By Laina Farhat-Holzman
Santa Cruz Sentinel
November 22, 2008

How many of you remember a comic strip called "Terry and the Pirates?"  It was a joy of my childhood.  But pirates are really no joking matter today because they are back, bold, and very dangerous.

In 1991, Thai pirates infested the waters between Vietnam and Indonesia, holding hostage nearly 1,000 Thai fishermen and 68 trawlers, collecting ransoms of up to $40,000 for each ship. They raped refugees fleeing Cambodia and Vietnam in small boats and robbed them of the little they had with them.  China finally decided to put an end to this and went after the pirates with ferocity. That did the trick.

Now the pirate world is centered in Somalia, a sad failed state that nobody seems to be able to fix. What were once fishermen have taken to piracy on a much greater scale than the Thai pirates. Just this week, they boarded a Saudi oil tanker and are holding its small crew and very valuable cargo for ransom. Although American, Indian, and Russian ships are patrolling the waters there now, they are reluctant to deal with a hostage situation. The pirates are growing bolder, despite one strange setback that I mentioned in a former column: the pirates boarding an Iranian ship and opening the cargo hold-with results that a number of them sickened and died. Very strange indeed.

The problem with this sort of story is getting verification. I was first tipped off by a blog site in Israel and then by a London Times story; but there were no comments by American or Israeli sources-both with reason for concern. The US is watching Iranian ships for nuclear cargo-and the particular ship in the Times story (whose picture is shown) has a record of fraudulent documents of what they carry. The Israelis have cause for concern because the ship appeared to be heading through the Suez Canal toward them-with what seems to be a radioactive cargo. Verification is tricky, but is growing.

Fox News reported that the cargo ship MV Iran Deyanat, was taken by Somali pirates last month. "As Somali pirates brazenly maintain their standoff with American warships off the coast of Africa, the cargo aboard one Iranian ship they commandeered is raising concerns that it may contain materials that can be used for chemical or biological weapons."

"The pirates were sickened because of their contact with the seized cargo, according to Hassan Osman, the Somali minister of Minerals and Oil, who met with the pirates to facilitate negotiations." (A Somali Minister of Minerals and Oil, and this in a country without a government?)

"That ship is unusual," Osman told the Long War Journal, an online news source that covers the War on Terror. "It is not carrying a normal shipment." The pirates reportedly were in talks to sell the ship back to Iran, but the deal fell through when the pirates were poisoned by the cargo, according to Andrew Mwangura, director of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program. "Yes, some of them have died," he told the Long War Journal. "Our sources say [the ship] contains chemicals, dangerous chemicals."

Iran has called the allegations a "sheer lie," and said that the ship "had no dangerous consignment on board," according to Iranian news source Press TV. Iran says the merchant vessel was shipping iron ore from a port in China to Amsterdam. Considering Iran's record of truth telling in regard to their nuclear program, it is difficult to believe that iron ore could sicken and kill pirates.

There are two other interesting sources to read about these pirates: The Vancouver Sun, October 27, 2008, confirmed this same story, writing that 16 of the pirates died after opening the hold. The Iranian ship owners (Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps) have offered $200,000 to get the ship back-but the US and Israel are offering $7 million just to examine the ship and find out what China is shipping to Iran. Which deal do you suppose the pirates would take?

Stratfor (Strategic Forecasts), November 18, a very reliable analyst of current issues, discussed the ramifications (see article here) of the Somali pirates plying oil tanker lanes with impunity. If the US fleet cannot put a stop to them, this will be a shameful demonstration of bold crooks outsmarting the world-and worse.
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Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author. 
You may contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or www.globalthink.net.