Pirate Crazy

(Please forgive the snarky tone of this post. There is no way to approach this nonsense seriously.)

There is certainly no shortage of ideas being put forth for dealing with the growing problem of Somali piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Since the Bainbridge incident in which an American captain was taken hostage by pirates and rescued by Navy SEALs, many commentators are no longer content with increasing naval patrols in the Gulf. Reactions varied across the ideological spectrum, but many of the proposed solutions share a common characteristic: They are extremely stupid.

Boston Herald editor Jules Crittenden is proposing the borderline-genocidal policy of destroying all ships and naval infrastructure on the Somali coast, or otherwise completely excluding Somalis from fishing in their own coastal waters. Crittenden apparently has no qualms with broadly condemning the people of Somalia to more horrific levels of starvation and death, because pirates are known to disguise themselves as Somali fishermen.

The usually-insightful military affairs blog Captain's Journal thinks public execution of all captured pirates is the answer: "Send in the Marines [...] onto the boats, shoot them with sniper fire, and kill all of the pirates. The ones who survive the ensuing fire fight are to be lined up at the rail and shot in the head, bodies dumped overboard. The whole event is to be taped and published to the world so that they will know how we deal with pirates."

Perhaps most puzzlingly, liberal writer Matthew Yglesias says that the United States must bring "some measure of stability and security to Somalia," as if such a task was rather simple. Of course Yglesias neglects to explain how this could be done without a full-scale invasion and nation-building program in Somalia.

For that matter, he fails to explain how it could be done even with an invasion. So all we have to do is bring stability to a country that has been mired in bloody chaos for 18 years? Well why didn't you say so earlier, Matt? He might as well recommend magically turning all the pirates' guns into kittens. That might actually be more practical than stabilizing Somalia. Yglesias also gets bonus stupid-points for referring longingly to the "stability" he says would have been ushered in by the murderous, deposed Islamic Courts Movement.

The origins of Somali piracy go back to shady European policies of dumping nuclear and other toxic waste in Somali waters, as well as depletion of aquatic life by European over-fishing in Somali territorial waters. This double-pronged assault on the lives and livelihood of Somali fishermen and coastal inhabitants combined disastrously with the already-chaotic and poor situation in the nation. The result is a huge number of starving, angry Somalis with nothing to lose.

Obviously, these wrongs do not justify the pirates' crimes. Nor should it be assumed that all pirates are responding to such predations -- many are plainly just thugs trying to get rich. However, knowing the relevant history is essential to finding a solution to the problem. By understanding the origins of the piracy boom we can, for example, understand why 70 percent of Somali citizens support the pirates' actions.

Since forcefully bringing prosperity and stability to Somalia would be unimaginably difficult -- requiring an investment far greater than in Iraq -- the only workable solution is an imperfect one. Naval forces from all over the world must increase their commitment to securing the Gulf, while doing all that is possible to dismantle the pirates' coastal bases and infrastructure. Commercial vessels must find ways to defend themselves. After all, most Somali pirates are little more than groups of men in modified fishing boats and dinghies with rifles and rocket launchers.

Yglesias is right about one thing: the problem of piracy will not go away until the situation in Somalia improves. Unfortunately, the United States is in no position to start another exercise in nation-building. Therefore, the world's navies and the targeted ships must step up to the challenge. These other suggestions of invasion, mass execution, or indiscriminate destruction are not only ridiculous and unhelpful, they are irresponsible.