CONCHO: Okay, ceteris paribus, let’s say the pirates were there in some sort of ad hoc coast guard capacity. Being illiterate, they wouldn’t be able to distinguish a vessel carrying nuke waste from one carrying humanitarian aid.
Where the argument breaks down is once they’re aboard. At that point, no literacy is required to ascertain the difference between drums of toxic waste and foodstuffs. That they were able to make that distinction is clear, because they immediately went to Plan B, which was a simple hijacking for ransom. How do we know this for certain? Because of the facts surrounding the hijacking and subsequent US intervention.
This was no misunderstanding and these weren’t family men trying to feed their families, nor were they sailors policing their waters, trying to prevent illegal dumping. They hijacked a ship carrying food for starving Africans and were killed after refusing to release the captain of the Alabama. End of story and end of the convenient fiction as to their true intentions
