Pirates

I feel sure many of you read or heard this week about the pirates off the Somali coast. The capture of the Maersk Alabama and its captain was among the top headlines recently, and I want to express my opinion about the pirates, and what we should do about them.

Send in the US Navy and blow them from the water.

Seems a bit drastic, no? Well, allow me to inform you that in the 19th century, the small and inexperienced US Navy did exactly that, off the coast of Africa. American couriers and captains, and cargo were kidnapped and held for ransom, much like the events off the coast of Somalia have done. If you are so interested, take a look at the article Lessons from the Barbary Pirate Wars, by Jeffery Gettleman. In the end, President Jefferson sent in the navy and the marines, and made it so risky for the pirates that they left American ships alone.

We should do much the same thing, I believe. Deploy a carrier group to the area, and work with other nations to get them involved in ending this threat. Last year, as you remember, the pirates took over a ship with Russian military hardware onboard, as well as attempted to take over an Indian Navy warship. This crisis involves all nations with ships going through the area, so we should make a multinational effort out of this.

I think, though, that we should stop short of some kind of military action on the ground. That is a military quagmire we just do not need to involve ourselves in. Allow the Navy to do its job and annihilate the pirates that threaten the vital shipping lanes of the world, and leave the war torn nation of Somalia free from invasion.

- Jason Dean