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Flashback: The Music the Navy Used to Scare Away Somali Pirates

By V. Saxena January 12, 2018 at 2:57pm

Let it be known here and now that Somali pirates absolutely abhor the “music” of American pop sensation Britney Spears.

They find her brand of music so unappealing, in fact, that a couple years back the British Navy reportedly began using her hit songs to scare them away from the east coast of Africa.

“Her songs were chosen by the security team because they thought the pirates would hate them most,” British naval officer Rachel Owens explained to the U.K. Metro in 2013.

“These guys can’t stand Western culture or music, making Britney’s hits perfect,” she added.

Correct. As noted by Robert Spencer in a report for Human Events way back in 2009, most Somalian pirates “are Islamic jihadists, dedicated to the same goals as Osama bin Laden and other jihadists around the world.”

They’re basically Islamic terrorists with an eyepatch, though they pursue their goals in a slightly different manner.

According to the Metro, by 2013 they had become notorious “boarding and kidnapping crews for multi-million-pound ransoms.”

But it’s what they wound up doing with the money that raised concerns.

“According to our information, the money they make from piracy and ransoms goes to support al-Shabaab activities onshore,” Andrew Mwangura, the head of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, told Reuters in an interview back in 2008.

Have you ever used a certain type of music to scare someone away?

Dovetailing back to Owens, she said, “As soon as the pirates get a blast of Britney, they move on as quickly as they can.”

“It’s so effective the ship’s security rarely needs to resort to firing guns,” she added.

Steven Jones of the Security Association for the Maritime Industry chimed in as well, saying,”Pirates will go to any lengths to avoid or try to overcome the music.” He then joked, “I’d imagine using Justin Bieber would be against the Geneva Convention.”

Apparently, the trick worked like a charm.

Last year Foreign Policy magazine revealed that “the once-notorious Somali pirates have virtually vanished,” adding that no cargo ship had been successfully attacked since 2012, a year before Britney Spears entered the picture.

First Spears rescinded an endorsement for then-Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton last year, and now we learn she helped stopped Somali pirates from obtaining the money needed to fund terrorism.

Excuse me if this sounds sexist, but you go, girl!

H/T The Guardian

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