Enough is enough. For years, pirates from various coastal cities and towns in Somalia have been making quick forays into the Gulf of Aden to raid merchant vessels. They kidnap the crews to demand ransoms, sell the cargo, and seize and sell the smaller vessels. They have often been successful, with spineless governments and helpless companies agreeing to hand over millions of dollars.
Somali Pirates on October 8, 2008. U.S. Navy photo.
It is a multinational problem, with the United States, the European Union, Iran, France, Russia, India, and other nations sending ships to patrol the vast swathe of ocean where the pirates operate.
The United Nations Security Council has authorized other nations to patrol the Gulf of Aden, which lies between Somalia and Yemen.
Pirates have seized a Saudi oil tanker and a Ukrainian ship loaded with Russian tanks bound for Kenya.
Piracy has even caused the Chinese to send two destroyers and a supply ship to the Gulf of Aden to help defend its vital supply line to Middle Eastern oil and African raw materials. Seven Chinese vessels had been attacked and one had been captured, its crew held hostage.
What has captured everyone’s attention recently has been the raid by four pirates on an American merchant ship, the Alabama, that had been transporting humanitarian aid. Its crew had managed to capture one hijacker, who they tried to exchange for their captain, who had been taken hostage. The Americans freed their captive, the hijackers reneged.
The American captain, Richard Phillips, is still being held. He made a daring attempt to escape, diving into the ocean, but was recaptured by the pirates. They want $2 million ransom.
American officials had been negotiating with Somali elders from the city of Gara’ad, but negotiations reportedly broke down after the elders refused an offer to release the pirates into the custody of the Puntland government in exchange for the captain’s release. Puntland is a semiautonomous region in northeastern Somalia.
There are currently about 250 hostages being held by Somali pirates. This piracy clearly must stop and the United States should take a leading role.
The response thusfar has been one of restraint: the United States and other nations have merely stepped up patrols, usually with mandates not to fire on Somali pirates unless attacked. This is frustrating.
Should the United States respond as it did during the Barbary Wars of the early 1800s, when it sought to stop North African piracy by raids on the Barbary states?
In a word, yes. It is time for more aggressive multinational military action.
In an article about the lessons from the Barbary Wars, New York Times columnist Jeffrey Gettleman writes that “any effort to wipe out Somali pirate dens like Xarardheere or Eyl immediately conjures up the ghost of “Black Hawk Down,” the episode in 1993 when clan militiamen in flip-flops killed 18 American soldiers. Until America can get over that, and until the world can put Somalia together as a nation, another solution suggests itself: just steer clear — way clear, like 500 miles plus — of Somalia’s seas.”
His proposed solution–getting out of the pirates’ way–is untenable. Billions of dollars in trade are funneled through the Gulf of Aden every year. This is why unarmed merchant ships are such a tempting target. And now Americans are paying the price.
The State Department’s response has been flaccid. The Obama administration seems flummoxed. We really must show more leadership than that.
I advocate aggressive, systematic targeting of pirate vessels operating in the Gulf of Aden. Airstrikes should be conducted against clearly identifiable pirate targets. Elite units should be sent to harass and destroy pirates and to free hostages, but no land should be taken and held.
This should be done by all nations that have a stake in the free flow of trade and aid around the Horn of Africa. It might be an unprecedented opportunity to cooperate militarily with Puntland, Russia, and China on a scourge that effects each of these countries.
The goal should be to make it unsafe for pirates to operate in these waters. The United States, alone, should not attempt nationbuilding in Somalia, however. The task is too great; the cost too high. We should not station troops there or set up bases.
We should make the Gulf of Aden a very poor place for pirates to do business.
Obviously our troops could not stay in the Gulf of Aden forever. That’s why the nations involved in this endeavor should set up a permanent force, and a permanent procedure, for securing the Gulf.
Each of these nations together should devise ways to ameliorate the poverty and disorder that is the root cause of fishermen turning to piracy. This should be initiated immediately with a multinational summit on the issue.
Furthermore, merchant vessels should be authorized to be armed when operating in the Gulf of Aden. Most are now just big, helpless floating targets.
These actions, taken together, would go a long way to reducing Somali piracy.
Why am I, a Democrat, advocating military intervention when I so strongly opposed the Iraq war? Because Iraq was a canard, a unnecessary war dreamed up by a foolish, deluded administration bent on blaming Saddam Hussein for the attacks of September 11.
Because there is a place for military action in the toolkit of ways to deal with global problems. Military power should be used sparingly and multilaterally, and only when a clear objective can be achieved with a minimal loss of life.
The Somali piracy situation, in contrast to Iraq in 2003, is a real danger. It is a problem that can be dealt with firmly, decisively, and with a relatively low level of force. Enough already.
