Pirates Charged for Piracy

There are a few things strange here.

A federal grand jury in the United States has indicted 14 suspected pirates over a boat hijacking last month that ended with the four American hostages being shot dead, officials said Thursday.

"Fourteen individuals -- 13 Somalis and one from Yemen -- have been indicted in relation to the pirate attack and murder of four Americans on the Quest sailing vessel," Peter Carr, a spokesman for the US attorney's office in Virginia, told AFP.

At least three of the defendants are accused of killing the Americans, the first to die in a spate of kidnappings in recent years that has focused world attention on the pirate-infested waters off Somalia.

The Americans were killed "without provocation before the hostages could be rescued by members of the military, who had been attempting to secure the release of the hostages through negotiations with the defendants," said the indictment, dated Tuesday.

The suspects face charges of piracy, kidnapping and firearms offenses, "but not murder at this time," Carr said.

Didn't we capture 15 of 19 pirates? 2 were already dead and 2 were killed in the boarding? So why were only 14 charged?

Also, why are we having trouble charging these pirates with murder when we had a Navy ship 600 yards away that heard the shots, responded, and performed CPR on some of the Americans?

Clearly there is more to this story.