Pirates?!?!

Over the last 10 years or so we have started seeing increasing attacks on shipping near the horn of Africa by pirates.

“Pirates you say? But I thought pirates had long been wiped out?”

Actually, no. They’ve been around in one form or another since Blackbeard was introduced to the sharks 300 years ago. They have just been a very low level problem. That changed with the fall of the Soviet Union.

Back in the 70’s and 80’s, the USSR and the United States navies patrolled that region of the world along with other navigational choke points. Pirates back then didn’t want to get blown out of the water so they tended to avoid raiding ships on the high seas.

With the fall of the USSR, the situation changed greatly. First the number of warships at sea dropped significantly. Second the strategic value of certain regions changed. With the virtual collapse of any form of government in the Horn of Africa, along with the extreme poverty of the region, groups decided it would be easy to take speed boats out and start robbing coastal shipping.

Now, in the old days, these pirates would have been hunted down and either killed or tried and executed. Of course that was back in the days before the United Nations started sticking their corrupt hand into everything.

Last April the British Foreign Office reportedly warned the Royal Navy not to detain pirates, since this might violate their “human rights” and could even lead to claims of asylum in Britain. Turning the captives over to Somali authorities is also problematic — since they might face the head- and hand-chopping rigors of Shariah law. Similar considerations have confounded U.S. government officials in their discussions of how to confront this new problem of an old terror at sea. [1]

In the previous centuries, the nations of the world understood how to deal with pirates. Worrying about assorted body parts being chopped off was very low on the list of priorities. The only think governments concerned themselves with was whether or not they had enough rope handy.

Back in the Golden Age of Piracy [2] [3] [4], merchant ships were armed with assorted cannon and personal weapons of the day. They could fight back and perhaps escape. These days, that option is closed to merchant ships. Crews are generally small and unarmed. All they can try to do is run and try to avoid getting boarded.

The pirates, on the other hand, are fairly well armed, usually with automatic rifles, crew served machine guns and Russian made RPG 7 rocket launchers. The pirates don’t fire a shot across the bows, they rake the bridge with automatic weapons fire and blow holes in the hull with rocket launchers. Ships captains, wanting to protect their crews, heave to and then move to secured locations on the ship. The theory is they pirates will rob the ships safe and any cargo they can carry and leave.

Unfortunately, pirates are now taking the ships to a port so they can loot at leisure. This also allows them the chance to ferret out the crew and hold them for ransom.

Not content with cargo ships, pirates have also gone after cruise liners. The first one was the Seabourn Spirit on November 5, 2005. Michael Groves, a security officer aboard the Spirit was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for fighting off the attack with a “Sonic Cannon.” Mr. Groves along with  Som Bahadur Gurung were injured in the attack. [5]

More recently, Pirates attacked and captured the cruise ship Le Ponant, on April 4, 2008. A ransom apparently was paid, however some or all of the ransom may have been recovered when French army helicopters fired on and disabled the escape vehicle used by the
pirates. [6]

There have even been attempts to attack United States military ships. These attempts failed due to the presence of US Marines and their weapons. [7]

This needs to be stopped. These pirates need to be taught that raiding shipping is a losing and fatal proposition. They need to be hunted down and killed. Their supporters also need to be wiped out. The best way would be a nice public hanging and leaving the rotting corpses swinging in the breeze as a warning. This used to be the policy of the British. I see no reason why we shouldn’t return to this policy.

That is all.

Update: 11:46EST
It looks like the Indian Navy has taken our advice.

Indian Navy Destroys Pirate ‘Mother Ship’ in Battle
FoxNews.com

NEW DELHI —  An Indian naval vessel sank a suspected pirate “mother ship” Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden and chased two attack boats into the night, officials said, yet more violence in the lawless seas where brigands are becoming bolder and more violent.

Citations:
1) Pirates Exploit Confusion About International Law, By DAVID B. RIVKIN JR. and LEE A. CASEY
Wall Street Journal Online, November 19, 2008
2) The Golden Age of Piracy By Cindy Vallar
3 The Golden Age of Piracy from the Museum of Unnatural History
4) The Golden Age of Piracy from Wikipedia
5) Cruise Bruise
6) Expert Cruiser.com
7) Maritime Terrorism.com