Pirates were out of ammo, wanted to trade captain for freedom

Vice Adm. William Gortney, commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, in a briefing for reporters, said U.S. Navy SEAL snipers perched at the back of the USS Bainbridge — a guided-missile destroyer floating about 30 yards off the 28-foot lifeboat where Phillips was being held — opened fire on the pirates when one of them pointed an AK-47 rifle at Phillips’s back…

According to Somalis with knowledge of the discussions, the pirates, who at one time had demanded $2 million for Phillips’s release, had grown desperate with their situation — adrift under a searing sun in waters infested with sharks, staring at two massive Navy ships armed with guided missiles, running low on fuel and having spent their ammunition.

A relative of one of the pirates, who said he spoke with the men by satellite phone at about 3 p.m. — four hours before the Navy opened fire — said they “were getting scared” and trying to persuade the Americans to let them go in return for the captain’s release.

“They were trying to save their own lives,” said the relative, Hassan Mohammed Farah, speaking by phone from Haradheere, a coastal town in central Somalia where pirates are known to operate. “The only thing they could bargain with was the captain, but the Americans would not accept.”

America does not deal with terrorists or pirates. The pirates took the American captain hostage. They got what they deserved.