"Pirates vow to fight to the end; Tensions rise over cargo ship near Somalia; 1 dies" by Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times News Service | September 29, 2008
NAIROBI - Tensions increased yesterday over what to do about the arms-carrying cargo ship hijacked off the coast of Somalia, as the pirates vowed to fight to the death, a hostage died, and Somali officials urged the US Navy to send in commandos.
According to a broadcast on the BBC Somali service, the pirates said that they could see an American destroyer nearby and several military aircraft tracking them, but that they were not afraid. "They can't catch us like goats," said a man who said he was a spokesman for the pirates. "We will fight, and everyone here will die with us."
The man said he was speaking on a satellite phone from the bridge of the hijacked ship, and to prove it, he handed the phone to another man who said he was the captain. The captain, a Ukrainian, then told the BBC that a Russian crew member had died from hypertension.
A band of pirates hijacked the Ukrainian ship on Thursday evening as it was heading to Kenya with a large supply of arms, including 33 T-72 battle tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition, all for the Kenyan military.
Somali officials said yesterday that the ship was anchored a few miles off the coast between Xarardheere and Hobyo, two notorious pirate dens where several other hijacked vessels have been taken. The pirates said they would not release the 20 crew members or the arms until they were paid $20 million in cash.
Somali officials said there might be no other way to resolve the standoff than storming the ship. "A military operation has to be taken," said Ahmed Said Aw-nur, minister of fisheries for the semiautonomous state of Puntland in northern Somalia. "If the Islamists get the arms," he said, referring to Islamist insurgents currently waging war on Somalia's weak government, "they will cause problems for all of Somalia."
The minister suggested that American or European commandos be used because "Somalia clearly doesn't have the capability." US military officials said they were closely watching the ship but that there were no plans to raid it. "We're deeply concerned about what's aboard, as well as the safety of the crew," said Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain. "We're hoping the arms don't make it to shore."
Christensen said the USS Howard, a destroyer, was following the hijacked ship from less than five miles away and communicating with it via bridge-to-bridge radio. It was unclear what might happen next. One diplomat said it would be risky to try to free the hostages by force. --more--"One wonders how the U.S. ever got up the gumption to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, huh?
PFFFFFFFFFTTT!
Obviously, the U.S. must want in to Somalia because the Islamist are winning -- otherwise, this piece of agenda-pushing scitte would not be in the AmeriKan War Daily!
