NYT Interview With A Somalian Pirate

In case you haven't heard, Somalian pirates have hijacked a Ukranian ship that has weapons on board and a crew of about twenty. The U.S. Navy has them surrounded. Amazingly, Jeffrey Gettleman was able to get an interview with one of the Somalian pirates. This interview is incredible. I have read it five times. The matter-of-fact tone of it seems unreal. There are no parsing of words here - just honest explanations of actions. Whether you agree with the actions or not, you have to appreciate the lack of spin. Here is a little bit:

Q. Are you going to sell the weapons to insurgents?A. No. We don’t want these weapons to go to anyone in Somalia. Somalia has suffered from many years of destruction because of all these weapons. We don’t want that suffering and chaos to continue. We are not going to offload the weapons. We just want the money.
Q. How much? A. $20 million, in cash. We don’t use any other system than cash.
Q. Will you negotiate?A. That’s deal making. Common sense says human beings can make deals.
Q. Right now, the American Navy has you surrounded. Are you scared?A. No, we’re not scared. We are prepared. We are not afraid because we know you only die once.
Q. Will you kill the hostages if attacked? A. Killing is not in our plans. We don’t want to do anything more than the hijacking.
Q. What will you do with the money?A. We will protect ourselves from hunger.