Sunday, November 23, 2008

Terrorists vs. Pirates: Who are the Good Guys?




MOGADISHU — Islamist fighters threatened to attack Somali pirates Sunday in an effort to rescue a Saudi oil supertanker carrying $100 million worth of crude oil that was hijacked last week, the Agence France-Presse reported.

This creates quite a dilemma; who am I supposed to be for in this battle? On one hand you have Islamist terrorists, who kill innocents in the name of their religion. On the other hand, you have pirates who are simply in it for the money.

Of course, in the eyes of the terrorists, it's a clear-cut case:
Piracy, which is a capital offense under Islam, has reportedly angered the Shehab, a militant Islamist group that controls much of southern and central Somalia and rejects an internationally-backed peace process.
Ah, I see. Piracy is a capital offense under Islam (like being a Jew, or a Christian, or just about anything but a Muslim), but the continued senseless slaughter and maiming of innocents in the name of Islam is actually a virtue!

I think in this particular fight, I'll have to go with the pirates; their motivation, no matter how vile and criminal, is at least something that I can understand.

Let justice be delivered to the pirates by someone who actually has a grasp on the concept.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hope the ship blows up under both of them.

The cleanup of the oil will be easier to deal with.

Anonymous said...

Anyone have thoughts on whether the capital crime under Islam point is correct? I am not so sure.

‘Abd al-Rahman listened well, but his reply was one that would shock modern ears less than it did those of the two Founding Fathers:

“It was… written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged [the Muslims'] authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon wheoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

This from http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/when-the-founding-fathers-faced-islamists/. The two Founding Fathers reportedly listening were Adams and Jefferson.

Did something change between the original brush with Barbary Pirates then and now or am I sensing inconsistency where there is none?

Regards,

Anon

Anonymous said...

You seem to have missed a critical point. Piracy in Somolia has been going on, and accepted, for some time. The offense here is piracy against a moslem ship (Saudi cargo)...

Anonymous said...

I'm all for the pirates, even before terrorists were involved.If the ship owners were allowed to defen=d their vessels there would be no piracy problem. we're talking small arms and speedboats --not war ships.Besides they are hiring chefs to cater Western food to their hostages.The pirates are using less force to extract a ransom than the State uses to collect taxes.

Tiny Bunch said...

To quote Henry Kissinger's comment about the Iran-Iraq war: "It's a pity they can't both lose"

Anonymous said...

Hope the ship blows up under both of them.
The cleanup of the oil will be easier to deal with.


Allowing the hijacking of 100 million barrels of oil is
one way to get the price of oil back up. But I digress.

Why clean it up? Let the survivors of any debacle choke on it.

Hey said...

One of my favorite blogs has this as the masthead quote: "When the Communists show up to protest the Nazis, you're supposed to pray for an asteroid, not pick a favourite." Seems appropriate for picking sides between jihadis and pirates.

Anonymous said...

Well, the Communists and the Nazis are both gangs of deliberate murderers, like the terrorists. The pirates, at least, try to avoid killing anyone.

Granted, this is because of the practical considerations that you both get a better payoff if the crew is unharmed and because the crew serves as human shields. They're still doing armed robbery. But they're not making an effort to rack up corpses.

So, I have to conclude the thieves, while still criminals who need to be brought to justice, are still the clear moral superiors of the deliberate murderers.

Anonymous said...

I see you've got Arafat in the side column with "NO VIRGINS!?!"

Dude, Arafat was a butt-boy. It's more like "No butt-boys with skin like pearls!!!???"

Anonymous said...

A strange intersection: The Religion of Peace vs. Pirate might result in the Left's worst nightmare - birds in need of Dawn - and the Left's best friend - blame America for oil consumption for the tanker.

Perhaps The One - with exclusive qualifications to the region - can properly deliver the bailout to both sides in this episode.

Joan of Argghh! said...

Wow. That old adage about shooting them all and let God sort 'em out seems to have political feet now!

Anonymous said...

A pox on both of their houses.

Anonymous said...

Obviously, this situation calls for the careful application of NINJAS!

Anonymous said...

Place all ships in the area under Moslem flag then the pirates and terrorist can fight it out.