Stones

The US, along with a few like-minded allies, is the only country left with the balls to confront bad people, but that is changing. For the worst.

Do the Russians and the Chinese have balls? Sure, but when they find bad guys, they turn them to their own use (Think Iran's Mullas, North Korea).

The US simply wipes the bad guys out or politically rehabilitates them.

Look at who we've rehabilitated in just the very recent past: Anbar Sunnis, Salvadorian leftist rebels, Nicaraguan Sandinistas, Noriega's political party. These were all US "enemies" who have been restored within their own political systems. How often does that happen in the Russian, Chinese or Middle Eastern sphere?

Pirates and International Terrorists can't be Rehabilitated, Only Eliminated

Just ask the first Democratic president, Thomas Jefferson. He knew how to eliminate international threats to the US: Dispatch the US Navy to kill the bad guys. C'mon Democrats! More Jefferson, less Carter! We risk looking so weak that our enemies will become emboldened .

Why Do International Gangsters Run Free?

I don't just blame President Obama's scraping and bowing before tyrants and the international weak sisters who enable them; I blame European governments who are ashamed to fight over anything bigger than a soccer match.

If we had a strong coalition of Western powers, along with Japan and India, that unapologetically killed bad guys and broke their stuff everywhere we found them, crap like piracy and international terrorism would cease.

As it is now, bad guys pit Mommy (Europe and their UN weak sisters) against Daddy (US). Dad's got the belt, but mommy begs him not to use it, and little Johnny Jihad skips off to his next marketplace bombing.

I blame Obama, I blame snotty Europeans who criticize us while lounging under our security umbrella, I blame any nation that is ashamed to stand up for what's right. To their credit, France and India are are not putting up with this crap. The US military could squash these Somali rats if only we weren't afraid of offending the International House of Corruption and Scandal known as the UN.

The only people left who have any balls are the bad guys. Guess where this leads?

Links:
Lowry - SL Trib

Overheard at the White House...

"You what? I didn't authorize ATTACKS on the pirates! I ordered A TAX on them!"

-- Props to papa Silverfiddle

Shooting Rats in a Barrel

We should assist the country of Somalia as long as it doesn't deter us from swiftly killing any pirates foolish enough to attack our interests. And please, no more land invasions

The successful outcome of the Maersk situation (Three scumbags reunited with their father in hell, one captured, all hostages safe) is due entirely to the US military, especially the Navy SEALs.

Having said that, I do think President Obama earns at least some praise for effective use of our military. If for no other reason than if this situation had gone the other way, he sure as hell would have caught blame. God forbid we turn back the clock to Somalia 1992, where Clinton Administration policies, not military failure, led to that sickening event known colloquially as Black Hawk Down.

The fact that these sea-borne criminals are the spawn of a failed state explains their actions, but does not excuse them

According to Breitbart, Defense Secretary Gates had this to say about the root cause of Somali piracy:

"There is no purely military solution to" piracy in the region, he added.

"As long as you've got this incredible number of poor people and the risks are relatively small, there's really no way in my view to control it unless you get something on land that begins to change the equation for these kids."

I agree, as long as addressing root causes does not hinder the cause of snuffing these sewer rats every time they pop their stinking heads up. I'm all for increasing the risk side of the risk/reward equation.

John Keegan, in the Daily Telegraph, sums it up best:

So our campaign must be ruthless and pitiless: pirate ships must be sunk on sight and the crews left to swim to safety, if it can be reached.

Many would complain about such tactics but, in my opinion, pirates have no rights – indeed, it will be vital to exclude human rights lawyers from the anti-piracy campaign. To bring any captives to Europe or America for trial would probably be to grant them their dearest wish, which is to secure entry to a new life in the First World.

Armed escorts have been suggested. You can't protect them all! Cowering critics shout. No need to. Our US Navy only needs to protect US flagged carriers. The rest of the world can get Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen to sing "we are the world." We'll see how that works out for them as their insurance rates go sky high because settlement claims have become de facto Gulf of Aden toll payments for cowards too scared to fight back.

Let the UN do-gooders try to fix Somalia, and let our military continue their target practice out on the high seas.

Bloomberg
Breitbart
Daily Telegraph

Thank God For Navy Seals

The US Navy, despite our dithering government, has shown the world how its done, just like the brave crew of the Maersk Alabama showed the world how brave men stand up against criminal cockroaches.

(CNN) -- The American cargo ship captain held hostage by pirates jumped overboard Sunday from the lifeboat where he was being held, and U.S. Navy SEALs shot and killed three of his four captors, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation.

Our president, after five days of mulling and pondering, finally unleashed the power of the US Navy, then had this to say:

Obama praised the captain for his bravery and courage. The president also said the United States needs help from other countries to deal with the threat of piracy and to hold pirates accountable.

No we don't. We don't need "the world's" help, unless it is to cry and apologize when we blow these sub-human predators to hell where they belong. No, all we nee need is to unleash the awesome might of the US military and the rest will fall into place.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97H45GO1&show_article=1
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/12/somalia.pirates/index.html

Appeasement on the High Seas

So now we're back to psychoanalyzing global criminals, trying to figure out what the aim of the Somali pirates is.

Their aim is to extort money from international shipping companies. There! And I'm not even a foreign policy expert.

The White House and Foggy Bottom are also wringing their hands over what to do. Here's an easy answer: Bomb their little dhows to flinders. Send in SEAL teams to free the hostages and execute the pirates on the spot. As UltimaRatioReg says in a reader post at the USNI blog post, How to Beat the Somali Pirates,

A few YouTube videos of pirate vessels (with pirates in them) being shot to pieces or of captured pirates swinging from the gibbet would raise the risk side of the risk/reward equation significantly.

I agree. Bombing the rotting port cities by the sea that harbor these miscreants also comes to mind. This is a business for them, complete with offices, financiers, negotiators and spokesmen. Time to take the whole rotten operation out.

I know, this is easy for me to say because I have no relatives held hostage over there. But if we do this one time, and let them know we'll do the same thing again, with no potential for gaining a ransom, the kidnapping will stop because the financial gain is gone from their criminal enterprise.

We need to send a message: Touch an American flagged tanker, or an American crew member on a ship flying any flag, and we will kill you and break your stuff.

Of course, this is not nuanced enough for our enlightened government that is straining to be liked again by global tyrants and the international weak sisters who enable them.

As another poster at the UNSI blog mentioned, "John Paul Jones would not have put up with this shit." Indeed, he and President Thomas Jefferson knew how to defeat enemies on the high seas. Contrast Jefferson's strong action against the Barbary Coast Pirates with the current weak-kneed response of today. Even France is taking stronger action than we are.

The Obama administration needs to learn what Jefferson and Jones knew instinctively:
Whatever you tolerate, you get more of.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/10/AR2009041003734_2.html?hpid=topnews
http://blog.usni.org/?p=2125

Piracy (No, This Isn't About The US Financial Crisis)

Back in the old days, great nations knew how to handle piracy. Looks like that knowledge has joined the many other lessons on history's junk pile.


The US Navy is tied up elsewhere, European "powers" dither and bluster, while internationalists enumerate the legal reasons for not acting against the Somali Pirates.

Meanwhile, India shows us the way: Crush the pirates under foot like the pissants they are. And they didn't even ask for a UN resolution or consult with France first.

An Indian warship has exchanged fire with a pirate "mother vessel" off the hijacking-plagued Horn of Africa, leaving the ship ablaze, an official said Wednesday.

Indian naval spokesman Nirad Sinha said: "Given the condition we left it in, it would have sunk by now," he said.

Now if we could just end the pirate standoff in this country.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/19/somalia.pirates/?iref=mpstoryview

http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2008/11/a_surge_to_wipe_out_pirates_of.html

Confusing Headline

PIRATES STICK TO RANSOM DEMANDS, STANDOFF CONTINUES

I keep seeing this headline and thinking it's about the Wall Street mess...