Exclusive Interview: Pirate On When To Negotiate, Kill Hostages

From The Danger Room:

For his story on the economics of Somali piracy, Wired contributing editor Scott Carney spoke to one of the ocean-going hijackers. They talked about how to negotiate a ransom, when to kill a hostage and how to avoid the Navy. Here’s the uncut version of that interview:

What was your job before you start this one, or what forced you to become a pirate?

Every government in the world is off our coasts. What is left for us? Nine years ago everyone in this town was stable and earn[ed] enough income from fishing. Now there is nothing. We have no way to make a living. We had to defend ourselves. We became watchmen of our coasts and took up our duty to protect the country. Don’t call us pirates. We are protectors.

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My Comment: A chilling interview. These are murderous thugs .... but for some reason international governments want to treat them with kid gloves.