Pirates: Dealing with an 18th-century menace

This year alone, Somali pirates operating off the Horn of Africa have attacked nearly 100 ships and taken more than 740 hostages. In a worst-case scenario, they could blow up a seized oil tanker to create what one expert called “five H

“It’s anything but a swashbuckling tale,” said the San Francisco Chronicle in an editorial. When Somali pirates hijacked the Saudi tanker Sirius Star last week, seizing more than $100 million in crude oil, the world finally started to pay attention to the international menace off the Horn of Africa. The modern brigands are frighteningly efficient, said Tom Vanden Brook in USA Today. Guided by GPS technology, “they come out of the darkness” in small, swift fiberglass boats. Using only AK-47s, grappling hooks, and rocket-propelled grenades, they can overpower the crew of a yacht, freighter, or other vessel in just 15 minutes. “Most of the time they meet no opposition, only frightened unarmed crews.” This year alone, the Somali pirates have attacked nearly 100 ships and taken more than 740 hostages. The Somali attacks are “already driving up the cost of shipping and insurance” and could get much worse. In a worst-case scenario, the pirates could blow up a seized tanker to create what one expert called “five Hiroshimas.”

So far, the world has responded to this threat mainly with “hand wringing,” said the Chicago Tribune. With more than a million square miles of ocean in the Gulf of Aden and off Africa to patrol, Western nations insist that they can’t possibly intercept the pirates before they seize vessels. They’re also paralyzed by international law, which does not authorize unilateral military action against pirate vessels. And so, hamstrung by indecision, governments are caving in to blackmail. “Ransoms paid to free the ships could reach $50 million by the end of the year.” There’s only one way the West can respond: “Sink a ship. Now there’s a language pirates can understand.”

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