Somali pirates seized a ship carrying fertilizer from the U.S. in the Indian Ocean and a British-flagged chemical tanker in the heavily patrolled Gulf of Aden — the first merchant vessel to be hijacked in the gulf in nearly six months, officials said Tuesday.
It's clear the world won't go ashore to shoot up the land bases. The next best thing is to raise the cost of business by shooting every pirate we see. No trials. No catch and release. Nothing so dramatic as hanging them from the highest yardarm.
I know that people are afraid that killing pirates will just lead to pirates killing some of the hostages they arleady have. So perhaps we can phase this in with only nations without hostages being held get the ball rolling with shoot-to-kill rules of engagement, plus any volunteer nations with some cojones.
Just shoot and kill pirates when spotted. No prisoners. Then, pirates will learn that the price of doing business is too high. Otherwise, we just have an international armada that cost lots of money to maintain the illusion that we're doing something effective to halt piracy.
