Somali Pirates: Sympathy is a tough sell . . .

A piece reporting on a book contains this look at how the pirates view themselves -

"Somalia's pirates don't see themselves as pirates. Displaying admirable public relations savvy, they call themselves "saviors of the sea" or "coast guards.""

- found at Do Somali pirates have legitimate gripe? get short shrift from some of the paper's readers in the comments section to the article. Sample comments:

"Unarmed ships are attacked and seized in international waters. Including pleasure vessels. Ransom is demanded. Sounds like piracy to me."

"OK so we'll paint "saviors of the sea" on the side of the next torpedo."

"Not many things us Americans agree on, but this could be it. Pirates of any country should be hounded, chased and killed."

It looks like that "admirable public relations savvy" faces a really tough sell in trying to make this about "truth, justice and the 'Somali pirate way.'"

I wonder where the report is on how the 400 or so hostages being held by the pirates feel about the Somali "saviors of the sea?"