While they are not flying the “Jolly Roger,” Somali pirates have been raiding ships along the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, stealing their cargo, ransoming crews, and attacking merchant shipping. Things have gotten so bad, merchant shipping in this region is almost grinding to a halt.Somali pirates struck again this week by seizing an Iranian cargo ship holding 30,000 tonnes of grain, as the world’s governments and navies pronounced themselves powerless against this new threat to global trade.

Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was stunned by the pirates’ reach after their capture of the supertanker Sirius Star and its $100 million cargo. Commanders from the US Fifth Fleet said that they would not intervene to retake the vessel.

That is a mistake.

The United States is engaged in a global war against terrorism. What the Somali pirates are doing is nothing different than the Corsairs of Algeirs (known more colloquially to school children everywhere as the “Barbary Pirates”). Allowing this to continue encourages lawlessness. The United States has a vested interest in freedom of the seas, freedom of navigation, and freedom of commerce in blue waters. Only the United States has the capability to basically locate, hunt down, and kill these bands of thugs roaming the seas. Only the United States has the capability to project force and ensure the safety of navigation of wide swaths of ocean.

It’s time to remind the world of that fact - as well as kill these pirates.

The Marines need to return to the “shores of Triploi” and we need to begin killing these pirates. The Fifth Fleet should be authorized by the President to protect any and all ships that decide to flag as a US ship. Further, the United States should prepare to use ground forces to attack pirate strongholds in Somalia if necessary. We should hunt down these bands of rabble who are nothing more than thugs and either compel their surrender or kill them. Pirate gunboats should be dispatched with utmost force if found harassing international shipping in international waters. The United States should first warn the pirates that it intends to use force to enforce the Freedom of the Seas treaty - and then demonstrate its will by sinking the first gunships to approach any US flagged vessles. We should expect that many merchant ships will immediately seek US protection. We should welcome convoys of shipping in this region and use our Navy to ensure freedom of the seas.

During all this nonsense of hope and change and military drawdowns, we’ve seen to forgotten that like it or not - we are the world’s policeman.

If we don’t intervene and enforce our rights, the pirates will become more brazen and they will begin to affect broader shipping in the region. The latest attack on the Iranian cargo ship shows that the theives are becomming emboldened by a lack of action by western powers. Although some in England are calling for diplomatic solutions to the problem - this is actually something we know how to do rather well - kill pirates.

History is instrumental in this case. During President Washington’s administration, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson disagreed sharply over policy toward the Corsairs. Adams strongly favored paying off the pirates, arguing that a long and protracted war would financially ruin the young nation. Jefferson vehemently disagreed, appealing not only to an American sense of honor, but also to the notion that a single, decisive war might be more cost-effective than annual bribes for perpetuity. (Sound at all familiar?)

Not surprisingly, Adams and Jefferson’s subsequent administration policies reflected these beliefs. Adams was anxious to prevent conflict, and ensured payment of all demanded tribute. Adams agreed to build and deliver two warships for the Algerian Corsairs. Frustrated during tribute negotiations with Tunis, negotiator William Eaton wrote home that, “there is but one language which can be held to these people, and this is terror.”

In May of 1801, the Corsairs declared war on the United States, figuring they could increase their annual tribute. Jefferson refused to accede to Tripoli’s demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000. The pasha of Tripoli then declared war on the United States. Although as secretary of state and vice president he had opposed developing an American navy capable of anything more than coastal defense, President Jefferson dispatched a squadron of naval vessels to the Mediterranean. As he declared in his first annual message to Congress: “To this state of general peace with which we have been blessed, one only exception exists. Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself to denounce war, on our failure to comply before a given day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer. I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean. . . .” That squadron defeated the pirates and so the war against the Barbary Pirates began.

If you’re a US Marine, you already know how this story ends… for of course in the Marine Corps anthem - the phrase - to the shores of TRIPOLI - refers to the defeat of the Barbary Pirates at the Battle of Derne.

In the end - only after the United States had demonstrated it would use military force to end piracy, did the Barbary pirates back off their extortion demands.

Similarly, the United States should once again use its military resources and kill these Somali pirates. Piracy on the high seas ended in the 1900’s and it should stay that way.

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