MarEx Mailbag

Reader weighs in on our February 5th lead editorial

In February, we published an editorial entitled “Attacking Piracy” The Long Road to Nowhere”. In that editorial, I talked about the futility of trying to eliminate the problem offshore without attacking the root cause on land. The piece brought in some mail a while back, but the letter shown below came in only this week. It was worth sharing with the readers, I think. I don’t necessarily agree with the writer on all points, but he makes a few worth considering. You can read the piece by clicking HERE. You can also see what our reader thought about the article below:
 

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Joe:

You are correct. Current efforts and politically correct obfuscation on the issue of piracy lead to nowhere. You are wrong when you suggest that bringing stability to Somalia and the Horn of Africa will eradicate or even ameliorate piracy. You can point to no historical event that proves that proposition. All that you have to do is look to the Straits of Malacca. Surrounded by stable prosperous states that harbor pirates. In fact it is common knowledge that many of them are sheltered by the Malaysian and Indonesian coast guards. In fact some are coast guard officers and enlisted during the day and pirates at night. [There is a legalistic point here since the definition of piracy requires that the offending acts occur in international waters and many of the acts in question occur within territorial waters.]

Back on point. It is not true that, "Piracy, in the region of Somalia, has (so far) largely been confined to a non-violent event where the crews are left unhurt and the ships and cargoes end up safe". In fact, a Greek Captain was murdered in January [before you wrote your Editorial] and in virtually every instance crew members have been beaten and abused. Unbelievably EU governments have advised their military establishments to be considerate of the “human rights” of pirates. Thus in a recent incident the Danish Navy released pirates after capturing and disarming them. As reported in The Maritime Executive 26 February 2009. [btw - you also reported that, “Danish sailors found a skiff with seven suspected pirates, armed with a rocket-propelled grenade, four AK-47 assault rifles, two grenades and a knife”. You have to learn the difference between an allegation and a fact.]

I suggest that the most effective and immediate cure is to revert to the classic legal regime and definition of piracy under which pirates are subject to the jurisdiction of the state that captures them. They can be returned to that state for trial or executed at sea. I personally favor keelhauling. It revives forgotten seamen's skills and solves a problem without burdening our courts.

Sincerely,

Daniel Reiss, President & CEO
Automated Terminal Systems, Inc.

MarEx Editor’s Remarks: Where to begin? The reader takes me to task on any number of points, but I’ll start with saying that I disagree with his premise that order on shore will not help the situation offshore. It might not solve the problem altogether, but it will contribute to the solution. And, if a stable regime can be established – doubtful as that may be – perhaps at some point, they can take care of the problem by pursuing these “pirates” as part of maintaining some semblance of a law-abiding nation. Sure, that’s the tall order here. And, it will take time. But, I don’t want to be expending U.S. and global resources on this problem in this location on a constant basis for the next twenty years. I also disagree with the reader that these attacks have involved frequent instances of violence. The primary motivation so far, at least in this area, has been financial. For the record, I’m not much for keelhauling. And, finally, I will be sure to learn “the difference between an allegation and fact.” I think the reader could do the same.