This rant was sparked by my friends blog.
Pirates have been around forever, and are technically modern day water terrorist. They just lack such a label because Pirate is sexier for the news.
The reason they are so annoying is they don’t go away, and they use international/national waters to protect themselves. Do bad things in international waters, and hide out in national waters. The local nations are pretty poor and cannot get ride of them. Plus there is always the possibilities of kick backs from pirate booty.
Another advantage Pirates have is local knowledge of water ways. Pirates have been active in these regions for some time because they know where to hide. Even if the a US ship can see everything from a satellite other factors like sea conditions may deter an attempt to search every nook and cranny. It’s also next to impossible to police the open sea.
Why doesn’t the US military do their thing? The military is not an all encompassing kick ass machine. It has limits, and those limits are being met. Fighting in the Middle East is coming up on a decade. This is a volunteer military force. Those two factors alone account for any lack of military effort.
Fighting costs money. How much more money will the tax payer fork over to get rid of some pirates?
Africa is also traditionally ignored by the US who tends to deal more with Europe, Asia, and South America for armed conflicts.
How to curb the pirate threat?
Train and arm any crew sailing in those water. Pressure other countries not involved in the Middle East Conflict to patrol the pirate waters. (Let someone else police the world for once.) Develop the local African nations so they have no desire to work with outlaws.
The last idea is very close to preventing young people from joining gangs. Don’t give them a reason to become outlaws and they won’t. Most people just want to eat, live, and be happy. Not be poor and die of disease or starvation.
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