A U.S. Navy destroyer helped sailors who retook control of their vessel Tuesday in a deadly battle with pirates after the North Korean-flagged ship was hijacked in the piracy-plagued waters off Somalia, the American military said.
The Navy also confirmed that other American warships sank two pirate skiffs late Sunday after answering a distress call from a hijacked Japanese chemical tanker and said U.S. ships were still monitoring that vessel.
In Tuesday's incident, a helicopter flew from the destroyer USS James E. Williams to investigate a phoned-in tip of a hijacked ship and demanded by radio that the pirates give up their weapons, the military said in a statement.
The crew of the Dai Hong Dan then overwhelmed the hijackers, leaving two pirates dead, according to preliminary reports, and five captured, the military said.
Three seriously injured crew members were taken aboard the Williams, the statement said. The captured pirates remained on the Dai Hong Dan, which the crew was returning to the port of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital.
"When we get a distress call, we help," said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the U.S. 5th Fleet, told The Associated Press by telephone from Manama, Bahrain.
Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said the incident didn't indicate the U.S. military was taking a more aggressive stance toward pirates off Somalia, but added that piracy in the Horn of Africa region is a concern because "you're talking about an area that has seen greater terrorist involvement."
Morrell said it was logical that the military would want to know "what is being transported on the high seas and who is out there operating and if they have nothing but the best intentions in mind."
A Navy spokeswoman, Lt. Jessica Gandy, said later that the American destroyer had not been shadowing the North Korean ship. She said it was not known what its cargo was.
Andrew Mwangura, program coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program, said an estimated 22 crew members were aboard the North Korea-flagged ship that gunmen seized late Monday in Somali waters. His group independently monitors piracy in the region. Workers at the Mogadishu port said the vessel had delivered a load of sugar from India.
An international watchdog reported this month that pirate attacks worldwide jumped 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007, with the biggest increases in the poorly policed waters of Somalia and Nigeria.
Reported attacks in Somali waters rose to 26, up from eight a year earlier, the London-based International Maritime Bureau said through its piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The U.S. Navy said that warships in a coalition monitoring the waters near Somalia were following the hijacked Japanese tanker Golden Nori and that four other vessels were still controlled by pirates near Somalia.
Robertson, the 5th Fleet spokesman, said coalition ships fired on and sank two pirate skiffs tied to the Golden Nori on Sunday night. A Navy photo showed one of the skiffs burning after being hit by a gun aboard the USS Porter, a guided-missile destroyer.
Robertson could not confirm CNN reports Tuesday that the Japanese tanker was filled with highly flammable benzene. But she said, "we were aware of what was on the (Golden Nori) ship when we fired."
CNN said the USS Arleigh Burke, another guided-missile destroyer, was also involved in the operation and had entered Somali waters with the approval of the government. Robertson said she could not confirm the report because the operation was continuing.
Somalia has had 16 years of violence and anarchy and is now led by a government battling to establish authority even in the capital. Its coasts are virtually unpoliced.
Piracy off Somalia increased this year after Ethiopian forces backing Somali government troops ousted an Islamic militia in December, said Mwangura at the Seafarers Assistance Program.
During the six months that the Council of Islamic Courts ruled most of southern Somalia, where Somali pirates are based, piracy abated, Mwangura said.
At one point, the Islamic group said it was sending dozens of fighters to crack down on pirates. Islamic fighters stormed a hijacked, United Arab Emirates-registered ship and recaptured it after a gunbattle in which pirates — but no crew members — were reportedly wounded.
The Somali capital has become especially unsafe in recent days, with fighting over the weekend between an Islamic militia and government forces backed by Ethiopian troops.
The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday around 36,000 people had been driven from their homes in what locals said was the worst fighting in months, adding to the tens of thousands who fled the capital earlier this year.
Somalia's president named Salim Aliyow Ibrow, a former deputy prime minister, as caretaker prime minister, a day after the outgoing premier lost a power struggle in the government and resigned.
By law, President Abdullahi Yusuf must name a permanent prime minister within 30 days of the resignation.
The new prime minister struck a conciliatory tone Tuesday, calling for an end to the country's crisis. "The time of fighting has ended, and we are in the season of reconciliation," he told The Associated Press.
Erik Prince was two hours late for the interview when he stepped into the cavernous lobby of Blackwater's headquarters. He made no apologies, gave no excuses. He'd been upstairs, behind closed doors, with his people.
Lately, a crisis seems to erupt just about every day at Blackwater. There's no telling what derailed him Thursday afternoon.
As Prince settled into an oversize chair, gunfire rat-a-tat-tatted outside and tires squealed in the rain - a typical soundtrack at the 7,000-acre training compound.
Elsewhere, it was anything but business as usual.
In California, wildfires were closing in on the canyon where Blackwater plans to expand.
In Washington, the company's name was on the lips of a congressional panel whose members were grilling Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
In Iraq, the U.S. ambassador - the top diplomat under Blackwater's care - was using the word "horrific" in connection with Sept. 16.
Was Thursday a rough day? Actually, Prince said, it was "pretty mild."
That says it all about Blackwater's new world.
Still, there are worse things than being Erik Prince. He's 38, tan, fit and wealthy. A former SEAL and an heir to a Michigan auto-parts fortune, he once lived in Virginia Beach but now resides in McLean with his wife and seven children.
Most of his time is spent up there, at Blackwater's offices near his home. He heads to Moyock at least once a week, often in the pilot's seat of the company's eight-passenger Cessna.
"Still very friendly territory," he said of the small town Blackwater has called home since 1997.
At the edge of the company's land, fresh white paint hides red handprints left on a sign by protesters earlier this month.
Demonstrations might be regular fare elsewhere, but that was a first for Moyock.
Did Prince feel violated in his refuge?
"No. That's part of their rights as Americans."
Besides, he said, the protesters were "professional activists.... They were not local folks from Moyock."
Prince does feel betrayed by others. Politicians. Lawyers. Bureaucrats.
He said his company has run nearly 17,000 missions for the State Department in Iraq and Afghanistan, and before Sept. 16 had "zero" complaints from the department about its methods.
More than that, he said: "We have successfully protected every American put in our care."
Now, he feels as if Blackwater is the "fall guy."
It has propelled him to leave the shadows. Prince was famous for avoiding the media and fiercely protecting his private life - even hiding his face from photographers with his hands.
No longer.
"If we don't defend ourselves, nobody's going to," he said.
His public initiation came at the hands of Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who summoned Prince to Washington on Oct. 2 to answer questions. Prince, a longtime Republican donor, spent four hours alternately being praised by that party and pounded by the other.
"I think they have the misperception that we have these high-level Republican ties, which we don't," he said. "I met the president twice. Iraq is a controversial war - no question. If they can go after contractors and take some of them down... it's another way to embarrass the administration."
Since the hearing, Prince has grown more comfortable in the spotlight - though it would be a stretch to say he enjoys it.
"I'd love to go quiet again," he said.
During Thursday 's interview, Prince tapped his sunglasses impatiently on his thigh, checked his cell phone constantly, balked when a photographer asked to shoot video and made a beeline for the door the moment the conversation ended.
But before he bolted, Prince spoke his mind. Love him or hate him, agree or disagree, here's what Prince had to say about:
The Oct. 2 hearing
His first thought as he entered the packed room and a barrage of cameras began clicking:
"Good God. My days as a covert operative are done."
On his testimony, which impressed most observers
"I did my homework. I did not go there to apologize. I went there to correct some gross inaccuracies about our organization.... I didn't have anything to hide. I believe we meant well in what we've done... and yeah, we've made some money along the way."
Prince said he was more nervous at his big SEAL's test 15 years ago than he was at the hearing.
"Put it this way: I had tremendous respect for the men in that room."
About reports that he pocketed his nameplate from the witness table for a souvenir: "I did."
Partisan politics
"Getting caught in the plate tectonics of the political fights in Washington is certainly more than we bargained for. We got to where we are not through politics or political connections.... So yeah, it's an unexpected downside getting caught in the middle of that rub. "I know we're there not only to be a protective screen... but maybe the fall guy when something goes wrong. That's probably what's happened to us in this case."
The Sept. 16 shootings
News stories have said that contractor reports indicate at least one Blackwater guard pointed his weapon at another to stop the shooting.
"No, I'm pretty confident that didn't happen. We actually went back there and asked the guys. They emphatically said that was not the case."
Prince said he goes to Iraq or Afghanistan four or five times a year, but he has not been since the shooting and has not personally spoken to any of the men involved.
He said photos of bullet pock marks on one of the convoy vehicles prove his men were fired upon. But how does he know those holes aren't from an earlier mission?
Life outside Blackwater
Running the company leaves little time for anything else - especially these days. Family time has been shortchanged. Rest is nabbed where and whenever.
Prince said he never turns off his phone. Bad news, such as the Sept. 16 Nisoor Square shooting, makes it ring in the middle of the night.
He does not read everything written about Blackwater - there's too much "nonsense out there."
He tries to work out regularly. He likes to hunt. But there isn't much free time. "You can imagine we have a busy house with seven little kids. I spend as much time with them as I can, and with my wife as well."
Five of his children are boys - the youngest born in March. Prince hopes one of his sons takes over Blackwater someday.
"They will all be strongly encouraged to serve in the military. That's just part of what I believe a man should do."
Prince said the pressures of his position do not keep him awake at night. "How can I sleep? Because I'm comfortable, and I know what we're doing. We're doing the right thing, so beyond that, I can't worry. I sleep the sleep of the just. I'm not feeling guilty."
"We do a pretty thorough job of documenting damage to vehicles."
Weapons smuggling
There have been reports that some of Blackwater's guns might have found their way to the PKK, a Turkish Kurd group labeled as a terrorist organization by the United States.
"I can truly say I have no knowledge of any of us smuggling any weapons that wound up in the hands of the PKK or anything like that....
"I'm sure a lot of those claims come from two former Chesapeake police officers that came to work here, that we caught in an internal audit and found out they'd been stealing some things and they were fired.... Those guys were convicted, and their sentencing is within the next two months or so. I think as part of that they've come up with some nonsense to try to lighten their sentence."
Pressure from Congress
Waxman wants Blackwater to turn over details about its government contracts, compensation paid to Iraqi families for deaths, Prince's salary, company revenues and more.
"I think we'll comply with a lot of that. Some of it is not really germane.... We're not a publicly traded company, and we're not going to assist our competitors."
Waxman also alleged that Blackwater tried to take two Iraqi aircraft out of the country in 2005. Prince scoffed at the charge. "We'll also be providing all the receipts for those aircraft or those pieces and parts. They were completely unflyable derelicts in downtown Baghdad. Again, I'm sure some anonymous source was complaining about that. It was a lot of hullabaloo about nothing."
The company's future
Is Blackwater done in Iraq? Prince said that's up to the State Department. The company's contract automatically renews in May if the department doesn't cancel it. If Blackwater leaves Baghdad, Prince said, part of him will be relieved. "It's been a source of huge controversy and hassle for us."
Prince said security work is less than half of the company's business, and in the future it will be "a lot less." He said he expects significant growth from the company's training work, aviation business and niche products - such as the Grizzly, Blackwater's new armored personnel carrier.
And the globe has plenty of other trouble spots. Prince wants to try his hand at "peacekeeping" - working in places such as Darfur, Sudan, where a civil war has killed hundreds of thousands. Prince believes his men could provide a shield that would stop the violence.
He even contacted actor George Clooney, who has traveled to Darfur and spoken out about the situation there.
"A friend of mine who knew his agent or somebody did call, basically inviting him to say, 'Hey, if you want to talk about peacekeeping opportunities and how we can make it better, we'd love to have that conversation.'
"I mean, who can watch Hotel Rwanda and not want a different outcome?"
Clooney never called back.
Why Prince doesn't just walk away
"I really enjoy the people I work with. I love the camaraderie. I - we - built this place from scratch... so I identify with it. I'm kind of like a farmer in that sense - I cleared the land and built something, and I'm extremely proud of it.
"We've done a lot of good things in 10 years.... We've done what was asked of us. "
He is thinking about changing one old habit: campaign contributions.
"I don't know that I'll have much political involvement in either party going forward."
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S. destroyer has entered Somali territorial waters in pursuit of a Japanese-owned ship loaded with benzene that was hijacked by pirates over the weekend, military officials said Monday.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke entered Somali waters with the permission of the troubled transitional government in Mogadishu, U.S. officials said. In recent years, warships have stayed outside the 12-mile limit when chasing pirates.
The ongoing operation was confirmed to CNN by two military officials familiar with the details.
Gunmen aboard two skiffs hijacked the Panamanian-flagged Golden Mori off the Socotra archipelago, near the Horn of Africa, said Andrew Mwangura, a spokesman for Kenya's Seafarers' Assistance Programme.
The Golden Mori radioed for help Sunday night. The Burke's sister ship, the USS Porter, opened fire and sank the pirate skiffs tied to its stern before the Burke took over shadowing the hijacked vessel.
When the shots were fired, it was not known the ship was filled with highly flammable benzene. U.S. military officials indicate there is a great deal of concern about the cargo because it is so sensitive.
Don't Miss
* Pirate attacks increase worldwide
Benzene, which U.S. authorities have declared a known human carcinogen, is used as a solvent and to make plastics and synthetic fabrics.
U.S. and NATO warships have been patrolling off the Horn of Africa for several years in an effort to crack down on piracy off Somalia, where a U.N.-backed transitional government is struggling to restore order after 15 years of near-anarchy.
In June, the destroyer USS Carter Hall fired warning shots in an attempt to stop a hijacked Danish cargo ship off Somalia, but the American vessel had to turn away when the pirated ship entered Somali waters.
In May, a U.S. Navy advisory warned merchant ships to stay at least 200 miles off the Somali coast. But the U.S. Maritime Administration said pirates sometimes issue false distress calls to lure ships closer to shore.
The pirates are often armed with automatic rifles and shoulder-fired rockets, according to a recent warning from the agency.
"To date, vessels that increase speed and take evasive maneuvers avoid boarding, while those that slow down are boarded, taken to the Somali coastline and released after successful ransom payment, often after protracted negotiations of as much as 11 weeks," it advised.
The agency issued a new warning to sailors in the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen, after Sunday's hijacking was reported.
Bush had a message Thursday for Southern Californians weary and frightened from five days of wildfires. "We're not going to forget you in Washington, D.C.," he declared in an eerie echo of what he once told Hurricane Katrina victims.
On a damage-survey trip haunted at every turn by the ongoing Katrina crisis, Bush saw by air and on foot the result of fires that have raced through canyons and neighborhoods since Sunday. The blazes have killed at least three people, sent hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes and burned nearly half a million acres.
"We've got a big problem out here," the president said near the end of his quick, four-hour visit. "We want the people to know there's a better day ahead - that today your life may look dismal, but tomorrow life's going to be better," Bush said. "And to the extent that the federal government can help you, we want to do so."
Said California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bush's tour guide for the day: "The only way to grasp the true magnitude is to see it for yourself and to be out there with the people whose lives have been turned upside down."
Before leaving Washington, Bush said he aimed to bring assurances of federal help, comfort for those who have lost lives, homes and possessions, and thanks to overworked firefighters.
Greeted immediately upon landing in California with the smell of smoke, the president's first views of the devastation came via helicopter. Masks and small, wet towels were distributed to the presidential entourage to help cope with smoky conditions. A white film covered the sky and, as the choppers drew closer to San Diego, Bush saw homes that had been reduced to piles of sticks.
Bush then got a closer look.
In San Diego's hard-hit community of Rancho Bernardo, Bush stepped through rubble on a street of Mediterranean-style homes, where houses that remained unscathed were interspersed with what amounted to mere shells of the American dream. He stood with Jay and Kendra Jeffcoat near where a single spiral staircase rested amid rubble that used to be their home and where their burnt-out car had melted into the scorched earth.
"Those of us who are here in government, our hearts are right here with the Jeffcoats," the president said, his arm draped around Mrs. Jeffcoat. Holding her small brown dog on a leash, she fought back tears and Bush kissed her on the head.
He shook hands at a makeshift disaster assistance center where government agencies and private companies are providing help to residents.
From there, the president's motorcade passed charred hillsides on the way north to Escondido, where he assessed that area's damage and addressed the public and about 200 tired-looking firefighters.
Restless insomniac in search for the world's Next Best Thing. I want to try all the next-best-things I encounter in my life before I kick the bucket. Don't know what I'm talking about? Me too. And in case you didn't know, I'm pro-Bush, pro-Life, and I support the Global War on Terror. I also nerd out on military aviation, missiles, and modern warfare.
P.S.
I'm not affiliated with any of the companies I review for make-up, etc. These are just my personal opinions.
