To the Shores of Tripoli

-Do you know where that line comes from in the anthem long associated as being the theme song of the U.S. Marines? During what became known as "The First Barbary War" Stephen Decatur led U.S. ships into the harbour of Tripoli, on the north coast of Africa, to blow up the captured U.S. naval vessel [it is worth noting that the U.S. Navy was actually established in response to what was known as the Quasi War with France in 1798, peeled out of the Department of War] USS Philadelphia. The encounter led to US Marines storming the coastal city of Derna and raising the US flag for the first time on foreign soil. The Barbary Pirates sued for peace.
-The Barbary Pirates, also known as Corsairs, were pirates and privateers who operated with relative impunity from ports on the north coast of Africa, harassing major European trade flow through the Mediterranean. Descendants of the Berber tribes, from whence they got their name, they captured ships over some 300 years. Among the most famous were the Barbossa brothers (for anyone with kids who has seen Pirates of the Caribbean, these guys - synthesized into one - were transplanted to Johnny Depp's neighborhood through Hollywood's creative license). The Barbary Pirates reign of havoc peaked in the mid-1600s, as European navies were built, compelling peace forcefully on the Barbary States.
-Fast forward to yesterday's news headlines, in which 4 Americans, sailing off the eastern horn of Africa were hijacked on their boat, the Quest, and ultimately killed by Somali pirates. The 4, who had been sailing in a race in the Indian Ocean (while sailing around the world, toting bibles in a missionary program) were seized by pirates and ultimately killed after pirates had fired an rpg (rocket propelled grenade) at the US naval vessel trailing the hijacked boat. The pirates were then seized, 4 killed, and 12 taken into custody.
-Could this tragedy have been averted?
-There are currently some 600 odd "hostages" in land on the Somali coast - principals in a renewed spate of vessel hijacking going back 10 years now (a result of the anarchic situation in Somalia itself for the past 20 years - see Black Hawk Down). Civilized powers have had limited success in stemming the acts of violence and piracy by devoting a large number of naval vessels and man-hours to patrolling the transit lanes in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. That limited success is best illustrated by the 50 something reported attacks perpetrated by Somali pirates already in 2011 .
-Roaming and patrolling these waters in an attempt to snuff out all high sea crime is literally impossible. Ensuring the safety of all shipping traffic is like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack, which begs the question, why do we allow the pirates to continue to travel the seas as they do? Our navies behave like eunuchs hamstrung by sovereign courtesy which only runs one way. Somalia's first secretary to the United Nations, Omar Jamal, expressed his regret: "I do express a deep condolence to the families". Fat lot that does. He is a puppet figure for a puppet government which can no more move its limbs than those of a marionette without a handler. Mogadishu does not police itself, let alone, the 9mm people spread over some 246k square miles.
-Wouldn't it make more sense to once again engage the burning ship strategy of Stephen Decatur, though in analogy only this time? A united world under American, French, British, Chinese and Russian (etc) forces in coordination could torch the coast of Somalia, setting example for and fire to those would-be pirates. There would most certainly be sacrifice here but the continued lack of a real response only encourages these miscreants to continue their actions, risking further life and property.
-I think we have learned what appeasement results in. Pounding the table does nothing, as there is no one on the other side with the authority to listen. In this case force must meet force. It is time to resurrect the ghost of Stephen Decatur and burn the shores of Somalia, as we did on the Barbary Coast. "From the Halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli".