Four Americans Shot Dead by Somali Pirates

by Jack Lee

This is one of those controversial stories I had to ponder about before I put my thoughts into print. I don’t want my friends to get ticked off at me or think I’m callous, but it was a story I felt we should discuss. Maybe some good will come of it. It’s about religious people who put themselves in harms way and expect God to protect them. I’m far from a religious scholar, but I don’t think it works that way.

They set out on a world tour, handing out Bibles to islanders and they wound up placing themselves into the hands of pirates. Their ordeal ended hours later when they were murdered. This much we know for sure, but the exact circumstances are still coming in. They entered dangerous waters despite knowing the risks and indifferent to the repeated warnings from the American State Department.

Currently the American government (at great expense) and others are doing all they can to suppress numerous incidents of piracy off the Somali coast. But, they can’t do it all by sea power; they require a modicum of cooperation from the intended victims.

In this latest case of piracy the victims knew the risks and they dismissed them. They had confidence in their plan how to elude the pirates. The plan: They were not going to broadcast their position as is normally done on the high seas. The downside is this could make rescue difficult or unlikely if they suddenly ran into trouble. So, they put their trust in God and took their chances.

As we all know pirates are looking for ransom, these Christian sailors were easy to spot and easy to capture. The biggest flaw in the capture avoidance plan was…pirates are typically dirt poor and generally don’t invest in expensive marine radios. They don’t need too either when there’s plenty of kidnap prey near their country (an oil tanker shipping route). All they have to do is head out into open waters and sooner or later they will happen upon a victim. In this case it was a small slow sailboat with zero chance of escape from a powered skiff.

The Americans, two from California, were retired and they wanted an adventure. At the same time they wanted to do something good – something in keeping with their strong religious convictions. They wanted to spread the word.

Two of the pirates are now dead and 13 others have been captured. Those captured will be returned to the States and most likely wind up serving life sentences. They will be cared for by the taxpayers who are already caring for too many prisoners.

This failed adventure was a lose – lose. If the pirates didn’t catch them first then then I wish US warship could have arrested them sent them home in the brig as a lesson for others who might be contemplating doing the same thing. Their thinking was well intended, but incredibly dumb and dangerous. They were not just putting themselves at risk, but many others too, including their rescuers. Now we taxpayers, who did not endorse their mission, must clean up the mess they left for us and pay the costs of housing pirates for the next 50 years. That isn’t right and if there isn’t a law on the books from preventing our citizens for being one half of an international incident, their sure should be.

I feel bad for their friends and families they left behind, but I’m frustrated and angry at their foolishness. If we’re not going to wipe out those pirate bases and hang the culprits when we catch them, then at least we should do something to keep the volunteer-victims away from them.