After the rescue of an American ship captain by U.S. Navy special forces, President Barack Obama said the pirate threat must be halted.
The American use of military force brought a response from the pirates on land. In a phone call with the Associated Press, one pirate vowed revenge, saying “From now on if we capture foreign ships and their countries try to attack us, we will kill the hostages.”
A spokesman for the Navy admitted that killing pirates during the rescue of Captain Phillips may “escalate violence” in the busy shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean.
Until now, the pirates have released hostages unharmed — a Norwegian tanker sailed free on Monday after reports that a $2.5 million dollar ransom was paid. But Somali pirates are still holding as many as 300 hostages on more than a dozen ships, and over the weekend they seized an Italian tugboat with a crew of 16.
Barry Parker, a writer and a maritime consultant, joins Daljit Dhaliwal to discuss the continuing piracy problem and what can be done about it.
04/18/2009 :: 10:07:22 AM
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[...] protect his ship from Somali pirates — inspired many of us. We followed the drama and his daring rescue. For days, network news programs tracked the crew’s return and swarmed to exclusively interview [...]