Terrorists Say They'll Fight Somali Pirates

Gotta say I'm on the pirates' side here.

The irony in this story is thicker than Rosie O’Donnell’s thigh. A hijacked Saudi tanker, the Sirius Star, taken by pirates off the coast of Somalia last week, is being threatened by Islamic militants who say they will “rescue” the ship from the pirates. Stating the hijacking is a crime against Islam (and really, what isn’t these days?), members of the Somali Islamist group al-Shabab arrived in the town of Harardhere to battle the pirates.

Now before we go any deeper into this story let us get some things straight. Piracy is in fact against Islam. So, al-Shabab, which happens to be one of the splinter groups battling for control of Somalia along with the deposed Islamic Courts Union (which was tossed out of power in 2006 by the Ethiopians with a little help from the U.S), is correct in that regard. Except, that’s not the sole reason they want to battle the Corsairs who hijacked the Saudi ship.

...Islamic militants claiming piracy is against Islam is dripping with such thick irony one must wonder how the words could pass the mouth of the person who utters such a phrase. But then we get down to the truth of the matter, where the exception proves the rule.

The fighters told residents they would battle the pirates because the tanker, which is loaded with 2 million barrels of oil, is owned by a Muslim country and should not have been taken.

So if the tanker were owned by someone not Muslim, hijacking it is not against Islam and is allowed according to the extremists. This is the problem with Islam today. Preying on those not Muslim is, if not accepted, then certainly tolerated, and in some cases demanded. In case any of you out there do not remember the early history of the United States, we’ve already dealt with this problem once. The first line from the Marine Corps Hymn is “From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli,” where Marines battled the Barbary pirates after Congress got tired of paying tribute to the potentates who ruled there and President Jefferson decided to flex a little U.S. muscle.

At least the pirates commendably adhere to the liberal value of equal treatment for all. Can't say the same for the xenophobic, racist* terrorists, of course.

Does any other religion distinguish between believers and nonbelievers when it comes to the prohibitions against murder and rape? As far as I know, that's a singular innovation of the RoP.

* We continue needing a word for what fundamentalist Islam is -- it's not racist per se, but it's just like that -- virulently so -- except based on religion rather than race. There doesn't seem to be a good word for it. Yet.

Perhaps Andrew Sullivan will invent one for us.

posted by Ace at 02:36 PM

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