Why haven't we learned from Thomas Jefferson, Adams, and Madison when they had enough of the Barbary pirates and sent the Marines to end the intimidation and ransoming of ships on the high seas. The only difference is, before it was Libya on the shores of Tripoli, and today it is Somalia. In both cases, it is predominantly Muslim, and the same sort of ransoming was the modus operandi. And, undoubtedly, much of the ransom or booty is being used to fund Al Qaeda.
I strongly feel that we need to fight back. We first need to rescue the more than 400 hostages to prevent them of being victimized in retaliation. We are a powerful country but we are perceived as weak due to inaction. Since this is really an international issue, we need to include the support of other democracies.
We need to arm the merchant ships, and provide them with experienced Marines if necessary. If the ship is approached by pirates, just blow them and the 'mother ship' out of the water. Perhaps they will get the message as they did in the early 1800's off the Barbary coast.
It is time to end the piracy, and end our support of Al Qaeda!
