Per a WSJ.com report (registration/subscription may be required) …

“We have attacked a ship with an American flag — we tried to throw our ladders for climbing (but) it sped and (has) gone away,” said Abdullahi Nor, who identified himself as a pirate spokesman.

So if pirates hire spokespeople, are they really pirates? Maybe I’m stuck in Hollywood/Johnny-Depp mode, but I honestly thought part of the pirate mystique was a flagrant rejection of this level of sophistication.