"If we cannot [reach the] Somali coast, we will kill the infidel"

The single most commonly ignored aspect of the Somali pirates' episode is the fact that the pirates are Islamic jihadists. I discuss this in my upcoming Human Events column, and meanwhile, here is a Jihadi Pirates roundup: "‘3 rounds, 3 dead bodies’: Navy SEALs’ precision volley ended American’s ordeal, but piracy continues," by Scott Wilson, Ann Scott Tyson and Stephanie McCrummen for the Washington Post (via MSNBC), April 14

WASHINGTON - As dusk began to fall Sunday, the Somali pirates holding captain Richard Phillips had grown edgy.

As they bobbed in the ocean near the USS Bainbridge, a Navy destroyer sent to rescue Phillips, the teenage pirates were experiencing withdrawal after days without khat, a mildly narcotic leaf chewed in for its stimulant effects. "They were realizing they were in a no-win situation," said a senior U.S. military official. "They were floating around in rough waters, they were tired. . . .

These guys didn't have their chew with them."

After the on-scene commander judged that Phillips's life was suddenly in immediate jeopardy, three shots rang out from the Bainbridge in indistinguishable succession, felling the three pirates in the lifeboat. Bound tightly, Phillips could not move to celebrate the end of his ordeal until Navy SEALs climbed aboard the small craft and set him free. [...]

One sailor, A.T.M. Reza, forced one of the pirates into the engine room, where he stabbed the pirate in the hand. The crew then used the wounded pirate as leverage to force his comrades from the ship.

As part of the negotiations, Phillips agreed to board the lifeboat with the pirates, crew members said. The deal called for him to swim back to the Maersk Alabama once the lifeboat was safely away. The pirates never let him go.

Negotiations

The USS Bainbridge had by then steamed more than 300 miles to arrive on the scene. Aided by FBI agents, the ship's officers communicated with the pirates by radio, eventually persuading them to allow a boat with provisions to approach.

Sometime Thursday, a desperate Phillips jumped from the lifeboat in an attempt to swim to the USS Bainbridge, only to be hauled back on board after the pirates opened fire. From then on, Phillips was tied up.

One pirate radioed the Navy destroyer and demanded to know how far they were from the sanctuary of Somalia's coast.

"Very far," came the reply from the Bainbridge.

"Thank you," the pirate negotiator responded, according to a U.S. military timeline, his politeness masking menace. "If we cannot [reach the] Somali coast, we will kill the infidel."...

So the idiots in the media and even on talk radio do not think pirates are jihadis. According to them they are criminals. They are all muslim terrorists. They are doing exactly what the koran tells them to do. They are supporting the global jihad by taking ships and holding them hostage. They are not selling the people into slavery or taking them as slaves, but their book says that holding them for ransom is just fine.