Somali Pirate Sentenced Today

[OBXTucker]

Unfortunately, they'll probably live a better lifestyle stateside and on our dime....

NORFOLK — A U.S. judge has ordered a Somali pirate leader to spend life in prison for his role in the hijacking of a yacht that left all four Americans on board dead.

Mohamud Salad Ali is the fifth of 11 men who have pleaded guilty to piracy in the case to be sentenced. He received a second life sentence he'll serve concurrently with the other one because he also pleaded guilty to hostage taking resulting in death. Ali recruited men for the expedition and served as a negotiator.

The owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death in February several days after being taken hostage several hundred miles south of Oman.

 

[Boatsb]

I think we should set them free. Lets drop them in the middle of the ocean and if they can swim 1000 miles to dry land thats OK by me.

Worst case scenario is they meet with a similar fate as their victims when the sharks come in and leave them helpless.

 

[OBXTucker]

That works for me - but only if I'm headed that way.
No sense in wasting the fuel when a bullet is cheaper....

 

[jim rosenthal]

At least it saves the expense of a trial. Interesting discussion- which is better, prison here, or freedom in Somalia? He'll live longer here, no question on that one. And on our nickel, but at least there won't be a lengthy death penalty appellate process at our expense.

 

[krush]

should've let the military guys that captured them take care of the problem....but then those guys would be court marshalled

meanwhile assassinations are going on of USA citizens unchecked (yes I know he was terrorist, but i'm very queezy about the term because it's very easy to call anybody a terrorist---then you sumarily kill?)

 

[Boatsb]

I hope he is put in G pop. problem solved real fast.

 

[rsmith]

[SUB][/SUB]

I hope he is put in G pop. problem solved real fast.

Since our prison system puts out more new muslims than the mideast he will probably be a celebrated martyr for killing rich white people.

 

[Boatsb]

[SUB][/SUB]

Since our prison system puts out more new muslims than the mideast he will probably be a celebrated martyr for killing rich white people.

You just need to put him in the right prison. Maybe Leavenworth or some other place where real Americans were locked up for defending their country.

 

[Tim Powell]

The part that kills me. I have to feed & sleep him and take care of his medical needs the rest of his life.To the tune of about 300.00 dollars a day for the rest of his life,and get nothing in return. There is somthing missing there. Tim

 

[captddis]

should've let the military guys that captured them take care of the problem....but then those guys would be court marshalled

meanwhile assassinations are going on of USA citizens unchecked (yes I know he was terrorist, but i'm very queezy about the term because it's very easy to call anybody a terrorist---then you sumarily kill?)

While I despise Obama, He did the right thing killing that POS. When someone wages jihad against the USA, they become a terrorist with no rights. Do you really want to put the Pos ON TRIAL HERE?

 

[captddis]

The part that kills me. I have to feed & sleep him and take care of his medical needs the rest of his life.To the tune of about 300.00 dollars a day for the rest of his life,and get nothing in return. There is somthing missing there. Tim

Send hime to Sheriff Joe's tent city.

 

[krush]

While I despise Obama, He did the right thing killing that POS. When someone wages jihad against the USA, they become a terrorist with no rights. Do you really want to put the Pos ON TRIAL HERE?

I get your point, and don't think it is a bad one. However, such actions create a slippery slope of "we did this to so and so, why not do it again". Real men are consistent even when it hurts. Remember John Adams defended some Brits?

 

[Passages]

While I despise Obama, He did the right thing killing that POS. When someone wages jihad against the USA, they become a terrorist with no rights. Do you really want to put the Pos ON TRIAL HERE?

On a similar note, I'm not a great fan of the Russian gov't but I do admire the way they deal with the issue of pirates.

Arrest them, search the boat, take the weapons, put the pirates back on their boat and let them go. For some reason, that boat is never heard from again.

 

[captddis]

On a similar note, I'm not a great fan of the Russian gov't but I do admire the way they deal with the issue of pirates.

Arrest them, search the boat, take the weapons, put the pirates back on their boat and let them go. For some reason, that boat is never heard from again.

Same reason I admire the Jews. The scumbags just disappear, no news coverage, no trial, no fanfare, just gone. Bye Bye terrorist!

 

[Vincentc]

There are lots of slippery slopes. That is why we have laws.

The Constitution, Article 3, Sections 2 sets it out:

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Seems to me, one should simply convene a Jury, try them, and if convicted hang them. That is the way they did it in our founders time, and it apparently worked. During WW2 American soldiers were promptly tried by courts martial for capital crimes and executed if convicted.

Should pirates or terrorists deserve better?

Without law and order, can we have liberty?

What deterrent to a Somali pirate or terrorist is life imprisonment?

If our courts do not have proper direction, where is Congress on this issue? They have the authority.

 

[Boatsb]

Congress deciding where to try a terrorist captured outside the US attacking or killing Americans? What good would that be? most of them don't understand the law. Hell most of them break it regularly. Terrorist attacks and military issues should be tried outside of our civilian court system. Giving terrorists rights that they fight against is BS. They should have been tried on the ship that captured them and disposed of in the sea somewhere hundreds of miles from land in a large chum slick.

 

[MikeP]

Agree with shooting them (pirates/terrorists) on the spot in association directly with their actions.

But once they get "into the system" it has to follow the law. Otherwise we are no different than they are. Without law we could just declare anyone/race/religion/whatever to be "undesireable" and send them to the "East" to be disposed of.

 

[Passages]

Agree with shooting them (pirates/terrorists) on the spot in association directly with their actions.

This whole topic of piracy has gotten a whole lot more personal to me since my son entered Merchant Marine Academy.

Are merchant vessels supposed to be combat ready? Don't know. But I can tell you the academy has several programs on firearm training and shipboard security.

Not sure how I feel about my son going up against AK-47's and RPG's with only an LRAD or a shotgun. If he wanted to go Navy, he's be in Anapolis.

 

[MikeP]

Actually, merchant vessels are not permitted to be armed per international maritime agreements. I was of the opinion that a couple of Browning M2s on any merchant ship would pretty much put an end to pirates but someone here a while back pointed me to the international reg re that. So it's not "legal" to arm a merchant ship; I think the exception is "in time of war" but nobody's at war with Somalia.

Of course, it's also not legal to be a pirate either...

I don't know if the law applies to personal weapons and if the personal weapon happened to be something fairly heavy...Of course, then you get into the rules of whoever owns/operates the ship.

 

[Canuck Dennis]

We are having applications being made here to our Fed Gov. to have GB and Cheney declared war criminals, seems they conducted killings under house and Senate approval whilst OB shortcircuited the court system will be interesting to see if the protesters do anything about that up here.