Pirates Of The Gulf Of Aden

Ahh, Somalia.

I type that mockingly, spoofing the sentimentally uttered phrase, "Ahh, Venice," which was spoken by Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade, just before he proceeded to bed the hot Nazi chick.

I look upon Somalia, and cannot help but feel the need to carpet bomb the place to mere fragments. The world would be better off for it. If you've followed the saga of events in Somalia, none of it has ever been good in the time that I've been loosely familiar with the "place". It cannot really be called a country, since they haven't had a true government there for many years. It's a lawless land of criminals, thugs, warlords, bandits, and lately, pirates. Yes, I said pirates.

These are not the swashbuckling "hip" pirates like Johnny Depp attempted to portray in his movies. Rather, these modern day pirates are a bunch of low lifes with AK-47s and RPGs. They've been so long without a government, and hence, basic needs like food and medicine, that they've had to resort to cruising out into the Gulf of Aden to see what they can pillage from passing cargo ships. Things got worse when they started actually commandeering the vessels, taking them back to shore, and demanding huge ransoms for the innocent crew members aboard. The sad thing is, because these poor hostages are civilians, their host nations are readily negotiating and paying the ransoms for the safe return of their people. These successful piracy raids have emboldened the pirates into making ever more daring attempts to hijack even bigger targets. Within the last week, they managed to snag a huge Saudi-owned oil supertanker full of oil. This was their biggest target to date.

I read an article about the pirates last week, and it appears that the piracy business has actually become a "boon" to the previously non-existent Somali economy along the coast, with merchants and businesses being set up to support the pirates and their captive hostages. Upon receipt of their ransoms, the pirates are setting themselves up in huge homes with posh amenities, something unheard of in Somalia in recent times.

Various nations (including the U.S.) have begun deploying warships to patrol the trade corridor near the Somali coast to thwart the piracy. A great deal of major cargo shipping passes through that area to get to and from the Persian Gulf. With so much rampant piracy beginning to threaten international commerce, there is huge concern around the world about the worsening problem.

I was thrilled to death to see that an Indian warship came under threat by what was considered the pirates' "mothership", and the Indian ship not only fired upon the vessel, but managed to set it ablaze and sink it. Strike up one solid victory for the good guys. This single counterattack will certainly not disuade the pirates, but after several dozen of their precious pirate vessels get smoked by superior firepower, they'll be much less capable of conducting their raids. I can't wait until the U.S. Navy gets a few sweet kills out there. It's only a matter of time, at the rate the pirates keep attacking.

Now let's remember the make-up of the Somali people. Think "Black Hawk Down". The majority of them are Muslim extremists and thugs. Sure, there are likely countless "good" people among them -- those are the ones that keep getting killed or starved to death by the Islamists trying to rule the country. These civilians are being killed off by the thousands in the Islamist insurgency in and around Mogadishu. The ones that haven't been killed off have been forced to flee the capital and take refuge elsewhere, if such a thing as "refuge" can even be found in a lawless land like Somalia.

The Islamists trying to conquer the country have become extremely cocky and brazened lately, conducting public floggings and news conferences (I'm presuming not at the same time, but possibly so -- what do they care?). This just goes to show you what Islam will bring us all if we don't step up to the plate and quash it now. The animals trying to conquer Somalia are undoubtedly fighting for their cause to establish an Islamic caliphate, where Sharia law reigns supreme. This is, of course, for the "benefit" of the people. I fail to see how slaughtering thousands of innocent people, along with publicly flogging the living, will benefit the people. This is the myth of the "glory" that Islam supposedly brings to all those who embrace it. The only thing I ever see Islam bring upon a society is ill-will, torture, murder, and misery. I don't want that in my country -- we've got enough internal problems without letting Islam take a foothold here. At least I don't have to worry about driving to work and having an IED explode and splatter me across the nearest billboard. I don't have to worry about going to the mall and having some suicide-vest laden fanatic blowing everyone in the mall to shreds of flesh. I don't have to worry about 747 airliners flying into buildings here, or janjaweed killers roaming in on horseback to commit genocide and ethnic cleansing.

All things considered, I think we have it pretty good here in the states. Why, then, is it so incomprehensible to the American people that we are at war with Islamic terrorism? Do we Americans have such a short attention span that we don't remember why we opted to combat Islamic extremism? Why are we now so averse to protecting our way of life? Do we feel it's no longer worth protecting? Are we now willing to accept Islamic pressure, coercion, and absolutism? Are we supposed to just say that this fight isn't worth the body count, and that we should just respect Islam for the "religion of peace" that it purports to be, when all signs point to it being everything contrary to that?

I was having some drinks at the bar with friends recently, and one member of the group was talking a bit about world events, and expressed that he could not fathom why the U.S.A. always had to stick its nose in other countries' business. He could not understand why our troops had to go overseas and fight. He felt that we should pull all troops back home and set up a better defense here in the homeland.

This mindset boggles the hell out of me. He's entitled to his opinion, of course. But I guess I fail to see how we should just hunker down and hope that nothing bad will happen to us. That's the mode we were in when 9/11 happened. Looks like our method of staying out of other peoples' business didn't work too well. We lost nearly 3,000 for thinking that way the last time. It was then that we decided to act, and not stand idly by when there was a looming threat on the horizon. We're still fighting that battle to this day, and we will be for some time to come. That is, if we are brave and stolid enough to stick with it. It appears that now that we've lost thousands of our brave young men and women who volunteered to serve their country, the very country they've died to protect has decided that the fight was all for nothing and that we should just hunker down and hide. I can't think of a bigger insult, slight, or disrespect for our fallen soldiers than to change our minds a few years later and in effect call their sacrifice completely worthless. Shame on any American who feels this fight is senseless. This is the most important fight we currently face. You can't win it by hiding under rocks at home. What kind of strategy is that?

Islam is not a religion anymore. It's a movement. It's an anti-American movement. Islam has no room for America in its grand plan. Islam is all about establishing a caliphate, where Sharia law reigns supreme. There will be no American Constitution when Islam wins. There will be no freedoms. There will be only infighting, suicide-bombings, murder, genocide, oppression, and all of the horrible things that we see Islam providing to the world every day. Somalia is a prime example of what Islam holds in store for you. Just read the news, and you'll see the future that Islam will surely bring you. It's not pretty. I put forth that nearly every major conflict taking place in the world today has Islamic assholes on one side, and somebody (anybody) else on the other. Islam gets along with no one, because it tolerates no one.

Why are we at war? What a foolish question. The answer is right in front of our noses. You need only pay attention to the growing threat overseas. It's not getting any better, and I for one feel MUCH better knowing that our armed forces are over there battling extremism wherever they can find it. Their sacrifice over there guarantees our way of life here. THAT is why we fight. THAT is why we fight OVER THERE: so we don't have to OVER HERE.

I would have thought that was pretty obvious. I guess I was wrong.