A Somali pirate asked for forgiveness from his victims and from the U.S. government in a New York courtroom today, but instead received nearly the maximum sentence allowed -- nearly 34 years in prison.
Abduwali Abdiqadir Muse pled guilty last year to being part of an armed crew that stormed the Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean in April 2009 and took its captain, Richard Phillips, hostage for five days.
But at no point do they mention that the "Somali pirate" was only 16-years-old at the time of the attack on the Maersk Alabama. Maybe I'm just a bleeding heart liberal, but if feels callously fascistic to deliberately neglect mentioning the guy's age. God forbid they would want to make their a**hole readers pause for thought before writing all those inevitable comments about "blowing him out of the water" and "hanging's too good for him."
Sorry, but picking on kids from third world countries (even those armed with AK47s pirating ships on the high seas) just looks a bit pathetic for a country of the stature we think we are.
Not saying we should pat Abduwali Abdiqadir Muse on the back and tell him to quit being naughty... just that the giant prison sentence and the glee surrounding it is nasty and subtly telling of our double standard when it comes to well-off white 16-year-old "kids" who err v. underprivileged non-white 16-year-old "kids" who err and are routinely subject to the full wrath of the law.
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I hear ya Herb, but I have little sympathy for these guys. Piracy has never been tolerated and should never be tolerated. I'm sorry this guy's life is ruined, but he made a REALLY bad decision and sometimes, a decision like that costs you your life.
ReplyDeleteI believe the US gov't should declare war on piracy. It would actually be a just and good use of our forces. React with unrestricted and total force any time a ship is taken by pirates. Piracy on any level is simply intolerable.