Author: Somali Pirates Tied To Radical Islam

By Adam Dickter

04/22/2009

The pirates menacing international shipping off the coast of Somalia are “jihadists” with ties to radical Islam, including al Qaeda,  says Joshua London, author of “Victory in Tripoli: How America’s War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation.”

London, who is co-director of government relations for the Zionist Organization of America, believes the modern-day pirates who have ransomed cargo and crew “not only use the money to improve their piratical technologies and weapons, but they also help financially support the militant Islamic Somali insurgency which has al-Qaeda ties … It must be understood that this activity is part of the Islamist terror networks and should be treated as such.”

In his book, which deals with events during the Jefferson and Madison administrations, London notes the religious nature of the Barbary piracy. “Centuries of failure and military disadvantage have shifted the institution of Muslim piracy from being primarily about al-jihad fil-bahr, or the holy war at sea, to the more rewarding notion of al-jihad bi-al-mal, or the financial holy war (raising money for Muslims and jihad warriors).”

London called on President Obama to “hunt down and destroy these pirates and the terror networks they aid and abet.”