I have old news piling up that I have been meaning to post on for weeks. Hopefully, I can get some of it posted today.
Here is a story from Australia in late November. Can you imagine the outcry if the CIA started pulling in Somali refugees in the US and asking them what they knew about piracy off the African coast? I guess things are different in Australia.
VICTORIA Police’s secret intelligence unit is investigating possible links between Somali pirates and Melbourne’s 10,000-strong Somali community.
Community members are being quizzed about their knowledge of pirate groups in Somalia and have been asked to provide any information that may assist negotiations to release some of the 250 crew members currently held hostage in that country.
It appears that the exercise was not going to get very far.
“Even if they did know any pirates, they will never tell you,” he said. “I don’t believe that one person from the Somali community will be happy about what these pirates are doing.”
One of the Somali community’s most respected leaders, Isse Musse, said that although the community did not support the pirates’ actions, it could understand them.
“Many believe the pirates are expressing their anger at the international community for abandoning Somalia to its fate for close to 20 years,” Sheik Musse said. “People here are saying, ‘Well, this is the natural outcome of such a thing’.
Of course, should have known, it’s all about being victims.