Punishing the Pirates

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

When you think of pirates you may think of the man with the wooden leg, an eye patch and the parrot on his shoulder. Today, in the 21st century, although pirates may dress differently than their stereotypical model, the crime of piracy on the sea is still an issue.

The U.S. House Armed Services Committee today heard testimony from Vice Admiral William Gortney, Acting Principal Director of the Office of African Affairs for the U.S. Department of Defense, Daniel Pike, Ambassador Stephen Mull, Acting under Secretary for International Security and Arms Control for the U.S. State Department and Karl Wycoff, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs for the U.S. State Department on combating piracy on the high seas.

Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo) said in his opening statement: “Recent events in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia, however, make this very much a current and important issue for American national security.”

The hearing focused on how to tackle piracy and how to best reprimand those who are caught committing this offense on the seas.

Vice Admiral Gortney told the committee that “no-one is immune”. He said that pirates generally look for a “15-minute window of opportunity,” tackling “low and slow ships by pulling up alongside them”. Gortney added that these boats are hard to detect as “they look like fishing vessels.” The committee heard that piracy crimes are generally committed in the morning and as a result, “any ship less than three feet away, particularly in the morning, is treated as a suspected pirate ship,” he said.

Vice Admiral Gortney also stated that the failure to counter piracy threats was not the result of failed training. He said that measures were being taken in order to protect ships on the seas, such as “barbed-wire, look-out post and security patrols.”

Congressman Gene Taylor (D-Missi) asked Ambassador Mull whether a ship, targeted by pirates, baring the American flag, would be treated as committing an attack against America. Mull’s response was inconclusive, and Congressman Taylor and Chairman Skelton have asked the Ambassador to submit a written statement outlining in detail, to the committee how this crime is dealt with under international and domestic law.

Piracy is an issue being tackled by all nation states and the Combined Maritime Forces have established the Maritime Security Patrol Area in the Gulf of Aden to combine a united front to tackle piracy crime at sea.

Should the Supreme Court rule in favor of post trial DNA testing?

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

The issue of post-DNA testing is not a new one and is certainly not a resolved one. Currently 44 out of 50 states permit post trial DNA testing.

Today, Georgetown University Law Center hosted a discussion that heard from legal experts and the personal experiences of those who have suffered the injustice of wrong-imprisonment and have since been released due to DNA clearance.

Martin Anderson who was exonerated in 2002, after serving 15 years in prison for rape, said: “A lot of people don’t realize it, but when you are convicted of a serious crime, your name, your family name, your whole life stop, there is nothing you can do....there is evidence to prove someone innocent but the state refused to have it tested and have it done...once the testing was done it excluded me as being the rapist of the crime in 1982, but it also proved who the real attacker was. Today he is now in prison, for the crime I have spent 20 years trying to prove my innocence for.”

The discussion centered around the Supreme Court case of the District Attorney’s Office v. William G. Osborne, which will begin trial on March 2. Osborne is appealing for a DNA test to be granted, in order to prove his innocence against rape and attempted murder charges that he was sentenced to in 1993 in the state of Alaska. Alaska, is currently one of the six states that does not allow post trial DNA evidence to be submitted. Mr. Osborne is filing his appeal for DNA testing under the civil rights act.

Also speaking at the discussion was Michele Mallin, a rape victim whose accused assailant was exonerated posthumously by DNA testing. Mallin identified who she thought was her assailant, Timothy Cole, twice. Cole died whilst serving time in prison and DNA taken from his body proved that he in fact had not raped Ms. Mallin.
Ms. Mallin thought that Cole’s conviction had been based on DNA and her statement, but later found out that the conviction had been based purely on her testimony. Ms Mallin is now campaigning to clear Cole’s name. Ms. Mallin’s real attacker is serving time in prison for two other sexually motivated attacks.

Senator Levin active concerning Armed Services

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) gave an overview of the goals of the Armed Services Committee during a news conference today. The Committee will focus on several non-budget items this year, and according to Levin the plan is still to take the troops out of Iraq within the next 16 months.

One of the items on the agenda is a move to place Afghan troops on the border and place the border patrol under the ministry of defense. Another major initiative will be to take on acquisition reform with focus on the overrun costs of 300 billion dollars, the oversights on wounded soldier legislation, and taking advantage of the lessons learned from using security contractors. According to Levin, it is time to face the reality that there have to be budget cuts.

Sen. Levin also discussed the potential for working with Russia on missile defense in order to create an alliance against Iran. He said that if Iran can see the U.S. and Russia coming together that he ”can't exaggerate the power of such an impact.”

Levin voiced concern over the amount of private sectors that are performing governmental functions. He also warned that we have to be careful to not "Americanize" the Afghan army, like we did with Iraq.

In regard to the William J. Lynn III nomination for Deputy Defense Secretary, Sen. Levin stated that additional information has been requested and he still supports the nomination. Levin said that there is a strict set of rules applied to nominees, and that Lynn is no exception.

by Suzia van Swol, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service