Consider the difficulty of those three shots: The snipers were firing from a rolling ship in heavy seas, aiming at men about 100 feet away in a small boat bobbing on the waves. They had to perfectly time their shots to the rise and fall of their own ship and the rise and fall of the small boat, and they had to synchronize their shots so that all three pirates would be hit simultaneously so that no pirate could shoot Phillips in retaliation. A fourth pirate, who was engaged in negotiations over the piracy of the Maersk Alabama, is in U.S. custody.
Last week's seizure of the Maersk Alabama is merely the latest episode in an epidemic of piracy off the coast of Somalia, which has been a lawless country since the early 1990s. Merchant ships and private vessels have been held for ransoms of millions of dollars. Piracy is driving the coastal economy of the region, and trading nations, including American, European and Asian powers, seem unable to do anything about the pirates, who are welcomed in Somali ports.
Sunday's U.S. actions, along with an earlier French commando rescue of a private yacht that had been hijacked, should mark the beginning of the end of this lawless piracy. The United States, which has a handful of ships patrolling off the Somali coast, has most of its naval assets tied down supplying and supporting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the United States and other world powers must take firm, coordinated action to end the pirates' rule of the high seas. The area where the pirates operate is a huge area, described as three times the size of Texas. A handful of pirates — just four captured the Maersk Alabama — operating off of small, speedy boats can seize multi-million-dollar cargo ships.
But if the United States could win the Battle of the North Atlantic at the beginning of World War II, escorting and protecting cargo ships against a determined onslaught of German submarines, it should be able to foil a few lightly armed Somali pirates. A real concerted effort will be necessary. Convoys, like those used in World War II, might be necessary. But the United States and other naval powers have the assets to patrol the Indian Ocean/Gulf of Aden area where the pirates operate. Combat ships can deploy fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aircraft to identify the pirates' small vessels and destroy them.
Fighting pirates is a dangerous business. A young United States sent its Navy to North Africa to fight two wars (1801-1805 and 1815) against the Barbary Pirates, who were disrupting international trade 200 years ago in the same way the Somali pirates are today. The May 1975 attempt to rescue the crew of the merchant ship Mayaguez, which had been seized by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge, shows the hazards of combating piracy. Eighteen U.S. servicemen died in the attempt to retake the Mayaguez and rescue the crew, but the American crew had already been released before the rescue assault began.
Piracy can be a lucrative business when the pirates have a safe haven, as they do in Somalia. Ridding the Horn of Africa of piracy will take a coordinated effort by the international community, but failing to confront the pirates will only make matters worse.
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...it is about time. The US seems to rarely have any positive international news. Although any death is not positive, when the thugs decide to attack it is time to stand up for what is right. Thank you US Navy Seals.
Looks like Obama learned from Clinton's failure of his decision making regarding Osama bin laden. Clinton had the opportunity to take bin laden out but failed to do so. Clinton should have listened to Ollie North...instead Clinton thought al gore's joking around was more important. The World Trade Center should be 100% on the back on ex President Bill Clinton but the media will did allow this to occur.
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