Friday

Combined Task Force 150

Jihadi pirates off the coast of Somalia are causing havoc on the high seas. Strange but true. Al-Qaeda is alive and well in Somalia. The group has seized dozens of ships and held them for ransom. They use speedboats equipped with rifles, grenades, scaling ladders to surround and board large ships. They operate hundreds of miles offshore, the smaller boats launching from larger "motherships."

They stand to earn 50 million dollars this year, the money going directly into the coffers of the most violent and aggressive Jihadi group in the world. Right now they are holding 14 ships and 300 crewmen for large ransoms. This kind of raiding and ransoming is very similar to how Mohammad financed early Islam (see more in the comments to this article).

But the Combined Task Force 150, an international naval force under the U.S. 5th Fleet command, has begun patrolling the area. They have already thwarted 12 pirate hijackings.

Read the whole story: Jihad on the High Seas.

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2 comments:

Citizen Warrior said...

When Mohammad's small band of Muslims were still relatively weak, they raided caravans loaded with goods and bound for Mecca, a city with an active trading industry. The Muslims, sometimes led by Mohammad, killed the people in the caravan, but if they thought they could gain a ransom for them, they took them as captives.

These captured caravans (and a good deal of ransom money) helped the early Muslims gain enough influence and recruits to establish themselves as a significant political power in the city of Medina, where Mohammad lived at that time.

The above historical facts are not slanderous twists of truth, but are mainstream Islamic history, accepted without shame by Muslims throughout the Muslim world.

Citizen Warrior said...

Countries participating in the Combined Task Force 150 are: Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other nations who have participated include Australia, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey.

The command of the task force rotates among the different participating navies, with commands usually lasting between four to six months. The task force usually comprises 14 or 15 vessels.