Somali Pirates: WaPo writes a yarn

Like some candy bars, this WaPo piece, A New Generation of Pirates Is Definitely Making Waves, is like a candy bar in which the good bits are surrounded by lots of fluff:

It's far too early for any Somali pirate's version of a Free Prince speech to be creditable. He's robbing us. For the time being, then, a Somali pirate is a thug and a kidnapper whose trade happens to share the same name as that of the great Bartholomew, the mad Blackbeard, the courtly Morgan, the misunderstood Kidd, the eloquent Bellamy.

But just look at pictures of the Somali pirates. Their blunt fashion is ragged pants and T-shirts. They wear bandannas to cover their faces, or sometimes just the top of their heads. They wear sunglasses.

Pirate chic? What next? Convenience store robber chic? Imagine-

But just look at pictures of the convenience store stick up men. Their blunt fashion is ragged pants and T-shirts, hoodies and ball caps or they wear bandannas to cover their faces, or sometimes just the top of their heads. They wear sunglasses.

They poke a finger in the eye of the "man" as they ply their dangerous trade...

UPDATE: gCaptain has a link to a BBC audio on pirates, some of whom are nice to their mothers, apparently.