Posted by
Always To The Right on Saturday, April 11, 2009 3:55:15 PM
This emphasizes the need to react swiftly, using the full might of
our power, when piracy arises. In a real sense, this is asymmetrical
warfare, only with a profit motive rather than theological extremism
pushing it. If we scale down our response to the same level as theirs,
or incrementally rather than overwhelmingly higher, then we play on
their ground and not ours. If we expect to have a realistic deterrent
in our navy, then we have to allow them to unleash their full fury on
the pirates — all of the pirates — when they dare to attack American shipping, and Western shipping in general.
The pirates have not heeded our power because thus far we have shown
an unwillingness to wield it. Just as with religious-extremist
terrorists, they will feast on American targets as long as they sense
that reluctance to seriously deal with the problem.
Escalation: Pirates seize U.S.-owned tugboat, take crew hostage
Pirates challenge Obama’s pre-9/11 mentality