A Pirate's Life For Me

You couldn't turn on the TV or get online this week without hearing about pirates hijacking a Saudi Araibian oil tanker. The tanker is anchored off of the coast of Somalia with a full load of 2 million barresl of oil - about $100 million worth of crude oil. I did some research and found out that 8 ships have been hijacked this week. Since the beginning of the year 39 ships have been hijacked in this area, out of 95 attacked. As of today, 17 ships remain in the hands of the pirates. I don't know about you, but why isn't the media calling these hijackers what they really are - terrorists? When I hear the word "pirates" the first thing that pops into my mind is a picture of Captain Jack Sparrow from "The Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. Everytime I've heard the word "pirate" this week I've thought of Johnny Depp instead of a masked, heavily armed terrorist.

Today's Somali pirates are way more advanced than Long John Silver and his crew could have ever hoped to be. The Somali pirates are supported by their communities and by rogue members of their government. Instead of wearing an eye patch or a hook for a hand, today's pirates dress in military fatigues, and sail the seas on power boats and large ships. They use satellite navigational and communication equipment and have an intimate knowledge of the local waters - a far cry from the wooden ships with sails with a lookout up high in the bird's nest. Unlike the swords and cannons used by their predecessors, today's pirates are armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers and grenades - not like one of Blackbeard's men climbing up a tall mast holding a knif between his teeth.

On a related note, when I heard the media talk about piracy, the only thing I could think of was illegally downloading music from the internet and making CD's to sell or give to friends.