Journalist Michael Scott Moore reflects on his harrowing, nearly three-year experience as a hostage of Somali pirates and the political and historical forces that shaped the story.
On the moment he was captured: “So we had an extra trip to the airport, which turned out to be treacherous… On the way back from the airport, on a dusty road towards the center of town, there was actually a truck that was just sitting there by the side of the road with about 12 gunmen in it. And those guys were looking for me. So they came off of the truck and opened my side of the car and pulled me out, and then beat me with their Kalashnikovs. My glasses broke. They broke my wrist and they bundled me into a waiting SUV.”
On the US hostage policy: “I think some people think that the US ‘no ransom’ policy also means that there’s some kind of a law against families paying ransoms. And there’s nothing in American tradition or law that says a family can’t pay ransom… But the government doesn’t get in the way of a private payment… I think that’s a good policy.”
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