Much remains unclear about why the pirates who hijacked the S/V Quest killed their four American hostages on Tuesday. But a new theory is emerging: they freaked out after U.S. sailors put their negotiators in the brig of the U.S.S. Sterett.
That's a circumstance not disclosed in a briefing for reporters on Tuesday by Vice Adm. Mark Fox, commander of U.S. Naval forces in the Mideast. Fox said that the Sterett, one of the four ships that that made contact with the captured yacht this weekend, allowed two pirates aboard to negotiate the captives' freedom. That seems to be the case. Only the Sterett appears to have detained the pirates after ceasing to believe they were dealing in good faith.
According to anonymous sources speaking to the New York Times, the pirates aboard the Sterett weren't allowed to communicate back to their mates aboard the Quest. Instead, the sailors told the pirates to "send over someone they could do business with." While the pirates appeared "calm" to the sailors, the paper has a source in contact with the pirates' "associates" -- whatever that means; take it for what it's worth -- who communicated that the detention contributed to a breakdown of order on the Quest.
That led to an inter-pirate gun battle -- and, apparently, a rocket attack on the Sterett, the move that prompted a SEAL team to board the hijacked yacht. When the pirates were done fighting amongst themselves, the four American hostages were dead. The Times reports that it's unclear whether the pirates killed the hostages intentionally or accidentally during the fracas.
Again, it's hard to determine what the truth is yet, especially as anonymous sources are shaping this updated account. But the breakdown in order among the pirates is consistent with the decision of some of them to surrender even before the SEALs boarded; the erratic behavior of the pirates who weren't part of the negotiating team; and the deaths of two of the pirates aboard the Sterett that the SEALs didn't cause.
The Times piece isn't clear about why the U.S. side didn't think the pirates were serious in their negotiations. The pirates aboard the Sterett asked for a night's sleep to consider an offer by the Americans to take the Quest or even a Navy ship -- wow -- in exchange for the freedom of the hostages. Instead, the sailors detained them. The Times doesn't explain the decision there, but intimates that an FBI agent aboard the ship, trained in hostage negotiations but unfamiliar with pirates, may have screwed up.
Fox said Tuesday that his command is investigating exactly what happened aboard the Sterett. It's unclear when that inquiry will conclude, but already a crucial question is what caused the detention of the pirate negotiators.
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
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