CRC Open-Source Intelligence Briefs

W. Thomas Smith Jr., Director of the Counterterrorism Research Center

GAZA: HAMAS terrorists got a nasty surprise when they attempted to shoot down an Israeli helicopter during their war with Israel in January.

According to The World Tribune: HAMAS smuggled four American-made Stinger portable anti-aircraft missile systems through Egypt last year. Then – during the January 2009 war – when an American-made Israeli Apache attack helicopter came under fire by HAMAS, the Raytheon friend/foe identification system on the Stinger would not allow the gunner to target (what the system read as) a friendly target. When the missile was launched, instead of acquiring the helicopter, it picked up the heat signature of a HAMAS machine-gun position.

“The Stinger was drawn by the heat of our guns rather than the engines of the Israeli helicopters,” The Tribune's source said. “At that point, we stopped using this weapon.”

The source said HAMAS is now purchasing Russian-made SA-16s.

NORTH AMERICA:The FBI raided three money transfer businesses, Wednesday, in south Minneapolis, where agents served search-warrants on Mustaqbal Express, Quran Express, and Aaran Financial, all alleged to be wiring money to several African nations, including Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, and Sudan.

Last week, we reported the development of a tri-party pact between Sudan, Eritrea, and Iran: the ultimate goal being Iran gaining a strategic presence on the Red Sea, threatening Saudi Arabia from the southwest and fronting Egypt and Ethiopia. And of course, Iran already has been smuggling weapons into Africa. Some have been intercepted.

Just connecting more of the obvious dots.

According to FOX News:

“A copy of the sealed search warrant says the FBI is investigating money laundering – specifically, money transfers between Minnesota and Somalia, and a half-dozen other African nations as well as the United Arab Emirates.

“The FBI raided the transfer businesses in search of money transfers after January 2007 – about the same time several young Somali men from Minneapolis went missing, suspected of going back to Somali to fight in a holy war.

“The FBI has long been suspicious the money wiring services could be used to launder money for Somali pirates, or to finance Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda linked terror now controlling most of Somalia.”

Also Christopher Holton at the Center for Security Policy writes:

“It was treated as big news on Tuesday when Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau indicted Chinese executive Li Fang Wei and his company for using New York banks to finance the sale of tons of restricted, weapons-related material to Iran. But the truth is that some of these same banks and other major financial institutions, including those bailed out by American taxpayers, for years have deliberately been supporting ‘Shariah-compliant’ financial policies that almost assuredly end up being used to support illicit Middle Eastern, terrorist interests with close ties to Iran. Read more at The American Spectator.”

ISRAEL:Naharnet reports some 30 American citizens (injured by Hizballah rockets) in Israel, Friday, sued North Korea seeking more than $100-million in damages, accusing the communist state of “helping Hizballah build underground bunkers to safely store their Katyusha rockets.”

Naharnet adds, “Hizballah in 2006 fired thousands of missiles into northern Israel, which launched a deadly month-long offensive against its northern neighbor.”

Meanwhile, Hizballah, which former U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff says “makes al Qaeda look like a minor league team,” and which continues to violate UN mandate in Lebanon and has been directly involved – both financially and operationally – in terrorist attacks or supporting operations on five continents; continues to be soft-soaped by the Left and its new administration in Washington.

The soft-soaping comes in the form of downplaying Hizballah’s strengths and activities in Lebanon, denying and underreporting those strengths and activities, even going so far as to jest and make-light-of the terrorist group – by those who pretend they are opposed to the group (typical propaganda ploy) – as a means of marginalizing Hizballah’s threat to the world.

[Chris Carter contributed to this report.]

Private terror probe: 50 mosques in 50 days

Former special agent visiting each U.S. state to assess threat

A Middle East expert and former Air Force special agent is set to launch a "counter-terrorism tour" across America in which he plans to visit a mosque in each state in 50 days to assess their threat to the nation's security. ....

U.S. Military Considers Attacks on Somali Pirates’ Land Bases

(Compiler's note: I'll give you a proposed solution. We know where they operated from and who controls the pirates nests. I say go in and kill them all in a few well placed strikes and destroy all their seafaring equipment as well, i.e. boats. Then promise to destroy the remainder if they ever again try a pirate raid on our ships. Done properly, this will be much more economical and effective than creating another on-going sink hole for American tax money, blood, sweat and tears. This is a military event, not a criminal event or state department affair. If they do it again, promise to bury what is left of the dead leaders from the our next and final raids in the bodies of a hog. Now this is also a stimulus event for our nation's farmers. Enough of this politically correct stuff -- "don't tread on us" is the real solution.)

By Jeff Bliss

April 13 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. military is considering attacks on pirate bases on land and aid for the Somali people to help stem ship hijackings off Africa’s east coast, defense officials said.

The military also is drawing up proposals to aid the fledgling Somalia government to train security forces and develop its own coast guard, said the officials, who requested anonymity. The plans will be presented to the Obama administration as it considers a coordinated U.S. government and international response to piracy, the officials said. ....

Blogger becomes casualty of Iran cyber-wars

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The first line of his first blog from Tehran in September 2006 asks: "What is freedom?"

Omidreza Mirsayafi answered his own question. "I don't know," he wrote, "but I know someday I will see its shadow falling on my land."...

Veterans ALERT: Major Leftist Group Posing As Veterans Aid Society!

(Compiler's note: A must read.)

Pat Dollard of the Young Americans has exposed the following group as a major leftist organization funded by none other than George Soros. More on that:

An insidious, treacherous, anti-military, anti-democracy and anti-capitalist organization called “Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America”, IAVA, is posing as a veteran’s aid and support group in an attempt to turn the last non-Leftist bastion of America into the Left’s mightiest arm of real force.

They are dedicated to one mission, and one mission only: indoctrinate the average service member into a Leftist ideologue loyal to George Soros’ and Obama’s neo-Marxist revolution. Go to this link and scroll down to the bottom, and you will see the IAVA’s “report card” on politicians’ performance as supporters of the troops. John McCain is given a D, Barack Obama a B.

George Soros is a financier of the IAVA. ( From Blackfive: But Burden says what really bothers him about IAVA’s report card is its insistence that its grades are nonpartisan. He points to IAVA’s funding: Jonathan Soros, son of liberal financier George Soros, is sponsoring the group’s annual dinner next month. At the same time, the IAVA uses technology provided by Democracy in Action, a self-described “progressive nonprofit” that provides discount services to liberal groups. And, Burden points out, Rieckhoff once delivered the Democratic response to one of President Bush’s radio addresses.) They used to operate under the moniker Operation Truth before they came up with the less radical sounding IAVA. Blackfive did an expose on Operation Truth.

The IAVA, led by Paul Rieckhoff, claims to operate as as a “non-partisan” group, but as you can tell by both the report card linked above, and the fact that Rieckhoff blogs exclusively for the Huffington Post as the face of the IAVA, they are anything but. You can put the fact that Rieckhoff makes such a bluster about his alleged “firecely non-partisan” stance into the “Me thinks thou do protest too much” file.

Anyone who operates behind such a curtain of blatant deception is a coward, a predator, and fits the vernacular appellation of “weasel”. Don’t presume that the term “traitor’ hasn’t come to my mind, either.

IAVA Predatory Advertisement:

Pat Dollard repeated much of Reickhoff’s “history” from his propaganda machine…Visit Pat’s site to read more on that.

I am going to take this one step further. Reickhoff is a traitor. He is undermining the democracy of this country. He is leading veterans to become apologists for Obozo. The IAVA is evil in its structure and thought through its the funding machine.

ALERT ALERT ALERT — All veterans stay away from the IAVA, they are not your friends. The source of funding comes from George Soros who is bent on the destruction of the USA, the same country you fought to keep free and safe!

A tribute to our Navy SEAL snipers

By Michelle Malkin - April 12, 2009 09:31 PM

Captain Richard Phillips paid tribute to the Navy and the SEAL snipers who shot and killed three pirates during rescue operations today.

Here’s a video clip from a recent documentary on Navy SEAL snipers. God bless ‘em:

The Navy SEALs page is here.

***

Details from Bloomberg News:

Sharpshooters firing from the fantail of a U.S. Navy destroyer killed three pirates holding an American cargo-ship captain in a lifeboat, ending a five-day ordeal that unfolded amid a surge in piracy off Somalia’s coast.

Richard Phillips, 53, captain of the Maersk Alabama, was untied, pulled from the lifeboat and brought unharmed aboard the USS Bainbridge, said Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.

The Navy acted because Phillips’s life was threatened by pirates who were aiming weapons at him, Gourtney said. The on- scene commander “had seconds” to make a decision, he said.

…The Bainbridge had the lifeboat under tow shortly after 7 p.m. local time, roughly an hour after sunset, according to Gortney and a Navy press release. The vessel was 25 to 30 meters away when special forces commandos opened fire, Gortney said.

“We pay a lot for their training,” Gortney said of the snipers. “We got a good return on their investment tonight.”

Homeland Security on guard for 'right-wing extremists'

(Compiler's note: A must read article.)

Returning U.S. military veterans singled out as particular threats

from WorldNetDaily

WASHINGTON – A newly unclassified Department of Homeland Security report warns against the possibility of violence by unnamed "right-wing extremists" concerned about illegal immigration, increasing federal power, restrictions on firearms, abortion and the loss of U.S. sovereignty and singles out returning war veterans as particular threats.

The report, titled "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," dated April 7, states that "threats from white supremacist and violent anti-government groups during 2009 have been largely rhetorical and have not indicated plans to carry out violent acts."

However, the report goes on to suggest worsening economic woes, potential new legislative restrictions on firearms and "the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks."

Are you ready for a second Declaration of Independence? Sign the petition promoting true freedom once again!

The report from DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines right-wing extremism in the U.S. as "divided into those groups, movements and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups) and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

"[T]he consequences of a prolonged economic downturn – including real estate foreclosures, unemployment and an inability to obtain credit – could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past," the report says.

It adds that "growth in these groups subsided in reaction to increased government scrutiny as a result of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and disrupted plots, improvements in the economy and the continued U.S. standing as the pre-eminent world power."

"Proposed imposition of firearms restrictions and weapons bans likely would attract new members into the ranks of right-wing extremist groups as well as potentially spur some of them to begin planning and training for violence against the government," the report continues. "The high volume of purchases and stockpiling of weapons and ammunition by right-wing extremists in anticipation of restrictions and bans in some parts of the country continue to be a primary concern to law enforcement."

Most notable is the report's focus on the impact of returning war veterans.

"Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to right-wing extremists," it says. "DHS/I&A is concerned that right-wing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize veterans in order to boost their violent capacities."

The report cites the April 4 shooting deaths of three police officers in Pittsburgh as an example of what may be coming, claiming the alleged gunman holds a racist ideology and believes in anti-government conspiracy theories about gun confiscations, citizen detention camps and "a Jewish-controlled 'one-world government.'"

It also suggests the election of an African-American president and the prospect of his policy changes "are proving to be a driving force for right-wing extremist recruitment and radicalization."

The report also mentions "'end times' prophecies could motivate extremist individuals and groups to stockpile food, ammunition and weapons. These teachings also have been linked with the radicalization of domestic extremist individuals and groups in the past, such as the violent Christian Identity organizations and extremist members of the militia movement."

"DHS/I&A assesses that right-wing extremist groups' frustration over a perceived lack of government action on illegal immigration has the potential to incite individuals or small groups toward violence," the report continues.

The report states the DHS will be working with state and local partners over the next several months to determine the levels of right-wing extremist activity in the U.S.

Last month, the chief of the Missouri highway patrol blasted a report issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center that linked conservative groups to domestic terrorism, assuring that such reports no longer will be issued. The report had been compiled with the assistance of DHS.

The report warned law enforcement agencies to watch for suspicious individuals who may have bumper stickers for third-party political candidates such as Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin.

It further warned law enforcement to watch out for individuals with "radical" ideologies based on Christian views, such as opposing illegal immigration, abortion and federal taxes.

Chief James Keathley of the Missouri State Patrol issued a statement that the release of the report, which outraged conservatives nationwide, prompted him to "take a hard look" at the procedures through which the report was released by the MIAC.

"My review of the procedures used by the MIAC in the three years since its inception indicates that the mechanism in place for oversight of reports needs improvement," he wrote. "Until two weeks ago, the process for release of reports from the MIAC to law enforcement officers around the state required no review by leaders of the Missouri State Highway Patrol or the Department of Public Safety."

"For that reason, I have ordered the MIAC to permanently cease distribution of the militia report," he said. "Further, I am creating a new process for oversight of reports drafted by the MIAC that will require leaders of the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Department of Public Safety to review the content of these reports before they are shared with law enforcement. My office will also undertake a review of the origin of the report by MIAC."

Snipers Kill Pirates, Save Captain

With Hostage in 'Imminent Danger,' Navy Seals Shoot Three Captors, Detain a Fourth

By SARAH CHILDRESS and PETER SPIEGEL

U.S. Navy Seal sharpshooters brought a five-day hostage standoff to an abrupt end Sunday with a hail of bullets that killed three pirates holding the captain of an American-flagged cargo ship.

The Navy acted after concluding Capt. Richard Phillips was in "imminent danger," said Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, commander of naval forces in the Middle East.

He told a Pentagon news conference that the USS Bainbridge was towing the lifeboat holding the pirates and a tied-up Capt. Phillips into calmer waters while negotiating with the pirates. He said sharpshooters, positioned at the stern about 80 feet from the lifeboat, saw the heads and shoulders of three pirates onboard, one of them pointing an AK-47 machine gun at the back of Capt. Phillips.

The Navy officer in charge of the operation ordered the pirates to be fired upon, he said.

In Mombasa, Kenya, the crew of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama celebrated word of the rescue of their captain, who they said had offered himself as a hostage four days earlier to help them fend off the pirates. In Washington, President Barack Obama hailed the captain's courage as "a model for all Americans." Mr. Obama, who had given standing orders Friday for the Navy to rescue Capt. Phillips if the danger escalated, spoke with him by phone Sunday after he was freed.

Mr. Obama said the U.S. is "resolved to halt the rise of piracy." But Vice Admiral Gortney also said that the rescue ending in the pirates' deaths could ramp up violence in the increasing wave of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia, in which crews and pirates have seldom been harmed. "This could escalate violence in this part of the world, no question about it," he said.

Adm. Gortney said U.S. officials had hoped to resolve the standoff peacefully, and that a fourth pirate had been on the Bainbridge as part of hostage negotiation talks. But Adm. Gortney said tensions escalated between the pirates and negotiators. "It got heated and the on-scene commander interpreted hostile intent," Adm. Gortney said. The fourth pirate, now in Navy custody, may face criminal charges in the U.S.

Attacks in the region started to soar last year, as Somali pirates -- long active in these waters -- started venturing farther from shore and going after bigger game. In just a few months, they have morphed from an obscure and seemingly antiquated annoyance for shipowners into a serious threat to one of the world's most important shipping lanes.

The hostage drama started Wednesday, when a small band of pirates swung grappling hooks and climbed ropes from their skiff onto the Maersk Alabama, a container ship then ferrying food aid to East Africa. The American crew of 20 managed to wound the apparent leader of the pirates in the hand with an ice pick and regain control, with the pirates retreating to their lifeboat holding Capt. Phillips, a 53-year-old mariner from Underhill, Vt. Interviews with a handful of crew members over the weekend provide a rough outline of events.

Just before 7 a.m. Wednesday, the skiff with four pirates sped up from behind the vessel. Crew member ATM Reza saw them fire into the air as they leapt aboard the ship. Many of the crew members scrambled into a designated safe room aboard the vessel. William Rios, a crew member from Manhattan, was one of them. "It was a nightmare," he said.

On the bridge, the pirates held four sailors, including Mr. Reza, at gunpoint. Mr. Reza said he volunteered to take one of the pirates -- a scrawny man who he said identified himself as Abdul Mohamed -- down to the engine room. When they got there, he thrust an ice pick into the man's hand, in an account corroborated by other crew members. The crew bound the pirate's hands and feet with rope.

In Norfolk, Va., it was half past midnight Wednesday morning when executives at Maersk Line Ltd., a U.S. subsidiary of Danish shipper A.P. Møller-Maersk AS, first got word their ship had been taken. Maersk, one of the biggest shippers for the U.S. government and the Pentagon, set up a crisis center and huddled with U.S. officials. Military commanders dispatched the Bainbridge, an American destroyer, then 300 miles away.

Aboard the Maersk Alabama, the balance of power had tilted in the crew's favor. They didn't have guns like the pirates, but the crew greatly outnumbered the four attackers. The crew demanded the other pirates leave the ship, crew members said, but the pirates had scuttled their own small boat. They demanded an escape boat, fuel and food.

Amid the standoff, Capt. Phillips offered himself as a hostage to safeguard the crew. "They agreed, and we agreed," said crew member Andrew Brzezinski. "They promised to let go of the captain when we sent back the hostage."

Once the pirates settled into the lifeboat, the crew released their hostage. But the pirates refused to let Capt. Phillips free. "They wanted us to follow them to Somalia," said Mr. Brzezinski.

As dawn approached Thursday morning, the Bainbridge was in visual range of the Maersk Alabama and its lifeboat. The Navy dropped off provisions and extra batteries for the radio the lifeboat was using to communicate with the Navy ship.

Later that day, Maersk Alabama got under way, at the Navy's suggestion, the company said, and headed for Mombasa. Several crew members were upset at abandoning their captain. "I can't describe my feelings" about it, said Mr. Brzezinski.

On Friday, Capt. Phillips jumped out of the lifeboat and managed to swim a few yards toward the nearby destroyer. The pirates went in after him and managed to haul him back in, according to an account by a Somali go-between, reached by cellphone. A U.S. Navy official said the pirates fired shots at Capt. Phillips before retrieving him. The Navy didn't intercede at that point.

Over the weekend, the USS Boxer, a massive amphibious assault ship, and the USS Halyburton, a guided-missile frigate, joined the Bainbridge in the vicinity of the lifeboat.

Late Saturday, Bernard Odemba, a harbor captain in the Mombasa port, boarded the Maersk Alabama to help pilot the vessel in. He said the crew "were still suspicious" about other boats approaching the ship. "Whenever they saw any kind of boat...I had to calm them down."

Late Saturday evening, as the Maersk Alabama docked in Mombasa, about seven crew members clad in blue overalls and hard hats watched from the railings. A few waved and one pumped his fist as the ship approached. Several credited the captain they were forced to leave behind.

"He's a hero," said Ken Quinn, one of the ship's officers, who had been woken by the pirates when they boarded the ship. He shouted to reporters from the railing as the vessel pulled in. "The whole crew misses him...we owe the captain our lives."

As news of the captain's rescue leaked out late Sunday, the ship's horn blared three times. Shortly afterward the crew unfurled a big American flag and shot off a red flare that popped and lingered overhead.

—Alex Roth, Philip Shishkin, Chip Cummins, Evan Perez and Yochi Dreazen contributed to this article.

Tainted Chinese drywall shows up in Katrina homes

One of my favorite radio shows

Click on the title above and listen to a timeless sample of a Quinn & Rose Show broadcast.

You'll hear yet another example of why today's gov't wants talk radio gone from the airways. And we simply can not let that happen.

Monday through Friday, Quinn & Rose can be heard on XM radio from 6am - 10am EST.

And you thought it was only Rush, Hannity and Levin.

Official: US sea captain freed in swift firefight

(Compiler's note: And the honor of the United States
and our U.S. Navy is still intact! Now destroy the "pirate
nests" and the negotiating "negotiating elders" from which
they came and the problem will be solved till a new generation forgets
what it means to attack any part of these United States.)

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY and LARA JAKES

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) - An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday in a swift firefight that killed three of the four Somali pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa, the ship's owner said and a U.S. official said.

A senior U.S. intelligence official said a pirate who had been involved in negotiations to free Capt. Richard Phillips but who was not on the lifeboat was in custody.

Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was safely transported to a Navy warship nearby.

Maersk Line Limited President and CEO John Reinhart said in a news release that the U.S. government informed the company around 1:30 p.m. EDT Sunday that Phillips had been rescued. Reinhart said the company called Phillips' wife, Andrea, to tell her the news.

The U.S. official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. A Pentagon spokesman had no immediate comment.

When Phillips' crew heard the news aboard their ship in the port of Mombasa, they placed an American flag over the rail of the top of the Maersk Alabama and whistled and pumped their fists in the air. Crew fired a bright red flare into the sky from the ship.

A government official and others in Somali with knowledge of the situation had reported hours earlier that negotiations for Phillips' release had broken down.

___

Jakes reported from Washington. Associated Press writers who contributed to this report include Mohamed Olad Hassan and Mohamed Sheikh Nor in Mogadishu, Somalia and Michelle Faul and Tom Maliti in Nairobi, Kenya.

Click here and here for additional information.

Somali Pirates a Far Cry From Buccaneers of Old

NAIROBI, Kenya -- They've been described as "noble heroes" by sympathetic Somalis, denounced as criminals by critics. But the adjective most used to describe the men holding an American captain off the Horn of Africa is "pirate" _ a word that conjures images of sword-wielding swashbucklers romanticized by Hollywood.

The 21st century reality, though, is a far cry from that. There are no treasure-laden islands or Blackbeards in this part of the world, no wooden schooners flying skull and crossbones flags.

Instead: a vigilante movement that years ago tried to defend Somali shores morphed into full-blown pirate scourge _ after fishermen on defense stumbled upon an astoundingly lucrative bounty waiting to be had on their doorstep: around 25,000 ships, most unarmed, transiting the Gulf of Aden each year.

Picture ragged Somali fishermen armed with rocket launchers, GPS systems and satellite phones. Picture tiny skiffs cruising the coast of a war-infested nation crawling with gunmen. Picture bandits with sunglasses in worn shirts firing machine-guns at cruise ships, scampering aboard captured trawlers with crude ladders.

And most of all, picture ransoms, huge ransoms.

"I think when most people think of pirates, they think of Johnny Depp and the Pirates of the Caribbean," said security consultant Crispian Cuss of the London-based Olive Group. But these guys are "just fishermen paid to act as pirates by warlords and armed gangs who have taken over a lawless state."

The plight of an American captain, seized from the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama and held by Somali pirates since Wednesday on a drifting lifeboat out of fuel, is only one of the latest examples of a problem that has plagued the region for years.

The American, Capt. Richard Phillips, Underhill, Vt., is believed to have been the first U.S. citizen taken by pirates since 1804, when U.S. Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur battled the infamous Barbary pirates off the northern coast of what is now Libya, dispatching U.S. Marines to the shores of Tripoli.

The modern piracy scourge in the Horn of Africa was borne from the ashes of Somalia's government, overthrown in 1991.

Since then, Somalia has suffered nearly 20 years of anarchy, chaotically ruled by rival clans backed by pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns. Its nominal government controls barely a few blocks.

With no coast guard to defend its shores, Somalis began complaining that vessels from Asia and Europe were dumping toxic waste in their waters and illegally scooping up red snapper, barracuda and tuna. The rampant illegal fishing began destroying the livelihoods of local fishermen.

According to memo prepared last month by the staff of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, Somali clans began resorting "to armed gangs in an attempt to stop the foreign vessels. Over time, these gangs have evolved into hijacking commercial vessels for ransom as an alternative source of income."

Attacks in the Gulf of Aden and along Somalia's coast have risen dramatically, from 41 in 2007 to 111 in 2008, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Since January, pirates have staged at least 66 assaults and currently hold more than a dozen ships and more than 200 foreign crew members.

According to the House memo, pirates operating off Somalia earned $30 million in ransom through the seizure of 42 vessels in 2008. Other estimates put the figure to $80 million.

The memo cited one captured pirate as saying pirates only take 30 percent of ransoms _ on average $1 million to $2 million per boat.

Twenty percent goes to group bosses, 30 percent is spent on bribing local officials, and 20 percent goes for capital investment like guns, ammunition, fuel, food, cigarettes. (Cuss said pirates were becoming more sophisticated and in the last two months have, for the first time, begun launching nighttime attacks, possibly indicating pirates have obtained night-vision goggles).

U.S. officials have found no direct ties between East African pirates and terror groups, but the illegal trade is believed backed by an international network of Somali expatriates who offer funds, equipment and information in exchange for a cut of ransoms.

The House memo said Somali buccaneers operate in five well-organized groups, drawing members from large clans, which are extended family networks. Cuss said the industry is "controlled big players _ warlords and criminal gangs who recruit local fishermen and take a lion's share of the profits."

Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program described the pirates as "desperate people taking desperate measures to earn a living."

Today, they number around 1,500, up from around 100 five to seven years ago, Mwangura said.

"They're earning a lot of money and everyone wants to join," Mwangura said. "They're getting new recruits every day."

On the ground in Somalia, some pirates are seen as "flamboyant middle aged men," said Mahad Shiekh Madar, a car salesman living in the northeastern port town of Bossaso on the tip of Africa's horn. "They always travel in a beautiful four-wheel-drive luxury cars and look like people who are working for a big business company."

Abdulahi Salad, a 43-year-old former pirate in central coastal village of Gaan, said pirates were "different from the ordinary gunmen in Somalia. They are not thin, and they have bright faces and are always happy."

Indeed, they are often regaled for bringing wads of cash into impoverished communities.

A local elder in Gaan, Haji Muqtar Ahmed, said "being a pirate is not shame ... it is believed to be a noble profession."

Ahmed said people there used to make a living fishing, "but now the only livelihood they have is the income from the piracy."

U.S. Supreme Court: Ginsburg Shares Views on Influence of Foreign Law on Her Court, and Vice Versa

.... “I frankly don’t understand all the brouhaha lately from Congress and even from some of my colleagues about referring to foreign law,” Justice Ginsburg said in her comments on Friday.

The court’s more conservative members — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas — oppose the citation of foreign law in constitutional cases. ....

WRAPUP 8-Ship reaches Kenya; pirate lifeboat drifts toward land

WRAPUP 3-U.S. warships track hostage-holding pirates

U.S. warships tracked a boatload of gunmen holding a U.S. ship's captain hostage off the Somali coast on Sunday and unidentified military helicopters flew over the pirate lair of Haradheere.

.... Phillips is just one of about 270 hostages from around the world being held by pirates, who have targetted vessels from oil tankers to luxury yachts.

'GIVE' creating youth brigades?

(Compiler's note: Must read)

Service corps expansion gives opponents shivers

By Bob Unruh

Supporters of an Americorps expansion plan pending in Congress laud its efforts to "leverage" federal dollars to boost state, local and other resources to "address national and local challenges," while critics say its fine print secretly would create an "Obama-styled army of community

organizers modeled after Saul Alinsky's 'Peoples Organizations.'" So which is it?

In an era in which Congress can approve thousands of pages of legislation spending hundreds of billions of dollars without reading the proposal, there seems to be no definitive answer on what some of the vague language of H.R. 1388 means.

But there is enough in the "GIVE Act," now awaiting a conference committee in Congress after being approved by both the U.S. House and Senate, to cause critics to shiver.

For example, it certainly imposes a requirement for public service on some people, even though its original much-feared study on mandatory service for all was moved to another bill during congressional debate.

"The Audacity of Deceit" exposes exactly who Barack Obama is. He isn't pedaling "change you can believe in" – he's planning to uproot American culture and replace it with the failed, secular, socialist policies of the past.

The latest version includes a "National Service Reserve Corps" whose members have completed a "term of national service," "has successfully completed training" and "complete not less than 10 hours of volunteering each year."

It also raises First Amendment issues over its limitations on what various corps participants are allowed to do.

For example, it states those in an "approved national service position" may not try to influence legislation, engage in protests or petitions, take positions on union organizing, engage in partisan political activities, or, among other issues, be "engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of proselytization."

But probably the biggest red flag for many is how the proposal fits into the overall picture painted by President Obama when he described to a Colorado Springs audience a "National Civilian Security Force" that he wants as big and well-funded as the U.S. military – a staggering suggestion that would involve hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

WND reported when the bill began its quick trip through Congress, and its original language called for a study of how best to implement a mandatory national service program for citizens of the United States.

Later the language was dropped from that bill, only to appear at the same time in another legislative proposal.

Judi McLeod wrote for Canada Free Press that the bill simply would turn everyone into a community organizer.

"Everybody means the roughly seven million people called to public duty in the $6 billion National Service effort," she said. "But members pressed into the service of the one million-strong Youth Brigade, sanctioned by 'Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE),' will have none of the freedoms of the community organizer who started it all.

"There's no room for God in Obama's long promised Youth Brigade, no room to protest, petition, to boycott or to support a strike, and loopholes to give its mandatory membership a pass," she wrote. "Obama's plan requires anyone receiving school loans, among others to serve at least three months as part of the brigade."

She also describes one section with a program to introduce "service learning" as "a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency."

The plan suggests raising the participation in such programs from 75,000 now to 250,000.

Gary Wood at Examiner.com said it's part of Obama's plan to set up national service. He noted the explanation offered by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel: "It's time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, all Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service."

Gary Lester, writing at All American Blogger, put into words the worst fears of opponents.

"Hitler knew that if you control the youth, you control the future. I wrote about him in 'The Threats to Homeschooling: From Hitler to the NEA.' As I noted in that article, Hitler said: 'The Youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of innoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled,'" he wrote.

He cited the Hitler Youth's launch in the 1920s. In 1933, the participants totaled 100,000, and in 1939 the membership was compulsory for those over 17. Two years later, the membership was compulsory for those over 10, and it included 90 percent of the nation's youth.

He also cited concerns it would steer volunteers away from churches, politicize charity and focus on the "education" of participants.

"The legislation will, in many circumstances, force our children to participate in charitable activity as part of school – and that activity may well be chosen by or approved by a bureaucrat," he suggested.

At Washington Watch one forum participant warned, "Our republic is under attack as never before."

Said another, "This is social engineering at the very least, and could be the first step towards the reinstitution of slavery! Take heed, the New World Order (aka 'Change') draws nigh!"

WND reported when Obama delivered his Colorado Springs mandate and a copy of the speech provided online apparently was edited to exclude Obama's specific references to the new force.

The video of his statements is posted here:

As the presidential campaign advanced last year, another video appeared that for many crystallized their concerns over such a "corps." It shows a squad of young men marching and shouting praises to Obama. The video is embedded here:

Congress also is considering a "public service academy, a four-year institution that offers a federally funded undergraduate education with a focus on training future public sector leaders."

Joseph Farah, founder and editor of WND, used his daily column first to raise the issue of a "national civilian force" and then to elevate it with a call to all reporters to start asking questions.

"If we're going to create some kind of national police force as big, powerful and well-funded as our combined U.S. military forces, isn't this rather a big deal?" Farah wrote. "I thought Democrats generally believed the U.S. spent too much on the military. How is it possible their candidate is seeking to create some kind of massive but secret national police force that will be even bigger than the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force put together?

"Is Obama serious about creating some kind of domestic security force bigger and more expensive than that? If not, why did he say it? What did he mean?" Farah wrote.

Could Iran Have Nukes in 60 Days?

.... No sooner had the U.S. administration of Barack Obama announced Wednesday that it will be taking part in talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany, to discuss Iran's nuclear program, the very next day the Iranians announced they had reached the hallmark point of running 7,000 centrifuges, an important stepping stone on the way to becoming a full-fledged nuclear power. ....

U.S. Made Nuclear Deal with United Arab Emirates Despite Its Record as Transshipment Point for Weapons-Related Material to Iran

The United States has concluded a nuclear cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) despite that country’s record as a transshipment point for weapons-related material to Iran. ....

Negotiations Break Down in Standoff With Pirates

(Compiler's note: If we didn't already know specifically where these pirates came from ashore, we do now .... piracy is NOT a crime situation but a military one and must be handled as such. May I strongly suggest that this situation and the possibility of any future pirate attacks can be taken care of in one coordinated action followed by total obliteration of the sources. Our U.S. Navy took more direct action in the days of the wooden ships under sail.)

Reporting was contributed by Serge F. Kovaleski from Underhill, Vt.; Mark Mazzetti from Washington; Liz Robbins from New York; and employees of The New York Times from Somalia.

....Maersk Alabama, a 17,000-ton cargo vessel, pulled into port at 8:30 Saturday evening in Mombasa, Kenya, with its 19 remaining American crew members ..... the crew was not allowed to leave the ship because the F.B.I. — whose New York office has been charged with investigating the seizure — considered the vessel a crime scene.....

....On Saturday, a group of Somali elders from Gara’ad, mediating on behalf of the pirates, spoke by satellite phone to American officials, according to Abdul Aziz Aw Mahamoud, a district commissioner in the semiautonomous region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia. The elders proposed a deal in which the pirates would release Captain Phillips, with no ransom paid, and that the pirates would then be allowed to escape.

But Mr. Abdul Aziz said that the Americans insisted that the pirates be handed over to Puntland authorities, and the elders refused. By noon local time, the Americans cut off communications with the elders, he said. ....

.... The four pirates, according to the district commissioner, were split between two clans, one from southern Somalia and one from Puntland. ....

....Not far from the Phillips home, at the Wells Corner Market, an owner, Laura Wells, said: “If the Navy is going to do something, they better do it now, because they cannot let him get to shore. Once he gets to shore, he is lost, because we don’t know where he would be taken.”....

Hostage Standoff: Pirates Repel Sailors Attempting To Reach Captain Phillips

Pirates off the eastern coast of Africa fired on U.S. sailors Saturday as they tried to reach the lifeboat where an American captain is being held, a U.S. official familiar with the situation told CNN.

The gunfire forced the sailors, who did not return fire, to turn back, the official said. ....

Obama Nomination Papers Are Perjurious!

(Compiler's note: A must read article.)

Tell All 50 State Attorneys General To Investigate NOW The Compelling Evidence That Barack Obama Was Born In Africa!

Dear Concerned Friend,

I dared bring Barack Obama into court to force him to produce his birth certificate and put an end to the controversy over his status as a "natural born" citizenship once and for all. And now he's coming after me and the United States Justice Foundation (USJF) -- the public-interest legal group that I founded over 30 years ago -- with a vengeance! Merely because we dare to seek the truth!

And they must have something to hide, because Mr. Obama's attorneys have threatened to spend, and then sanction, USJF out of existence.

USJF has started efforts to convince State Attorneys General, all across the country, to investigate whether Barack Obama has committed perjury by knowingly filing false nomination papers ... claiming to be constitutionally eligible to run for, and serve as, President of the United States. As you know, the available evidence shows that he was born in Africa. A FAX to all 50 State Attorneys General is available for you to send right now.

You see, even though it's past January 20, 2009 -- inauguration day -- Barack Obama can still be stopped from becoming an illegal "squatter" in the White House.

FAX All 50 State Attorneys General To Investigate Obama's Fraud

Frankly, the evidence that Barack Hussein Obama was born in Africa -- not Hawaii as he claims - and, therefore, cannot serve as the President of the United States, is compelling.

• First, Mr. Obama's refusal to release his birth certificate. If he has nothing to hide, what does he gain by refusing to allow the press to see the birth certificate?
• Second, the contention by Barack Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, that Mr. Obama was born in a particular Hawaiian hospital, only to claim that it was in a different hospital several years later.
• Third, the erecting of a wall around Barack Obama's grandmother, the late Madelyn Dunham, by Mr. Obama, thus cutting off access to the one person then alive who would have been present if he was actually born in Hawaii.
• Fourth, the posting of law enforcement personnel at the two hospitals in Honolulu mentioned by Ms. Soetoro-Ng in an effort to block the press from discovering the truth about the birth certificate.
• Fifth, a taped phone conversation with Mr. Obama's step-grandmother in Kenya, who claims that she was present at his birth ... in what is now called Kenya!
• Sixth, the "birth certificate" posted on the Obama campaign website and other liberal websites. Since Barack Obama was born in 1961, long before laser printers and office computers, his original birth certificate would be typewritten ... unlike the laser printed "copy" purported to be genuine.

The evidence demands that Barack Obama answer why he has been hiding the truth from the American people about his eligibility to run for, and serve as, President!

That's right. Not only does Mr. Obama continue to categorically refuse to produce the decisive evidence proving whether he is a "natural born" citizen, his high-priced LA-based "dream team" of attorneys has USJF squarely in its crosshairs! And they're loading both barrels!

So, unless you help me and my team here at USJF to stand our ground in court, Mr. Obama's hired guns could blow a financial hole in USJF's ability to be the proverbial thorn in Mr. Obama's side!

Barack Obama continues to battle any attempt to see his real birth certificate - producing only a phony one posted on his website -- as well as fighting us tooth and nail as we seek access to his college records... records which we believe may prove that he was foreign born!

USJF served a subpoena upon Occidental College to gain access to Mr. Obama's college records and we are fighting to get at the truth on many other fronts, as well, including:

1. Appealing a case filed by USJF in California, all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, if necessary, on behalf of 2008 Presidential candidate Alan Keyes, calling into question Mr. Obama's status as a "natural born" citizen;
2. Funding, and assisting local attorneys and Plaintiffs, in similar lawsuits, in Ohio, Hawaii, and Mississippi, AND we're considering filing more lawsuits in other states; and
3. We have initiated a campaign demanding that your State Attorney General take action now, which I'll tell you about momentarily...

Click Here Donate & Demand Mr. Obama Show Us the Truth!

You see, when Barack Obama officially entered the office of President, he became, in essence, a "pretender to the throne." According to the Constitution, only a "natural born citizen" can occupy the presidency.

Even though he was sworn in on January 20, 2009, Barack Obama is not legally the President of the United States, unless he can prove that he is a "natural born citizen."

What's more, every action taken by him while he occupies the White House may be invalid. If he cannot legally be President, every law passed by Congress will be null and void because the Constitution clearly requires that all laws be signed by the President ... and, without a legally elected and sworn in President in office, that becomes an impossibility.

Quite frankly, this crisis must be ended! And it must be ended now!

And that's just what we're fighting to do. The United States Justice Foundation is spearheading a campaign to protect the United States Constitution ... and your liberty.

Click Here Donate & Demand Mr. Obama Show Us the Truth!

We have to press our case to stop Barack Obama from, apparently, illegally holding the Presidency, despite the ongoing threats against us. We are speaking of filing additional lawsuits and administrative actions, over and above the dozens already filed, if you will help us today.

I need your help right now in order to win this battle. We must raise the needed funds to continue our legal research, pay court costs and lawyer fees, and to contact all 50 State Attorneys General. Helping USJF with this campaign is your best shot, and, possibly your only chance, at finding out whether Barack Obama is legally holding the Presidency of our great nation, or whether he is a fraud, a usurper!

My friend, please take action immediately. Please FAX all 50 State Attorneys General and please send to me your best possible gift to help USJF stop Barack Obama from continuing his apparent theft of the Presidency!

FAX All 50 State Attorneys General To Investigate Obama's Fraud

Are you willing to see the Constitution shredded by the Left? Will you sit back and do nothing while a foreign-born person may be illegally occupying the White House as President of the United States?

We will not be intimidated. But we MUST have your help immediately if USJF is to survive this fight to the finish -- and if the U.S. Constitution is to weather this crisis intact!

Our country is on the fast track to disaster ... but you can help us keep the situation from getting worse. I pray that I'll hear from you today.


In His Name,

Gary Kreep, Executive Director
United States Justice Foundation


P.S. America has never before faced such a threat. Everything we hold dear is at risk with Barack Obama sitting as President without him releasing his actual birth certificate. Please, send in your best possible gift today!

P.P.S. And don't forget to check out our website for more information about this case and other critical issues affecting our nation.

Click Here Donate & Demand Mr. Obama Show Us the Truth!

Or Send Checks to:
United States Justice Foundation
Dept Code 2259
P.O. Box 131637
Houston, TX 77219-1637

Beck: 'Destined to Repeat ...'

Eleven minutes discussion on Liberal Fascism with four authors.

Analysis: Pirates put Obama in 21st-century bind

By ANNE GEARAN

WASHINGTON – A ragtag band of pirates has put President Barack Obama in a bind: He commands overwhelming firepower in the form of a growing flotilla of U.S. warships, but he doesn't want to use it.

Thursday's decision to turn to FBI hostage negotiators showed Obama reaching for all of his limited options in the high-seas hostage drama. Negotiators in the United States were communicating with the pirates through a Navy destroyer that shadowed the small lifeboat where four pirates held American cargo ship captain Richard Phillips.

The president wasn't saying a word about the situation in public, though he dispatched aides to reassure the nation that their government was pressing to free Phillips. ....

Obama Votes 'Present' on Pirate Crisis

Hillary: Piracy Is Funny

Obama Team Mulls Aims Of Somali Extremists

Senior Obama administration officials are debating how to address a potential terrorist threat to U.S. interests from a Somali extremist group, with some in the military advocating strikes against its training camps. But many officials maintain that uncertainty about the intentions of the al-Shabab organization dictates a more patient, nonmilitary approach. .... pirates

Pirates do it again: Ten Italians on tugboat reported hijacked - NATO

A U.S.-owned, Italian-flagged tugboat reported hijacked in the Gulf of Aden has 10 Italian citizens among its 16-member crew, according to NATO alliance officials on a warship in the region.

Al-Qaeda terror plot to bomb Easter shoppers

An al-Qaeda cell was days away from carrying out an "Easter spectacular" of co-ordinated suicide bomb attacks on shopping centres in Manchester, police believe. ....

The Navy vs. The Pirates: How the mighty have fallen

by Michael Savage

For the first time in 200 years, a U.S. merchant vessel has been taken by pirates. Now the brave American crew of this merchant vessel, the Maersk Alabama, was able to overpower the pirates and retake the ship. But in the process, the pirates escaped with the captain of the ship, Richard Phillips.

There are many questions which this incident raises. First of all, why was the crew on board this vessel not armed so they could prevent this sort of hijacking? I heard a reporter say that the ships were given water cannons to defend themselves from pirates. That’s wonderful. Maybe our merchant fleet and the U.S. Navy can start arming themselves with water cannons and water balloons in order to gently discourage our enemies from attacking us. And on top of that, some idiot ship owner whose boat was taken over last year got on Fixed News and said that these crews shouldn’t be armed. With idiots like this in positions of power, it’s no wonder that these pirates sense weakness and prey on our vessels.

A second key question here is, what are the U.S. government and the Navy doing to stop the situation? Well at this point, the Navy has sent the destroyer U.S.S. Bainbridge to “track” the boat that the pirates are holding the captain on. What has happened to what was once the most powerful navy in the world? During his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt, who talked softly but carried a big stick, sent the “Great White Fleet” of the United States on a tour around the world. He displayed American power openly so that pirates and petty dictators would fear to attack us. And now we just “track” our enemies instead of attack our enemies.

It seems that our Navy has become nothing more than an extended form of welfare so that certain groups in our country can have better access to healthcare. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

I told you months ago on The Savage Nation that the U.S. Navy was created in the early 1800’s to combat the Barbary pirates that were attacking our merchant ships from North Africa. These were Muslim pirates, just as the pirates who are attacking our vessels from Somalia are Muslim pirates. And it seems now that months after I told you these facts, the rest of the media has caught up because now I am hearing the same lines spouted by the hemorrhoid with ears on Fixed News.

But the main point is that Thomas Jefferson created our Navy to confront exactly this kind of situation. And now we seem unable to deal with basic problems that we though we had solved 200 years ago. Back then we had real statesmen who were willing to take real action. Today we have Hillary Clinton. She’s not angrily demanding the release of the captain and threatening to use the full force of the U.S. military to wipe them off the face of the earth. Instead she’s saying that we are going to partner up with other countries in order to stop the problem. We’ve gone from powering up to partnering up in one generation.

And now we hear that the FBI is assisting the U.S. Navy in securing the release of the captain from the pirates. This is not a law enforcement issue, this is a military issue. We don’t want police action, we want combat action. We need to retaliate against these Muslim pirates with full military force to let them know that they cannot do this. But instead it seems that we have an administration in place that would rather walk the plank instead of pulling rank. Let’s have some pirate music.

Critics say US should attack Somali pirates' land bases

Is it time to replace bluewater policing with tactics of Jefferson, who defeated the Barbary pirates on land?

By Arthur Bright

As the US Navy moves additional ships to the Indian Ocean to attempt to free the American captain held hostage by pirates, some are criticizing Washington's tactics and calling for strikes on the Somali pirates' land bases.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the US is sending additional naval vessels to join the USS Bainbridge, which has been in a standoff with the pirates who took an American captain hostage Wednesday. But experts say that an increased US naval presence will not solve the ongoing issue of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean, writes The Wall Street Journal.

"I actually think this naval response is not the right thing to be doing at all," said [Peter Chalk, an expert on piracy at the Rand Corp.,] of the presence of the USS Bainbridge, a guided missile destroyer which reached the Maersk Alabama early Thursday morning. "We have ratcheted up the situation."...

"Governments like the US have little choice, given the public pressure and the political pressure," Mr. Chalk said. "I don't think that the naval presence out there has anything to do with the protection of ships. It's been politicized."

Rather, argues Mr. Chalk, the US needs to target the pirates' bases in Somalia, where they have had free reign to establish camps in various port cities of the failed state. In a commentary for CNN, Tom Wilkerson of the United States Naval Institute, a nonprofit professional association, also advocates targeting the pirates' home bases, which he says is a lesson "we seem unable to learn from our own history."

In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson said "Enough" to paying 20 percent of the US national budget as tribute to Barbary pirates. His response was clear and successful – build a strong naval task force, equip it with a sizeable contingent of Marines, and send it to attack and defeat the pirates in their lair. The sailors and Marines sent on that mission did just that – and in the process wrote a stirring page in our nation's early history.

The problem today is that we have refused to take the Jefferson model. We've confined our anti-piracy efforts to the open seas and left the pirates' home bases on land as a sanctuary. Thus, the pirates continue to operate with relative freedom and stealth. We and our allies only respond, never seizing the initiative.

The Jefferson model is a better answer: Take on the pirates where they are, rather than guessing where they will be. In short, attack them at their home bases.

Roger Middleton, an expert on piracy for Chatham House, notes in The Independent that increased naval presence in the Gulf of Aden since last year has reduced the number of attacks there. However, he notes that "the navies have fallen victim to their own success."

The effectiveness of the patrols in the Gulf of Aden seem[s] to have caused the pirates to refocus their attentions on the western Indian ocean. ...

Now hijackers are threatening an area of up to two million square miles, they are much harder to locate. European, US, and other navies are still overwhelmingly concentrated off Somalia's northern shore, hours or even days journey away from the recent attacks.

Although the pickings may be slimmer and the sea more dangerous in the ocean the pirates have found an easier place to work and the western Indian Ocean may soon be as notorious as the Gulf of Aden.

While national governments decide how to resolve the Somali pirate problem, sailors are left to consider their own measures to protect their vessels. The Christian Science Monitor reports that some US maritime academies are considering adding weapons and defensive training to their curriculums. The Monitor adds that shipping companies are also reviewing new ship defenses.

In November 2005, a cruise liner, the Seabourn Spirit, used a sonic blast from a "long-range acoustic device," or LRAD, to repel pirates who were trying to board.

Shocks from an "electric fence" have also been tried, along with night-vision systems to prevent pirates from being able to get close to the vessels. Indeed, outrunning pirates is still one of the best approaches. Although pirate boats are faster, a large ship moving at 16 knots or more creates an enormous wake that makes it hard to board. Razor wire ringing the ship is another technique.

The extra security isn't cheap. Sonic deterrent equipment and operators can cost $20,000 to $30,000 per trip, according to documents on the US Maritime Administration website.

Radio Netherlands notes that some companies are considering posting security personnel to their vessels. But they add that Pottengal Mukundan, director of the piracy watchdog International Maritime Bureau, believes that such an approach could make matters worse.

"We feel that arming merchant vessels is not really the answer. Given the current legal framework in which merchant shipping operates, we may be creating more problems than trying to solve them."

There are several reasons why arming merchant vessels may not be the best option. First, the presence of armed security agents would not guarantee that fewer ships would be hijacked. Second, the pirates have rarely harmed captives and arming these ships could increase the likelihood of injuries and deaths. Furthermore, if only some ships are armed and others are not, then the armed ships may remain safe while exposing the unarmed ships to increased violence.

To The Shores Of Tripoli

Muslim foes. Kidnappings. How the Barbary Wars foreshadowed things to come.

Within days of his March 1801 inauguration as the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson ordered a naval and military expedition to North Africa, without the authorization of Congress, to put down regimes involved in slavery and piracy. The war was the first in which the U.S. flag was carried and planted overseas; it saw the baptism by fire of the U.S. Marine Corps-whose anthem boasts of action on "the shores of Tripoli"-and it prefigured later struggles with both terrorism and jihad. ....

Obama's European Tour: Arrogance, Ineptness & an Abdication of Leadership

by Frank Salvato

While the European and Middle Eastern leaders smiled and patted Mr. Obama on the back, they gave him nothing. How can this be explained? ....

Video exposes 'all whites are racist' teachings

(Compiler's note: A must read and must see.)

From WorldNetDaily

Critics say they've never found a more systematic assault on liberty

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which fights for the speech rights of students on America's college campuses, has released a video documenting a "thought control" policy at the University of Delaware.

WND reported on the issue when the university's office of residential life was caught requiring students to participant in a program that taught "all whites are racist."

School officials immediately defended the teaching, but in the face of a backlash from alumni and publicity about its work, the school decided to drop the curriculum, although some factions later suggested its revival.

The documentary by FIRE, called "Think What We Think … Or Else: Thought Control on the American Campus," explains the "though-reform program."

It is available on The FIRE's website and also has been embedded here:

FIRE reports it was in the fall of 2007 when the "Orwellian program of ideological re-education aimed at coercing students to change their thoughts, habits, and values to conform to a highly specific ideological agenda" was established.

More than 7,000 undergraduates in the Delaware dorms were required to attend training sessions, floor meetings and one-on-one sessions with resident assistants who followed the rules described in internal documents as a "treatment."

"'Think What We Think... Or Else' serves as a reminder to college and university administrators that programs like that established at the University of Delaware are flagrant violations of students' right to freedom of conscience – and that colleges with programs that emulate UD's failed effort just might end up as the subject of FIRE's next documentary," the organization said.

Foundation officials said they never had encountered a more systematic assault upon the individual liberty, dignity, privacy and autonomy of university students."

.... The mandatory "reprogramming sessions" even had the trappings of a cult, it said.

Among the teachings from the Office of Residence Life Diversity Education Training documents was:

"A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. 'The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination. ...'"

The education program also asserted that "reverse racism" is "a term created and used by white people to deny their white privilege." And "a non-racist" is called "a non-term," because, the program explains, "The term was created by whites to deny responsibility for systemic racism, to maintain an aura of innocence in the face of racial oppression, and to shift the responsibility for that oppression from whites to people of color (called 'blaming the victim')."

Obama officials working against Netanyahu?

Rallying Congress for fear Israeli PM will bypass White House ....

Geithner, Paulson named in $200 billion lawsuit

AIG-related case claims they violated shareholders constitutional rights ....

Kentucky elections officer wants eligibility investigated

An official in the office of Kentucky's elections chief has referred to state Attorney General Jack Conway for investigation the issue of Barack Obama's eligibility to be president.....

Pirates defy U.S. navy off Somalia, French free yacht

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Pirates on Friday sailed a hijacked German freighter and its crew toward a lifeboat off Somalia where an American hostage was being held in an attempt to help their comrades in a standoff with the U.S. Navy. ....

US ships block help for pirates holding US captain

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - U.S. warships are trying to stop Somali pirates from sending reinforcements to a lifeboat where an American captain is being held hostage as the high-seas standoff off Africa's eastern coast entered a fourth day Saturday. ....

Pakistan President pressured to sign Sharia deal

Pressure is mounting on Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari to sign the peace deal implementing Islamic law in North West Frontier Province's Malakand region, which encompasses the troubled Swat valley. ....

Treasury Won't Say If It Has Refused to Allow Banks to Give Back 'Bailout' Money

The Treasury Department won't reveal the names of financial firms that are seeking to return the funds they received late last year and this year under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)--funds the firms no longer want and would like to give back to the Treasury in return for the federal government surrendering the ownership interests it took in the firms. ....

More Warships Head to Scene of Hostage American Sea Captain

Pirates pose annoying distraction for Obama

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) - Ragtag teams of modern-day Blackbeards are posing an annoying distraction for Barack Obama, forcing him to add Somalia to an already long list of foreign policy challenges. ....

Pirates recapture US hostage after escape attempt

Illinois: Islam "insulted" by alleged child killer's mug shot, says husband