Pirates vs. Terrorists

I am taking a course on modern terrorism as part of my Masters in History program, and we have been discussing the many different forms of "illegal," or "illegitimate" violence. Not all acts are terrorism and not all publicly violent people are terrorists, with a variety of labels like "revolutionary," "freedom fighter," "extremist," "ethnic cleansing," "genocide," etc. to define these people and their actions.

 

The question of piracy and its relation to terrorism has come up, with a distinction made between "pirates," who are criminal seagoers who attack specific targets for their cargo or value, "rovers," who are like pirates except that they attack whatever passerby happens along on the open sea, and "maritime terrorists," who are more like the terrorists who hijack airplanes.

 

I came across an article published right after 9/11 from the Washington Post that discussed the issues:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A59720-2001Oct14

Part of that that I found interesting was not about how pirates and terrorists are similar, but how our response to non-national outlaws should be:

"Congress did not actually declare war on the pirates," Turley wrote in a memo, "but 'authorized' the use of force against the regencies after our bribes and ransoms were having no effect. This may have been due to an appreciation that a declaration of war on such petty tyrants would have elevated their status. Accordingly, they were treated as pirates and, after a disgraceful period of accommodation, we hunted them down as pirates."

Because of their outlaw conduct, pirates -- and modern-day terrorists -- put themselves outside protection of the law, according to military strategy expert Dave McIntyre, a former dean at the National War College. "On the high seas if you saw a pirate, you sank the bastard," he says. "You assault pirates, you don't arrest pirates."

(Images sourced from: the telegraph.co.uk, denverco.myfox, examiner.com, and guardian.co.uk)

What's frightening is the fact that these pirates (or rovers) are based in a lawless land occupied by Islamist terrorists and militias, now have ambitions beyond the criminal, mainly financial, interests, and may be more open to fighting an ideological, political fight - making them other than pirates, and giving the terrorist organizations in the area skilled maritime fighters. Generally, terrorist organizations have not had much in the way of experience on the seas to make maritime a major threat. Will this change now?

Posted via email from Matthew Van Slyke, Getting Personal