Update October 18th: Not Somalis at all! Instead a mishmash of African economic migrants who turned violent when put in detention in Malta—read all about it here!
120 of them according to the news from the Associated Press:
VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — The American warship where an al-Qaida suspect was interrogated after being snatched from Libya by U.S. special forces has come to the rescue of 120 Somali migrants.
A statement Thursday from the Maltese army says it asked the USS San Antonio to intervene Wednesday because it was close to the migrants’ dinghy. The Somalis were having trouble in rough seas and high winds some 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of Malta and were taken to the Mediterranean island.
Libyan terror suspect Abu Anas al-Libi, whose real name is Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, was captured during a military raid in Libya on Oct. 5 and questioned for a week aboard the San Antonio before being transferred to the U.S. He is due to stand trial on terror charges in New York City.
The ship is very similar to the one that came to the rescue in the newly released Somali pirate movie, “Captain Phillips,” which I had not particularly wanted to see after I read reports that some of the crew of the Maersk Alabama thought the film was inaccurate. After seeing it, I do recommend the movie for a whole host of reasons I won’t go into here. But, if you read Greenfield’s ‘Hyena Cure’ yesterday (and see the movie) you may see that Greenfield is on to something.
Regular readers know that boats are launching daily carrying illegal migrants from Africa hoping to reach the promised land—Europe. Some make it, some don’t.