Pirate's day in court: 'The rule of law'

[jefferson_dem]

Pirate's day in court: 'The rule of law'
by Mark Silva

A captured pirate gets his first day in federal court today, but who will ahrrrrg-ue his case?

This is part of that "rule of law'' that President Barack Obama was talking about in his appearance at the CIA this week, standing before an audience of about 1,000 - many who looked remarkably young, he noted - in front of the agency's wall of honor, with 89 stars for agents fallen in the line of duty. "Our nation is stronger and more secure when we deploy the full measure of both our power and the power of our values,'' Obama told the agents "-- including the rule of law.''

If the CIA is "the tip of the spear,'' as the president also said, then the military is the shaft of that spear, and it was some of the U.S. military's finest, the Navy SEALs, who took out the three remaining pirates who were holding Richard Phillips, captain of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama, hostage in a lifeboat off the coast of Somalia and rescued Phillips. One of the pirates already had given himself up to the crew of the USS Bainbridge, a teenager no less, and this is the one who appears in court today, at the base of the American spear.

The task that the nation's military and intelligence community faces has dramatically changed since the advent of the CIA in a Cold War era., "Here in the 21st Century, we've learned that the CIA is more important than ever,'' Obama told his audience at agency headquarters in Langley, Va., at the George Bush Intelligence Center, named for the 41st president and former CIA director. "We face a wide range of unconventional challenges: stateless terrorist networks like al Qaeda, the spread of catastrophic weapons, cyber threats, failed states, rogue regimes, persistent conflict, and now we have to add to our list piracy. ''

Today, the Somali teenager arriving in federal court in New York is believed to be the first to face piracy charges in the United States in more than a century.


Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, the sole surviving Somali pirate from the foiled attack on the Alabama and hostage-taking of the ship captain, apparently faces charges under two obscure federal laws involving piracy and hostage-taking. e arrived with a chain around his waist and a dozen federal agents surrounding him.

Ron Kuby, a New York-based civil rights lawyer, says he has been in discussions about forming a legal team to represent the Somali suspect.

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