the "Cause?"
As a reminder:
Prior to 1776, American ships had some measure of protection from the Royal Navy, which was replaced by French protection during the war for independence. But when that expired in 1783, U.S. ships came under attack again almost immediately, with the taking of the merchant ship Betsey by Moroccans in October of 1784.
Between 1785 and 1793, 13 American ships were captured along with 119 crewmen by Algiers alone. This was followed by the capture of the USS Philadelphia in 1804 with its crew of 307 sailors.
Congress had begun dishing out handsome ransom payments to rescue ships and free enslaved American sailors. In other words, the first thing our forefathers tried, in responding to Islamic terrorism, was appeasement.
Two future presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, were dispatched in 1786 to London to negotiate a peace treaty with the Dey of Algiers. They reported the Dey's reason for his Islamically-inspired hostility towards America:
"[I]t was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise."
"Religion of Peace," my a*s!!!
Thanks Pan_Yan.
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