Not as effective as thinking of Islam as a political ideology with religious
trappings.

 

Bruce

 

 

The Dread Pirate Bin Laden
How thinking of terrorists as pirates can help win the war on terror
—By Douglas R. Burgess Jr., Legal Affairs



June 23, 2005 Issue http://www.utne.com/webwatch/2005_204/news/11685-1.html 

The United Nations has bumbled for more than 40 years in trying to come up
with a definition of terrorism, creating a legal black hole that's allowed
some nations to harbor terrorists by declaring them "freedom fighters" and
let the United States sweep up "enemy combatants" with impunity.

The definition's been elusive because terrorists are neither state-actors
nor common criminals, a "strangely hybrid status" the international
community's been unable to grasp, Douglas
<http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/July-August-2005/feature_burgess_julaug0
5.msp>  R. Burgess Jr. writes in Legal Affairs. It shouldn't be though --
it's the same legal category used for pirates for more than 100 years.

It may seem a clever, albeit unenlightening observation, but the history of
piracy and the war against it offer some helpful lessons for today's botched
legal and military efforts against terrorism. Both groups function as
extraterritorial bands of disenfranchised men who use terrifying tactics to
advance their agendas. Both have given rise to "wars" between states and
non-state actors.

Like terrorists, pirates once functioned as adjuncts for states' dirty work.
Queen Elizabeth granted "letters of marque" to pirates who terrorized the
coast of Spain, while she maintained a public appearance of appall at their
actions. But pirates proved difficult to control, and the threat they posed
to countries grew. The history "bears chilling similarity to current
state-sponsored terrorism," Burgess writes. One need only look to
Afghanistan, where the United States trained the mujahadeen against the
Soviets in the 1980s.

An international resolve to stamp out piracy was realized with the
Declaration of Paris in 1856, when piracy was deemed an illegitimate use of
state power. It was the first time international law stretched beyond the
categories of people and states and it set the stage for subsequent UN
conventions that put pirates under universal jurisdiction, meaning they can
be tried anywhere by any nation that catches them.

It's the type of international action needed now, Burgess argues. Terrorists
would be ruled enemies of all states, just as Marcus Tullius Cicero judged
pirates more than 2,000 years ago to be hostis humani generis, "enemies of
the human race." The definition, he says, would create a distinction
"between legitimate insurgency and outright terrorism" and raise the
possibility of broad international cooperation by giving the International
Criminal Court purview over the crimes. -- Hannah Lobel

  _____  

The Dread Pirate Bin Laden

 

How thinking of terrorists as pirates can help win the war on terror.

 

By Douglas R. Burgess Jr.
http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/July-August-2005/feature_burgess_julaug05
.msp


INTERNATIONAL LAW LACKS A DEFINITION FOR TERRORISM as a crime. According to
Secretary General Kofi Annan, this lack has hampered "the moral authority of
the United Nations and its strength in condemning" the scourge. 

But attempts to provide a definition have failed because of terrorists'
strangely hybrid status in the law. They are neither ordinary criminals nor
recognized state actors, so there is almost no international or domestic law
dealing with them. This gives an out to countries that harbor terrorists and
declare them "freedom fighters." It also lets the United States flout its
own constitutional safeguards by holding suspects captive indefinitely at
Guantánamo Bay. The overall situation is, in a word, anarchic. 

This chaotic state is reflected in, and caused by, the tortuous machinations
of the U.N. in defining terrorism. Over 40 years of debate have produced a
plethora of conventions proscribing acts ranging from hijacking to financing
terrorist organizations. But the U.N. remains deadlocked on what a terrorist
is. As a result, terrorists and countries like the United States pursue one
another across the globe with virtually no rules governing their actions. 

What is needed now is a framework for an international crime of terrorism.
The framework should be incorporated into the U.N. Convention on Terrorism
and should call for including the crime in domestic criminal law and perhaps
the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. This framework must
recognize the unique threat that terrorists pose to nation-states, yet not
grant them the legitimacy accorded to belligerent states. It must provide
the foundation for a law that criminalizes not only terrorist acts but
membership in a terrorist organization. It must define methods of
punishment. 

Coming up with such a framework would perhaps seem impossible, except that
one already exists. Dusty and anachronistic, perhaps, but viable all the
same. More than 2,000 years ago, Marcus Tullius Cicero defined pirates in
Roman law as hostis humani generis, "enemies of the human race." From that
day until now, pirates have held a unique status in the law as international
criminals subject to universal jurisdiction—meaning that they may be
captured wherever they are found, by any person who finds them. The ongoing
war against pirates is the only known example of state vs. nonstate conflict
until the advent of the war on terror, and its history is long and notable.
More important, there are enormous potential benefits of applying this legal
definition to contemporary terrorism. 

AT FIRST GLANCE, THE CORRELATION BETWEEN PIRACY AND TERRORISM seems a
stretch. Yet much of the basis of this skepticism can be traced to romantic
and inaccurate notions about piracy. An examination of the actual history of
the crime reveals startling, even astonishing, parallels to contemporary
international terrorism. Viewed in its proper historical context, piracy
emerges as a clear and powerful precedent. 

Piracy has flourished on the high seas for as long as maritime commerce has
existed between states. Yet its meaning as a crime has varied considerably.
The Roman definition of hostis humani generis fell into disuse by the fifth
century A.D. with the decline of the empire. But the act didn't disappear
with the definition. By 912, pirates along the coasts of Western Europe who
styled themselves as "sea-warriors," or Vikings, had terrorized Britain and
conquered Normandy. In the early Middle Ages, with no national navies to
quash them, pirates held sway over nearly every trade route in Europe. Kings
like Edward I of England then began to grant "Commissions of Reprisal" to
merchantmen, entitling them to attack both pirate ships and any other
merchant vessel flying the same country's flag as the one flown by the
pirates they had seen before. 

By the 16th century, piracy had emerged as an essential, though unsavory,
tool of statecraft. Queen Elizabeth viewed English pirates as adjuncts to
the royal navy, and regularly granted them "letters of marque" (later known
as privateering, or piracy, commissions) to harass Spanish trade. 

It was a brilliant maneuver. The mariners who received these letters, most
notably the famed explorers Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh, amassed
immense fortunes for themselves and the Crown, wreaked havoc on Spanish
fleets, and terrorized Spain's shoreside cities. Meanwhile, the queen could
preserve the vestiges of diplomatic relations, reacting with feigned horror
to revelations of the pirates' depredations. Witness, for example, the
queen's disingenuous instructions saying that if Raleigh "shall at any time
or times hereafter robbe or spoile by sea or by lance, or do any acte of
unjust or unlawful hostilities [he shall] make full restitution, and
satisfaction of all such injuries done." When Raleigh did what Elizabeth had
forbidden—namely, sack and pillage the ports of then-ally Spain—Elizabeth
knighted him. 

This precedent would be repeated time and again until the mid-19th century,
as the Western powers regularly employed pirates to wage secret wars. After
a series of draconian laws passed by George I of England effectively
banished pirates from the Atlantic, the Mediterranean corsairs emerged as
pre-eminent maritime mercenaries in the employ of any European state wishing
to harass another. This situation proved disastrous. The corsairs refused to
curtail their activities after each war's conclusion, and the states
realized that they had created an uncontrollable force. It was this
realization that led to the Declaration of Paris in 1856, signed by England,
France, Spain, and most other European nations, which abolished the use of
piracy for state purposes. Piracy became and remained beyond the pale of
legitimate state behavior. 

IF THIS CHRONOLOGY SEEMS FAMILIAR, IT SHOULD. The rise and fall of
state-sponsored piracy bears chilling similarity to current state-sponsored
terrorism. Many nations, including Libya, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and
Afghanistan, have sponsored terrorist organizations to wage war against the
United States or other Western powers. In each case, the motivations have
been virtually identical to those of Elizabeth: harass the enemy, deplete
its resources, terrify its citizens, frustrate its government, and remain
above the fray. The United States is credited with manufacturing its own
enemy by training, funding, and outfitting terrorist groups in the Middle
East, Afghanistan, and Central America during the cold war. 

But the important lesson for us is not merely that history repeats itself.
Looking at the past provides a parallel to our current dilemma but also a
solution. The Declaration of Paris is, on the one hand, a recognition of
shared guilt. On the other, it represents the first articulation since the
Roman era of piracy as a crime in and of itself. The pirate, by this
definition, exists like a malevolent satellite to the law of nations.
"Considering . . . that the uncertainty of the law and of the duties in such
a matter [as piracy] gives rise to differences of opinion between neutrals
and belligerents which may occasion serious difficulties, and even
conflicts," the declaration stated, the signing parties "have adopted the
following solemn declaration: Privateering is and remains abolished." 

Until 1856, international law recognized only two legal entities: people and
states. People were subject to the laws of their own governments; states
were subject to the laws made amongst themselves. The Declaration of Paris
created a third entity: people who lacked both the individual rights and
protections of law for citizens and the legitimacy and sovereignty of
states. This understanding of pirates as a legally distinct category of
international criminals persists to the present day, and was echoed in the
1958 and 1982 U.N. Conventions on the Law of the Sea. The latter defines the
crime of piracy as "any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of
depredation, committed for private ends." This definition of piracy as
private war for private ends may hold the crux of a new legal definition of
international terrorists. 

DANIEL DEFOE, THE GREAT CHRONICLER OF PIRACY'S GOLDEN AGE in his General
History of the Pyrates, described his subjects as stateless persons "at war
with all the world," a definition that may connect contemporary terrorism to
piracy even more than state sponsorship does. The legacy of the Elizabethan
era was a diaspora of unemployed, malcontent mariners throughout the
Atlantic colonies. By the late 17th century, they began to coalesce into
small pirate bands, seize vessels at anchorages or on the high seas, and
wage their own private wars. 

The myth of the romantic buccaneer, perpetuated by such diverse artists as
Robert Louis Stevenson and Johnny Depp, must be set aside. The pirates of
the so-called golden age, as historian Hugh Rankin described them, were "a
sorry lot of human trash." Coming from the lowest tier of the English
merchant navy, they struck indiscriminately in ferocious revenge against the
societies that they felt had condemned them. Often these disenchanted
sailors cast their piratical careers in revolutionary terms. The
18th-century English legal scholar William Blackstone defined a pirate as
someone who has "reduced himself afresh to the savage state of nature by
declaring war against all mankind," while another account tells of one
Edward Low, common seaman, who "took a small vessel, [hoisted] a Black Flag,
and declared War against all the World." Pirates gave their ships names that
reflected this dark purpose: Defiance, Vengeance, New York's Revenge, and
even New York Revenge's Revenge. 

Perhaps the most telling statement of the pirates' motives comes from a
pirate named Black Sam Bellamy. To a captured merchant captain, he boasted,
"I am a free prince, and have as much authority to make war on the whole
world as he who has a 100 sail of ships and an army of 100,000 men in the
field." 

This was more than bravado. Historian Marcus Rediker has suggested that it
indicates a new "pirate democracy" that drew its revolutionary principles
from its perceived war against civilization and cast itself as
civilization's antithesis. Some pirate bands even had constitutions. The
"pirate articles" that became commonplace in the early 18th century
purported to lay out in legal terms both the rights and obligations that
members in a pirate band enjoyed. An excerpt from articles of Captain John
Phillips, drafted in 1723, even provides a sort of liability insurance for
injured comrades. 

The corollaries between the pirates' "war against the world" and modern
terrorism are profound and disturbing. With their vengeful practices,
pirates were the first and perhaps only historical precedent for the
terrorist cell: a group of men who bound themselves in extraterritorial
enclaves, removed themselves from the protection and jurisdiction of the
nation-state, and declared war against civilization. Both pirates and
terrorists deliberately employ this extranationality as a means of pursuing
their activities. The pirates hid in the myriad shoals and islands of the
Atlantic. The terrorists hide in cells throughout the world. Both seek
through their acts to bring notice to themselves and their causes. They
share means as well—destruction of property, frustration of commerce, and
homicide. Most important, both are properly considered enemies of the rest
of the human race. 

WHILE THESE HISTORICAL PARALLELS MAY TITILLATE THE IMAGINATION, they only go
so far. Piracy and terrorism may share similar histories, but are they the
same crime under the law? How could something generally thought of as sea
robbery equal the crime committed by the people who destroyed the World
Trade Center? This apparent incongruity has prevented scholars from
recognizing the currents that run through them both. 

A crime, under the domestic law of most nations, has three elements familiar
to veterans of introductory classes in criminal law: mens rea, the mental
state during the commission of a crime; actus reus, the actions that
constitute a crime; and locus, the place where a crime occurs. If two crimes
share the same mens rea, actus reus, and locus, they are, if not identical,
comparable. While piracy and terrorism may not be the same crime, they share
enough elements to merit joint definition under international law. 

First, consider the mens rea. Terror has always been an integral part of
piracy, often used to achieve a psychological effect. Perhaps the greatest
terrorist of all time was Edward Teach, alias Blackbeard. When boarding a
prize in battle he wove sulfur fuses into his long beard and lit them,
wreathing his face in green smoke and giving himself a satanic appearance.
Pirates like Blackbeard understood that their trade was a highly dangerous
one and that the odds were rarely on their side. If the sight of a pirate
flag could strike terror into the hearts of the victim and lead to a
bloodless capitulation, pirates could avoid exposing their vulnerabilities. 

Pirates used fear as a tactic and for its own sake as well. They often
viewed their predatory activities as a means of striking blows against
civilization. Terror, in this light, became a vital part of the message they
wished to send. It was not uncommon for pirates to leave a single captured
sailor alive to pass on the story of their depredations. 

Thus the mens rea of piracy—the desire to inflict death, destruction, or
deprivation of property through violent acts accompanied by deliberate use
of terrorism—is a close cousin to the perceived mens rea of organized
terrorism. The main distinction between them is that, although pirates might
use terror as a means to an end or an end in itself, terrorists necessarily
employ it for the latter purpose. 

A similar calculus can be made for the actus reus. Piracy still refers to
sea robbery, and most piratical incidents that occur today, particularly in
the Malacca Straits in Southeast Asia and other pirate "hot spots," have
pecuniary rather than political motives. Yet piracy also includes a great
many acts that involve no actual theft at all. 

In 1922, in the aftermath of World War I, France, Italy, Japan, Britain, and
the United States pledged in the Washington Declaration to punish "as an act
of piracy" any unprovoked submarine attacks. The Spanish Civil War a decade
later produced a second and even more revolutionary treaty, the Nyon
Agreement of 1937. Signed by countries including Egypt, Greece, France,
Britain, and the Soviet Union, it extended universal jurisdiction to any
unidentified vessels or aircraft attacking merchant shipping on behalf of
the Spanish insurgents, referring to such acts as "piratical." 

President Ronald Reagan extended this politicized definition of piracy still
further during the Achille Lauro affair of 1985. Following the seizure of an
Italian cruise liner by members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and
the murder of one of its passengers (a wheelchair-bound American), Reagan
declared the terrorists "pirates" and demanded their extradition. This
melding of terrorist and piratical crimes later resulted in the creation of
a U.N. convention that introduced the term "maritime terrorism" into the
legal lexicon of piracy. Over time, then, the actus reus of piracy and
terrorism have moved closer to one another, and overlapped in incidents like
that of the Achille Lauro. 

Finally there is the locus. It seems axiomatic that piracy must occur at
sea, but that assumption is false. Legal scholars have long recognized two
secondary forms of piracy, one ancient, one quite modern. The first is
termed "descent by sea." In the old days, this meant sending jolly boats
ashore and sacking a town, as Captain Henry Morgan did throughout the
Spanish colonies at Portobello, Maracaibo, and Panama City in the late 17th
century. 

The second form, far more recent, is aerial piracy, commonly known as
hijacking. The linkage of piracy and hijacking under the law is made
explicit in numerous sources, including the Tokyo, Hague, and Montreal
conventions on hijacking, the latter of which extended the definition of
piratical acts to those committed "by the crew and passengers of a private
ship or a private aircraft . . . against another ship or aircraft or against
persons or property on board." Even in the infancy of aerial flight, jurists
recognized the potential linkages between piracy in the air and piracy at
sea. The Harvard Draft Convention on Piracy of 1932 stated, "The pirate of
tradition attacked on or from the sea. Certainly today, however, one should
not deem the possibility of similar attacks in or from the air as too slight
or too remote for consideration. . . ." 

Suppose an airplane is hijacked en route and sent hurtling into a coastal
city, causing great loss of life and destruction of property. Under both the
U.N. hijacking and piracy conventions, it is certainly an act of aerial
piracy. Yet it is also a descent by sea under the broadest understanding of
the term. The pirates seize the vessel and use it to attack a shoreside
target, descending upon their target from the air. 

This piratical understanding of locus lends itself to the attacks of
September 11, of course, but also to many other cases. It could be extended
to include any terrorist acts committed after the terrorist has landed in a
foreign nation, provided that he arrives with the intention to commit
them—meaning that there's great similarity in mens rea, actus reus, and
locus between piracy and terrorism. 

TO UNDERSTAND THE POTENTIAL OF DEFINING TERRORISM as a species of piracy,
consider the words of the 16th-century jurist Alberico Gentili's De jure
belli: "Pirates are common enemies, and they are attacked with impunity by
all, because they are without the pale of the law. They are scorners of the
law of nations; hence they find no protection in that law." Gentili, and
many people who came after him, recognized piracy as a threat, not merely to
the state but to the idea of statehood itself. All states were equally
obligated to stamp out this menace, whether or not they had been a victim of
piracy. This was codified explicitly in the 1856 Declaration of Paris, and
it has been reiterated as a guiding principle of piracy law ever since.
Ironically, it is the very effectiveness of this criminalization that has
marginalized piracy and made it seem an arcane and almost romantic offense.
Pirates no longer terrorize the seas because a concerted effort among the
European states in the 19th century almost eradicated them. It is just such
a concerted effort that all states must now undertake against terrorists,
until the crime of terrorism becomes as remote and obsolete as piracy. 

But we are still very far from such recognition for the present war on
terror. President Bush and others persist in depicting this new form of
state vs. nonstate warfare in traditional terms, as with the president's
declaration of June 2, 2004, that "like the Second World War, our present
conflict began with a ruthless surprise attack on the United States." He
went on: "We will not forget that treachery and we will accept nothing less
than victory over the enemy." What constitutes ultimate victory against an
enemy that lacks territorial boundaries and governmental structures, in a
war without fields of battle or codes of conduct? We can't capture the
enemy's capital and hoist our flag in triumph. The possibility of perpetual
embattlement looms before us. 

If the war on terror becomes akin to war against the pirates, however, the
situation would change. First, the crime of terrorism would be defined and
proscribed internationally, and terrorists would be properly understood as
enemies of all states. This legal status carries significant advantages,
chief among them the possibility of universal jurisdiction. Terrorists, as
hostis humani generis, could be captured wherever they were found, by anyone
who found them. Pirates are currently the only form of criminals subject to
this special jurisdiction. 

Second, this definition would deter states from harboring terrorists on the
grounds that they are "freedom fighters" by providing an objective
distinction in law between legitimate insurgency and outright terrorism.
This same objective definition could, conversely, also deter states from
cracking down on political dissidents as "terrorists," as both Russia and
China have done against their dissidents. 

Recall the U.N. definition of piracy as acts of "depredation [committed] for
private ends." Just as international piracy is viewed as transcending
domestic criminal law, so too must the crime of international terrorism be
defined as distinct from domestic homicide or, alternately, revolutionary
activities. If a group directs its attacks on military or civilian targets
within its own state, it may still fall within domestic criminal law. Yet
once it directs those attacks on property or civilians belonging to another
state, it exceeds both domestic law and the traditional right of
self-determination, and becomes akin to a pirate band. 

Third, and perhaps most important, nations that now balk at assisting the
United States in the war on terror might have fewer reservations if
terrorism were defined as an international crime that could be prosecuted
before the International Criminal Court. 

For now, these possibilities remain distant. But there are immediate
benefits to pointing out that terrorism has a precedent in piracy. In the
short term, it is a tool to cut the Gordian knot of definition that has
hampered antiterrorist legislation for 40 years. In the long term, and far
more important, it provides the parameters by which to understand this
current and intense conflict and the means within which it may one day be
resolved. That resolution will begin with the recognition among nations that
terrorism is a threat to all states and to all persons, the same recognition
given to piracy in 1856. Terrorists, like pirates, must be given their
proper status in law: hostis humani generis, enemies of the human race. 

Douglas R. Burgess Jr. is the author of Seize the Trident: The Race for
Superliner Supremacy and How It Altered the Great War, published this year
by McGraw-Hill.

  _____  

  

The Washington Times

 <http://www.washingtontimes.com/> www.washingtontimes.com

  _____  


 <http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20030706-104801-9949r.htm> Piracy,
terrorism threats overlap


By Adam Young and Mark J. Valencia
SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published July 7, 2003
http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20030706-104801-9
949r

  _____  


    HONOLULU -- Images of walking the plank aside, piracy has made a
spectacular comeback in recent years. Reported incidents have increased
dramatically around the world, approaching nearly 400 annually. 
    Worldwide there were 103 attacks on ships in the first quarter of 2003,
according to the International Maritime Bureau. In some cases, though, in
the charged political atmosphere, the mass media and governments have
blurred the line between piracy and acts of terrorism. 
    Such acts can appear similar, but it is important to understand that
piracy and terrorism have different causes, objectives and tactics. 
    A good example is the March attack on several chemical tankers in the
Strait of Malacca region by assailants with automatic weapons. Some of the
ships were sprayed with bullets, while others were boarded silently. A New
York Times article attributed the attacks to "terrorists." But it was later
revealed that the attackers were apparently after only equipment and other
valuables. In other words, they were pirates, albeit unusually bold and
violent ones. 
    The precise definition of piracy and terrorism has been problematic for
national and international policy-makers alike. The United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea defines piracy as violence on the high
seas, i.e., beyond any state's 12-nautical-mile territorial waters. 
    The problem with this definition when applied to Southeast Asia is that
most sea robberies occur within the 12-mile limit. Thus such incidents are
not legally considered piracy and there is therefore no international
agreement regarding most "maritime violence" or "sea robbery." Arrest and
prosecution are solely dependent on the country in whose jurisdiction the
crime occurs. 
    Uncertain or unresolved maritime boundaries in Southeast Asia further
complicate the question of jurisdiction. Moreover, Southeast Asian countries
jealously guard their sovereignty over territorial waters and deny
cross-boundary "hot pursuit." 
    Maritime piracy encompasses a wide spectrum of criminal behavior,
ranging from in-port pilferage and hit-and-run attacks to temporary seizure,
long-term seizure and permanent theft of a ship. 
    Terrorism is also a complicated concept. The working definition of
maritime terrorism is that of political piracy: "... any illegal act
directed against ships, their passengers, cargo or crew, or against sea
ports with the intent of directly or indirectly influencing a government or
group of individuals." 
    Terrorism is distinct from piracy in a straightforward manner. Piracy is
a crime motivated by greed, and thus predicated on immediate financial gain.
Terrorism is motivated by political goals beyond the immediate act of
attacking or hijacking a maritime target. The motivating factor for
terrorists is generally political ideology stemming from perceived
injustices, both historical and contemporary. 
    Piracy and terrorism do overlap in several ways, particularly in the
tactics of ship seizures and hijackings. And some of the circumstances that
allow piracy and terrorism to flourish are similar, such as poverty,
political instability, permeable international boundaries and ineffective
enforcement. 
    Terrorists, though, want to call attention to their cause and inflict as
much harm and damage as possible. Pirates want to avoid attention and will
inflict only as much harm as is necessary to accomplish their objectives. 
    While the tactics of combating maritime terrorism and piracy may be
similar, long-term solutions may require different approaches. 
    Ship hijackings by terrorists are a serious threat, but there has yet to
be such a case in Southeast Asia. 
    Because of the overlap in operational similarities, short-term
countermeasures such as enhanced patrols, coordination and ship defense will
be useful in countering piracy and terrorism. But long-term solutions aimed
at completely eliminating piracy and terrorism may have to be fitted to the
particular problem. 
    Local enforcement is generally insufficient, although Malaysia has
increased its effectiveness in recent years. Coordinated air surveillance
and pursuit would be an important adjunct, but most Southeast Asian nations
-- and particularly Indonesia -- cannot afford the number of aircraft
necessary to patrol their vast coastal region. 
    As a solution, the United States and other maritime powers are pressing
countries to ratify the 1988 Suppression of Unlawful Acts Convention.
Although the convention was developed in large part to combat terrorism, it
is also being promoted as an antipiracy measure. 
    The SUA Convention would extend the rights of maritime forces to pursue
terrorists, pirates and maritime criminals into foreign territorial waters.
But some Southeast Asian countries are concerned that this provision could
compromise national sovereignty. So far, only maritime powers such as the
United States, Canada, major European countries, Australia, China and Japan
have signed the convention. 
    However, if piracy and terrorism are fused into a general threat,
developing countries may find outside help easier to accept and sell to the
public. So it may be in the interest of maritime powers to conflate piracy
and terrorism to help persuade reluctant developing countries to let
maritime powers pursue pirates and terrorists in their territorial and
archipelagic waters. 
    But it is important to take a longer-term view and attempt to address
the root of these problems. Allowing minorities more political "space" could
address the terrorism problem. And poverty alleviation could diminish the
incentive for much, but not all, piracy. 
    For the recalcitrants -- organized gangs and die-hard independence
fighters -- international assistance in developing indigenous patrols in
Southeast Asian nations would enhance regional security and minimize the
sensitive presence of foreign naval vessels. 
    •Adam Young is a degree fellow and Mark J. Valencia is a senior fellow
at the East-West Center in Honolulu. 
    
Copyright © 2005 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

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