15-04-2009, 11:17 PM
Peter Presland Wrote:Further to Magda's post here is another article - from Johann Hari (he of 'The Dark Side of Dubai posted yesterday) published in The Independent in January this year. All this stuff is worth keeping in mind whenever the 'Somali Pirates' issue is in the news.
Was the US Navy was right or wrong in the particular circumstances? I don't think we are in any position to judge. As for getting caught up in the hero-worship - you can count me out. The Navy has it's story and it is being used for all it's worth to pump up Obama as the hero C-in-C (natch); OTOH so do the pirates. I find the telephone calls to relatives report saying they were out of ammo and trying to exchange their freedom for hostage release to be credible. I also find it totally INcredible that they were indeed 'about to shoot the hostage' since that would have resulted in swift and certain death....
Well now wait a minute. I'm having a trouble understanding your logic. A hostage has no value unless the kidnappers are willing to kill him. Furthermore, the pirates interviewed in the Aussie 60 Minutes piece that Maggie linked to repeatedly made the point that they didn't much care if they got killed because they didn't have much of a life anyway.
Kidnapping is a violent act that uses the threat of more violence as leverage. I don't see anything incredible about fearing for the life of the hostage whether guns were pointed at the hostage at that instant or not.