(SAFE AND SOUND: Captain Richard Phillips of the "'Maersk Alabama' (on right)
By TER Staff
The week long standoff between the U.S. Navy and Somali pirates came to a dramatic conclusion on Sunday when Capt. Richard Phillips of the U.S.-flagged container ship 'Maersk Alabama' was rescued by U.S. Navy SEALs in a brief and deadly firefight off the Somali coast.
The surprise military operation left three pirates dead. A fourth was detained.
Captain Phillips escaped unharmed and was taken aboard a US Navy ship, according to the Pentagon.
Alvin Glatkowski is a man the US Navy and the FBI might want to talk with before another U.S. ship is hijacked off Somalia. He has a lot of experience when it comes to high seas hijacking-hostage situations.
Glatkowski no doubt watched the news today unfold from obscurity. He is a man whose insight and past are mostly forgotten footnotes of American history.
The Somalia pirates had demanded millions in ransom while the United States demanded Captain Phillips' release, and when negotiations broke down, the U.S. Navy took military action to end the stand-off.
You say you've never heard of Alvin Glatkowski?
Don't worry, neither has Eric Holder, the current Attorney General of the United States. Holder told media this week he wasn't sure what would happen to the pirates if they were arrested and brought to justice by the U.S.
Now it seems that won't be a problem -- other than for one pirate, who had been acting as a go-between. He was arrested and is in US custody. Despite what Attorney General Holder had to say this past week, the last hijacking of a U.S. ship didn't happen "hundreds of years ago", it happened in 1970 (39 years ago) in the South China Sea during the Vietnam War.
