Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
Federal judge Raymond A. Jackson has dismissed piracy charges against six Somali men who are alleged to have fired on U.S. naval warships on the Indian Ocean. Why? Because the attacks failed to ravage our vessels — indeed, the Somalis were captured and brought to Judge Jackson’s civilian court in Virginia. According to Judge Jackson (appointed to the bench by President Clinton in 1993), to be prosecuted for piracy (under Section 1651 of the federal penal code), pirates have to succeed in carrying out a robbery on the high seas. If they try but we capture them, they can’t be charged. -- Andy McCarthy
The rejection of the piracy charges shows yet again how the Obama administration confuses the nature of war with crime. Compare President Obama with President Teddy Roosevelt.
In 1904, New Jersey native Ion Perdicaris was taken hostage by Moroccan bandits. They were led by Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli, who was known as the "Last of the Barbary Pirates." President Roosevelt's response to the news: "This government wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead!"
The president ordered seven battleships and a contingent of Marines to Morocco. That is how American presidents used to respond to pirates.
Likewise with Jefferson. In 1801, Thomas Jefferson ended the payment of tribute to the Barbary pirates, who preyed on American shipping in the Mediterranean and enslaved U.S. sailors. He sent a naval squadron against the pirates with orders to "chastise their insolence" by "sinking, burning, or destroying their ships & vessels wherever you shall find them." That August, the USS Enterprise fought a three-hour duel with a pirate corsair, killing half its crew, cutting down its masts, throwing its guns overboard, and setting it adrift.
The Obama administration's legal and policy confusion over terrorism and piracy has contributed to the very problem at hand. Under the Left's theory of the war against al-Qaeda, terrorism is really a crime, not an act of war. Terrorists are not illegal combatants (a category recognized by the Supreme Court in past wars and by other nations since Roman times to distinguish between proper soldiers of an enemy state and those who fight outside the laws of war), but just garden-variety criminals.
The Obama administration seems to think of pirates as criminals, who are to be arrested and hauled back to the United States for trial. When Somali pirates took Captain James Phillips of the Maersk Alabama hostage in spring of last year, President Obama sent the FBI to conduct hostage negotiations, and only authorized the use of force -- in this case, allowing Navy snipers to shoot at the pirates -- if Captain Phillips' life was in imminent danger.
We should treat the pirates as they have consistently been since Roman times, as hostis humani generis, the enemy of all mankind. SEAL sharpshooters should be able to fire whenever they have a clear shot at them, regardless of whether a hostage is threatened with imminent harm or death. The same goes for pirate vessels. Rather than let pirates approach peaceful commercial shipping and only then seek to make arrests, our powerful Navy could simply hunt and destroy pirate ships and their land-based support networks "wherever" a commander "shall find them," in Jefferson's words.
But this would require the Obama administration to follow the Bush counterterrorism example by applying the rules of warfare to piracy. This does not mean that the United States cannot resort to its criminal laws, only that conflict with pirates can rise to the level of war and justify the use of military measures, too.
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May '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
Pirates should be dealt with as enemy combatants. Unless, of course, they play in the National League Central where they have been rendered harmless for almost 20 years now.
Jul '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
"...chastise their insolence...".
Ah, Presidents used to know how to wield language.
May '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
Granted it's a foreign policy error to treat piracy as a mere crime, to be prosecuted in civilian courts. But given that error, it appears that the court made a defensible decision. Congress can, exploiting the Necessary & Proper Clause, define attempted piracy as a crime. But it hasn't done so yet, so the prosecution tried, and failed, to prevail on a statute that requires a completed act of piracy.
That said, I don't understand why Obama did not give a standing order to kill pirates on sight (when they are making mischief.)
Jun '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
Piracy is not just boat theft, and car-bombs are not just road hazards. They may kill just a handful, but they steal peace of mind from thousands. Because their acts affect thousands unseen, and intend to affect thousands unseen, they've escalated from criminal act to act of war.
Jul '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
You know, piracy is one of the basics. This should not be complicated. It should not be made complicated. But as with seemingly everything he touches, President Obama (and his many, many progressive/intellectual henchmen) are compelled to make it that way.
There can be no post-modern approach to piracy.
May '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
However, if you explained to the judge that they were mp3 or DVD pirates he probably would have given them the death penalty...
May '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
Avast! Leave us not forget the example of Gaius Julius Caesar, who, as a child, negotiated his ransom, and then came right back at the head of a legion and crucified every last pirate. He was, of course, preceded in this endeavour by Marcus Antonius Orator and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.
Sure, just showing off, but maybe Claire can elucidate why all the pirates of the time were HQ'd in Cilicia.
"Pedicaris alive or Raisuli dead" is one of the great quotes of all time.
May '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
Strikes me that the reason why attempted piracy was not designated a crime is that it was inconceivable that any pirate whose attack failed would come to trial. Summary execution and no need for paperwork.
May '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
The judge is an officious pedant.
The fact that the pirates didn't succeed is irrelevant. When the gun was raised by the civilian ship against another ship on the high seas, the act of piracy occurred. That the piracy did not result in the taking or sinking of the target ship is irrelevant.
Next this buffoon is going to allow a lawsuit against the US Navy for the capture of the "alleged" pirates and the taking of their ship!
Aug '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
Whether it's 'civilization fatigue', guilt arising from our successes, or the corrupting influence of luxury and comfort, we Westerners are forgetting how to defend ourselves. Our cultural immune system is losing its ability to fight off anarchy and chaos.
The AIDS virus is the metaphorical plague of our epoch. Just as a compromised immune system leads to cancer, pneumonia, and countless other diseases; so too does our rotten school system, and our tired churches.
May '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
tomjedrs,
In Holloway v. US (1998), Justice Scalia, writing for the court, held that a guy who, with an "accomplice threatened to shoot the driver with a gun unless the driver relinquished the car and keys" did not commit the federal crime of carjacking under §2119, because he did not exhibit an "unconditional intent to kill or harm," but merely had a "conditional intent...to kill or harm if necessary to accomplish the carjacking."
(Summary taken from Findlaw: http://sol.lp.findlaw.com/1998/holloway.html )
Was Justice Scalia being an "officious pedant," or was he interpreting the statute before him? It would be quite dangerous if judges started expanding criminal statues beyond their actual scope, in order to snare those targeted by the State. Due process and all that.
I don't like the result in this piracy case either, but the fault lies with the Obama administration, who chose not to treat it as a matter of war.
Aug '10
Re: Pirates: Still the Enemy of All Mankind
I wrote this a month ago about pirates and terrorists although it was in the context of the Wikileaks situation:
"The simple and legally correct way to respond to terrorists and acts of terrorism is to treat them as pirates. The legal principle of "pirata est hostis humani generis" (a pirate is an enemy of the human race) has long been accepted by the nations of the world. A terrorist, with no country, is the same as a pirate and should be hunted down and killed. Period. End of story. His motivation is irrelevant. His religious background is irrelevant. His actions alone classify him as an enemy of humanity and by those actions, he has given up his humanity and ought to be treated accordingly. As usual, history should have been our guide: During the First and Second Barbary Wars, the young United States took a pragmatic and Constitutional approach: declare war (or respond to war being declared on the U.S.) and bomb the city-states housing the pirates."
Pirates and terrorists are beyond the pale and ought to be treated as such.