Just like the Barbary Coast pirates who terrorized merchant ships in Thomas Jefferson’s day, modern day pirates are terrorizing vessels off the coast of Yemen. And the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence believes that al Qaeda may be involved.
A Turkish ship carrying fertilizer, which can be used to make bombs, was hijacked Tuesday by Somali pirates 1,000 miles out at sea, demonstrating the pirates’ expanding range.
A March 10 advisory issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation warned ships that they are at increased risk in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab strait between Yemen and Djibouti, and the Gulf of Aden. Due to their proximity to Middle East oil fields, these are some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. It’s obviously not in anybody’s best interest to cede control of these waters to al Qaeda.
“Although it is unclear how they would proceed, it may be similar in nature to the attacks against the USS Cole in October 2000 and the M/V Limburg in October 2002 where a small to mid-size boat laden with explosives was detonated,” the advisory warned.
Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed when the Cole was bombed in the Yemeni port of Aden during the Clinton administration. Now Hillary Clinton is secretary of state, but she seems to spend more time blaming Israel for building apartment buildings than figuring out a way to stop our enemy from choking off a vital supply route.
