Now that the hijacking of the American cargo ship and the capture of its captain has been successfully resolved, now is perhaps a good time to revisit an article I wrote on Nov 17, 2008 about the Somali piracy situation. In it, I posited a simple, cost effective solution to this scourge. While my solution is more applicable today than it was back when I originally proposed it, my proscriptions have nevertheless been ignored, no doubt because policymakers have been too squeamish to get their hands dirty implementing the necessary measures. What they don’t realize is that sooner or later, they will have to spill blood but the sooner they do it, the less they will spill. The problem will only escalate until the pirates are finally put in their place.
Meanwhile, over at the Telegraph, noted military historian John Keegan channels the spirit of Stephen Decatur.
Over at the American Spectator site, Jeffrey Lord provides a helpful history of past presidents and how they handled ship hijackings – with widely varying results. (Hint – the ones who were tough on the hijackers were more successful.)
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