American Morning
Somali women flocking to port in hope of marrying pirates
Pirates are holding a U.S. captain hostage at sea. The Navy is watching everything that happens. So what is supposed to happen next? And what is driving this problem? We talked to someone who knows a thing or two about the pirates and has experience covering them in Somalia. Kaj Larsen, former U.S. Navy SEAL, spoke to T.J. Holmes on CNN’s American Morning Thursday.
Larsen says the root conditions of poverty, lawlessness and civil war on the ground in Somalia are to blame. The large sums of ransom money being paid out to pirates, he says, is even leading some Somali women to venture to the port town of Bosaso in hopes of marrying these newly-rich men.
T.J. Holmes: We know that piracy pays. What is it that's going to break this cycle if every time they take a ship, they get paid. Why stop it?
Kaj Larsen: That's the 50 or $100 million question, which is about the money that the pirates took in last year in ransom. The solution unfortunately is not going to be a military-centric one. Ultimately, you to have to find some way to govern this ungoverned space, this lawless sanctuary that the pirates have in Somalia. That's really the only long-term solution you’re going to see to this problem.
Holmes: Let's start with the military solution. Why not send a message?
Larsen: Certainly there would be some deterrent effect. I think in this case, the incentives are so large. The money that they’re making is so extraordinary, especially by Somalia standards, that it would be difficult. However, in this particular situation, the goal is to solve it as quickly and as safely as possible without putting the hostage in jeopardy.
Holmes: There are hopeless, deplorable conditions in Somalia. A life of piracy looks pretty good for some of these young men compared to the conditions in Somalia.
Larsen: You couldn't have said it better, T.J. I’ve been on the ground in Somalia. One of the interesting demographic things that’s happening right now is that single Somali women are flocking to the port town Bosaso where these pirates come out of in the hopes of marrying a pirate. So you can see that it really is - the root conditions of poverty, lawlessness and civil war on the ground in Somalia are really what are breeding this problem.
Holmes: Is it worth the risk for these companies to continue to go through the Gulf of Aden? Does it cost much to take another route? Is it worth it to take the chance, pay the ransom, and keep moving?
Larsen: So far, that's been the model. As these attacks increase, we've seen six in the last week alone, the cost of doing business in that area is just going to be too high. The insurance companies are going to jack up the rates of insurance. And at some point, they're not going to be able to continue without taking much more serious security measures or without finding an alternative route.
Holmes: Do you think this situation will begin to draw more attention to what's happening there off the Horn of Africa and maybe more action will begin to be taken by countries all over the world?
Larsen: I think this is a clarion call to the international community that Somalia is and continues to be a failed state. And that if we don't continue to pay attention to it, if we don't start changing the conditions on the ground there, if we don't start governing that ungoverned space that it’s going to be a breeding ground for piracy and possibly international terrorism. So yes, I would hope that this situation, that the silver lining in the cloud is that people would start paying attention to this horrific situation in the country there.
Call our amFIX hotline and sound off: 1-877-MY-AMFIX. We'll play some of your comments tomorrow on American Morning, 6-9am ET.
About this Show
Welcome to the American Morning blog where you can get daily news updates from American Morning's reporters and producers. Join us for "the most news in the morning," weekdays from 6-9 a.m. ET, only on CNN.
On Twitter
To those who say arming the crew is the answer: It's not that simple. Training civilians to fight effectively and cooperatively without harming each other or damaging their own ship, and to overcome the human instinct against killing, is not a trivial undertaking. Also, what happens when a certain percentage of the crew decides they'd rather not risk their lives to save their company a few million in ransom?
This is real life, not an action movie.
Sure, some hijackings would be prevented. Others would not be. The only thing for certain is a whole lot more people would die.
As larsen said "So you can see that it really is — the root conditions of poverty, lawlessness and civil war on the ground in Somalia are really what are breeding this problem." None of those things are OUR problem. What is OUR problem is that they are taking OUR people hostage and putting OUR peoples lives at risk and all you guys seem to care about is changing the conditions on the ground there. Um yeah no how about you protect OUR people first before you start just handing out free food. Free food hand outs to countries do not work, they do not change the conditions and in the end you just end up with useless Christian camps over there claiming their helping countries in need when they are just spreading the propoganda of the christian faith. Fight back and stop being a bunch of liberals about everything.
most of these responses are so ignorant, that you can tell
they were posted by americans..
The solution to the "pirate" issue is simple. Arm and train the merchant marines and civilian sailors. As a Navy veteran, I can tell you there is considerable time to set up defense when hostile craft approach. A couple of .50 cal and an RPG or two along with side arms can repel the attack. Bottom line.... continue to sail into dangerous waters without defense, negotiating with hijackers and paying ransoms will only perpetute the attacks. I simply can't understand why shipping lines continue to send their ships into peril without a realistic defense strategy. I hope the sailors get hazardous duty pay!
We can see a pack of cigarettes from a satellite in the sky but we can't find pirates? Come on! Send a small fleet of Navy Destroyers or subs and start blasting. America is already the laughing stock of the world because we can't win a war anymore unless we drag it out for 20 years. And now we are going to have a people that is so poor they can't even buy a weapon take us hostage! Please – would you like me to run this country for a week? I'll take care of this problem...
If anyone had read the article you would have read they couldn't keep weapons on board because the fumes from the oil they were carrying was so strong if they fired a gun it would ignite the oil and blow up the ship.
Personally, I like Ian R.'s idea. We need to send them a message that they can't get away with it anymore. Again, violence is not always the answer but I think with this problem it is the only answer.
Why not use 3 sharpshooters firing at the same time to take out the 3 pirates and free the captain DAH
Yo ho Yo Ho A pirates lifes for me!
Give war a chance.
ARRRRGGGGG!! There's much booty to be had!!! AAAARRRRGGGG!!!
Any commercial vehicle carrying arms or armed people is subject to Somalia's arms trafficking laws. The crew can actually be imprisoned. It's okay for the pirates, though, 'cause the weapons weren't trafficked in. They were already there.
Outfit a merchant ship with arms and SEALs to act as a decoy, similar to those German Raiders in WWII. Then go trolling for pirates......
Heres my problem. Every time a company pays the ransom do they not understand what they are funding, nor advocating?
We know Al-Qaeda has roots in that region, how much is the guess this money is filtering into efforts to kill people abroad though these groups?
Time to make a stand. The longer we sit and watch only the worse and possibly more tragic events will take place. Level them. You cannot work with uneducated evil. This will cont to breed and as the money keeps coming in so do the better weapons, equipment, and greed.
Ahoy, me thought this story was great but I'm afraid you'll catch on t' my job and steal my gold Aye, me parrot concurs.
The proper response is to arm merchant ships with military assault rifles of whatever type and train selected crew members in their use. Once ther pirates see water geysers from bullet impacts walking towards them, they will lose interest and shear away.
I was in the Navy, and discussed this with another ex-sailor at the train station this morning. The ships should turn towards the pirates, reducing their profile, increase speed, and bear down on them.
If they pull within close enough range to engage the pirates, they should try to hole the hull, and leave the boat in a sinking position. Make sure it sinks, and leave the survivors in the water to the sun and the sharks. When they stop returning to port, their friends will get the message soon enough.
Here's a simple non-lethal solution. The army has a "ray Gun" that makes the water underneath the skin boil to 130 degrees instantly. Put that on a ship and boil a pirate into submission.
The answer is simple: Kill the pirates.
They decided their life was forfeit as soon as they decided to take something forcefully that did not belong to them.
Self Defense is a human right.
I always wonder where the United Nations are in cases such as this in Somalia.
Wow. I have to say I'm appalled at some of these other comments. So these poor people live in an ungoverned society that's pretty much abandoned them to their own devices and thus they obviously turn to a life of crime, so the best solution is just to start killing them off? These are human beings, too, you know. They haven't been overly violent in taking these ships – the crews are released unharmed in most cases. Treating them like animals will only cause them to arm more and become more violent themselves and make the US and the other affected countries look like huge bullies who refuse to use any other option besides wanton violence to solve their problems. The cost thus far has only been in dollars, why would you want to add human lives to it? Where the hell is your compassion?
During WWII merchant ships were armed with deck guns to thwart off German U-Boats. Why, as some have said above, is it so hard to place a contingent of guards with a couple .50 cal's and plenty of ammo on these ships?? That would solve everything. Money talks, and i'm sure there are PLENTY of inactive Marines willing to do it, if the price is right.
No, no, no. The "root causes" of piracy are not poverty and governmental instability. The root cause is that there are bad bastards who will do evil things to get what they want. And a perfectly acceptable solution to that root cause is to make the eager wives of these pirates into their widows.
Everyone suggesting violent reactions by crew are missing the point, if your a freight sailor, your not a militant, chances are you have little or no miliatry training.
What you are facing is a guerilla force that operates on the open seas.
Advantage Pirates.
One solution is for private security companies to offer chaperone services, and handle the violence with trained paid ex-military. Paid for by the shippers hiring the services. Their ability and resources would be far superior to the gurilla forces, and after one or two pirate ships being sunk, the word would be out that if there are two ships traveling together than one is a protector.
Sure this is an expensive solution, but its cheaper than the alternative. With proper communication and planning between shipping companies, one security ship could serve a convoy of ships from multiple companies even. The expense could be split and problems solved on all levels.
"Every Pirate needs a vwench,"?- May be in hell!
Captain Somalian Softfoot here. I just would like to say that with my new found riches I was able to purchase this here computer to post in ye article. Me mates and I have been terrorizing the high seas here for quite some time, and while the money is easy, all those lonely nights at sea is tough.
its nice to have a throng of women come to the beach when we return to shore. The men become restless all those nights out at sea.
The US won't do anything, not because we lack the means, but because we lack the will. We've got more money than stones, and the pirates are taking both. This humiliation can easily end whenever we decide to grow a pair and end it. I'm going out to get my USN tattoo removed and buy a dress.
Coming from current Naval Officer, to monitor that much water is virtually impossible without shifting significant resources(ships/planes.etc) which can be done for only for a short duration. Bigger problem is prosecuting the pirates once caught. Somalia has no standing court system. Kenya lets us prosecute some but have to bascially catch them in the act. Short term solution is stopping pirates, long term solution is removing appeal/need for piracy. A big reason a lot of Somali's are had to shift away from fishing is due to fact no one was enforcing their fishing exclusion zone.
This is the perfect situation for the United Nations to show its potential. The situation affects many nations, and can be solved best with collective effort
Let's send those women back a bunch of dead pirates to marry.
Argggghhh.
Grab their eye patch and pluck their parrot.
Pirates are still around? And we didnt see them coming??
I find it totally ridiculous that in a day and age such as this, this lunacy is going on. Raid Somalia, round these bastards up, put their asses on a freighter and blow it up at sea. End of discussion. And yes, I'm Black. Wrong is wrong. And this is definitely wrong.
Get an Old frighter and put mercenary's on it and kill them as the try to come aboard. Then go troll somplace else for some more to kill.
Duh. We ARE the United States.......we can't take care of Blackbeard the Pirate? Are we afraid of his parrot? C'mon, wake up....arm those merchant vessels, you idiots.
I am agash that there is no technical way by all the US agencies doing info gathering business to be able to track the mother ships of these low life and then dispatch a warship to take it off. You tell me a dingny can take a cargo ship 350 miles off coast, get the f... mother ship off water and none of these will happen far off the coast. The reason this is happening is that there is no real motivation by the one able to do it to do so, it doesn;t hurt back home, so we will pretends to care by disapatching a handful of ship to patrol over millions, yes millions of square miles of oceans, a joke, and then we obey by the rules of the sea against a group who simply don;t, come on. We do not want to really deal with this til it hits our backyard, point.
Why not send decoy ships? Have them look like the unarmed ships but have commandos aboard who will take care of the pirates when they try to board. In the present situation with a ship's captain held hostage in a lifeboat: send in some Seals to rescue him.
I agree with you guys – here's my question? I realize that large military ships can't protect the entire area – BUT, I think these AL guys were chased for hours. Why can't we zip off a helicopter or airplane from a navy ship once they receive a distress call to blow the pirates out of the water – quick & effective!
Let's send some ninja over to deal with the pirates.
If not, then I'd like to see all of our worlds naval assistance in the area move in on somalias ports, start searching and controlling. I don't know if the Somali gov would give us a thumbs up or not but who cares.
This is why our founding fathers gave us the second amendment. The merchant ships have the right to defend themselves and their cargo. They have the right to not go out and be sitting ducks! Arm the crew and Train them on how to defend themselves and when to use deadly force. Mount a few 50 calibers to the ships and give pirates fair warning of the concequences if they get too close. Send a strong message, "DON'T TREAD ON ME." Paying ransom will only reward the existing behavior.
I like the way these people in the comment section think. They understand that the number of pirates skyrockets when they are paid by the people who they stole from and live like kings. Death has a way of taking the incentive out of the recruiting process. Sure the piracy problem won't disappear if we meet force with force, but it sure will keep the number and boldness of the pirates down within manageable ranges. And then maybe we can try some futile nation building exercise with the help of the defunct UN, you know just to keep the hippies happy.
Yeah, they live in a hell-hole, but they made it themselves.
There are too manky ways to solve this> the problem is we have a stupid government in place now. How about back in the 1800's the same thing was true. Exactly , muslums pirates, we sent in the marines and cleaned it up. It was then called Tripoli, from the halls of Tripoli. Do it again, history repeats itself, it worked once. SEND IN THE MARINES. Not with chicken Obama in charge, we are to arrogant,. Another Presidental waste.
When I think pirate, I think ARRRGH
It the UN worth pirating? NAH!
Maybe we should give the Somali pirates some stimulus money and hope they go away. Everyone else is getting it why not somali pirates?
In a CBC news report yesterday, the Somalis were described as angry fisherman whose livelihoods were destroyed by foreigners fishing in their waters. There is no Somali government to defend its territory. Also many nations are dumping their toxic wastes on Somali shores. The locals have responded by taxing all those nations involved in the only way they could. So, it is a tricky situation to resolve.
Idiots, talk about desperate housewives.
That is a lot of money in Africa. Wow!
Some of these ransoms they're paying is ridiculous. $3 million. For MUCH LESS that you can hire a few well trained private soldiers to patrol these boats & defend them. It would also be telling the crew that you care about their lives. That's what I would do.
The only way to handle pirates is the tried and true traditional method used succesfully for hundreds of years.
Find the pirate base, destroy it, and sink every boat in the vicinity. After that monitor the area for new boats which you continue to sink until none are left and the price of piracy has become to high for those who have chosen piracy as a career option.
Sadly we are in the situation we are in becuase of two factors: (a) lawyers who want to practice law with pirates who could not care less about the law and (b) the press which will immediately jump on any nation or military when they use the iron fist to solve the problem.
This problem will very much continue until someone decides to go medieval and solve the problem! Pirate cannot operate for long without a fixed base and that is there achiles heel.
isn't this problem over a year old? why don't the US Europe and Russia have over 50 destroyers and smaller patrol boats in that shipping lane? What about a small carrier with helicoptors
the US needs a Constitutional amendment to ban the marriage of pirates and wenches
The answer to this problem is simple. The west should stop selling arms to those rogue nations so that the war on the ground will stop in all those countries.
Hypocrisy will not help. Unless there is arms sale embargo to those failed states- Somalia, Eriteria, Ethiopia, and even militants in Nigeria, nothing can be achieved- PERIOD.
You don't send food aid with one hand and sell arms and amunition with the other hand and expect peace.
IT IS MY HUMBLE THEORY THAT SOME OF THE "SERVICE" MEN IN EACH OF THOSE HIJACKED SHIPS ARE WORKING TOGETHER WITH THE PIRATES. IT IS VERY SUSPICIOUS THEY ATTACK THE SHIPS WHERE THE CREW IS UNARMED. .. HERE IT COMES MY QUESTION: HOW COME, AFTER ALL THESE HIJACKING AND AFTER KNOWING THESE WATERS ARE FULL OF PIRATES, THERE ARE STILL SHIPS WHICH DO NOT HAVE ARMED CREWS? SOMETHING IS FISHY IN FISHLAND.
I wonder why every comment that mentions killing them has spelling errors?
Yarrrr.... It's a good time to be a pirate. Plenty of booty and plenty of booty.
It appears that 4 people on a small boat with automatic weapons have taken over a ship with 20 crewmen on it. Would it not be cheaper to put armed guards on these vessels then to keep paying ransom to these pirates?
Its really very simple AND cheap. Arm the merchant ships. Arm them to the teeth! Im talking a few five inch deck guns, maybe a few shoulder fired missiles, AKs and or M16s, and side arms. There is NO reason what so ever to have merchant ships on the open seas, unarmed and open to attack. You sure as heck wouldnt catch me on the open sea unarmed!
Arming huge merchant ships with the gear I have spoke of will quickly render the pirate operations unfeasible. A lightly armed merchant ship would make mincemeat of Somali's in their jon boats!
Everyone seems to think these pirates value their own lives. The point of the article is that conditions are so bad in Somalia that risking your life is a small price to pay for the potential reward. The way to stop the piracy is two-fold. Work to improve conditions in Somalia, and make the consequences of piracy worse than the alternative. Right now, the alternative is die on the ground with no hope, or die at sea with the possibility of getting rich. Which would you take in that situation?
the international world UN mainly are run by a bunch of pussies. Everyone is scared of hurting someones feelings no matter how much they steal from you.
Easy fix, arm the boats traveling through the area. I'm not sure why this is so difficult a concept for people to comprehend. If all the sailors had guns, the pirates would stop hijacking them because they would die. Its like waving food infront of a starving person and saying "please don't take the food, if you do we will pay you more money than you could ever imagine, but please don't take it."
Majority of Somalians are poor, uneducated, and morally ignorant due to the conditions of the country's lack of leadership. The people's souls are lost. What do you think will happen? The Somalian president is probably related to a pirate. I love Ian R's solution. nice.
They aren't killing people, so it is kind of hard to justify taking them out with snipers. (But it isn't out of the question. They are carrying AK-47s) The area needs an armed internationally accepted escort service, immune to Somalia's "arms trafficking" BS laws to keep a safe corridor.
The pirates reneged on their exchange agreement. Why you anyone expect them to even honor some sort of pirate code, or even have honor or morals?
If this were a Russian ship, I'm sure that Putin would have blown up the boat WITH the captain by now.
4 snipers and 4 headshots would send a good message to not mess with the U.S.
We'll just need to wait this out.
How is "Women flock to port to marry pirates" not a great t-shirt candidate?
Give the pirates access to the TARP like everybody else. Taxpayers can foot the bill.
I think most of these comments shows how little the public understands the problem.
Risk of death is not a deterrent when you're living in somalia, the conditions in somalia are so bad that the risk vs. reward of piracy is too great. Even if they die while trying to hijack a ship.
You have to fix the underlying proverty / lawlesness of somalia and then the risk of dying while doing piracy will seem too great.
The simple short term solution is a military escorted convoy system until the the long term solution resolving the political inistability in the country and living conditions improve substantially.
I agree with Ian R !!!!!!!!!!!
The problem is that you can't necessarily arm vessels that travel into the ports of foreign countries. Think about this... would you want a Russian or Chinese container ship that had RPGs, Flamethrowers, or any weapons pulling into San Fransisco bay or Boston harbor? I'm pretty sure there are plenty of international laws that prevent just this sort of occurance. So arming the container ships isn't a viable solution. The idea of convoys with military escorts would be far more workable.
I have to agree. Kill them all. They are going to keep doing this sort of thing until something stops them. We have such a wide array of technology now that it should be easy to keep a very close eye on them. If people don't want to kill them, threaten them. Do something. We can't just let this sort of thing keep happening.
And honestly, I find it very sad that women are flocking to these ports to possibly marry one of these creeps. It's terrible that the country is in such shape that the women are like that. We still need to do something. We're losing more money by just letting them pirate us. Bullets are cheaper.
I agree with Michael. Put one trained person on board with a machine gun, etc. Blast them out of the water.
RPG's on board, I like it. If the airline industry can justify the pilots carrying pistols, certainly the maritime time people should be justified in carrying heavy duty weapons for protection.
...arrrrgh....
Somali Piracy will continue until the pirates and their town are utterly destroyed or Somali is bribed into normalcy. Either solution is only temporary now that Piracy has entered Somali culture. The history of the Barbary Pirates is quite relevant here.
You all overlook the obvious, just stop paying.
The incentive is money, take it away. In the short run they hold the boat and crew hostage longer, and maybe they even notch it up a level and kill some hostages. Stand firm, dont pay. Eventually they will stop.
Lets just give the pirates a huge amount of cash (around the same amount as the AIG bailout), so that the United States can keep looking stupid.. Pirate solution..? Follow them back to their hometown, and later, drop a few bombs on them and see how many more ships they hijack in the future. If we can have airline pilots with handguns on our world wide planes, then we sure the heck can have ships armed also for protection against these pirates (who from the videos, look like some are only teenagers).
They should have just used uTorrent.
We've already dealt with this problem. Thomas Jefferson sent the US Marines to the Barbary Coast. That's why the Marine Hymn says "to the shores of Tripoli." What ever happened to "don't mess with the U.S."? I guess a "modern, Eurpoean Nation" like the United States just negotiates with terrorists.
Yes, Michael. That wouls send a very appropriate message. don't come within oone hundred miles of an American Vessed!
You, sir, are an idiot. That's just what we need, RPG's on civilian ships with one lone person responsible for using it.
Why not just erase Somalia from the map with a Nuke! Problem solved. Anyone else wants a piece of the action nuke them too!
Are you people crazy? Jackie?
April 9th, 2009 12:37 pm ET
"Until ALL the countries whose ships have been attacked make some concerted effort to stop this piracy, it will continue. And until the world community of nations makes it clear that piracy will not be condoned, it will grow.
An interesting fact was that the American ship did not have any type of weapons on board for them to use to protect themselves. I agree that violence isn’t the long-term answer, but why are we allowing our own people to go into danger zones with no way to defend themselves? Where are the NRA protests? Where are the military ships we have patrolling there? Could they not do like was done in WW2 and form convoys of ships, guarded by military ships?"
Do you realize how expensive and stupid that is?
We're not facing a pack of German U-boats. We're facing young men who have found a way out of their crappy and meaningless lives.
I say this, why not send Marines and the Navy to clean up the problem. Heck, it worked in the Barbary Wars when Thomas Jefferson was president...
It is unreal that we are not fighting back against these pirates. It doesn't make a bit of sense. There is no excuse to let this keep happening. In the old days, ships fought back. It is almost surreal that we now once again have pirates but we are too politically correct to shoot them. Just let them have the booty. Disgusting.
This is almost ridiculous. Here we are in the United States debating on national TV how to get these attacks to stop. It does not take rocket science to figure this out! Use the technology that we have, share if we have too with out countries, and blast these boats to Timbucktoo (Which in reality isn't all that far, LoL!). Why are debating this? Why aren't we using weapons that can clearly take care of these pirates? This is just insane. Don't use this area to ship goods through and if it's needed, use weapons to get these thugs away from the boats. Don't waste time or money debating this, seriously!
Simply include them in the new immigration bill and make them US citizens. Then they can collect unemployment, social security, free lunch programs, and maybe even free health care. Not to worry. The Chinese will be happy to lend us money to pay for it all.
The question is: who is going to pay for the extra cost associated with it; the burden is going to be the shipping company customers and then, they will push it to the consumers like you and me!!! If so, then, how do we reduce and share the cost... ??!!!
'...shores of Tripoli..." Ring a bell? Every current and former U.S. Marine could tell you that if it weren't for the valor of young Lt. Pressly O'Bannon that they'd still be taking our ships off Libya's coast.
I agree with Richard, give them fair warning that they are in danger of being shot at and if they don't leave the area just use artillery. I know most of these ships don't carry weapons, but in these times it may be necessary to equip all vessels privately owned with them.
What ever happened to not negotiating with terrorists? If they are getting paid 50 to 100 million a year in ransom, why can't we nip it in the bud? Giving them what they want will only make them come back, possibly even in higher numbers. I agree with Holmes, a military siolution is the best way to go here.
ARRRRRRR !
I'm not sure killing them would be a deterent. Ask yourself, would you rather live in Somalia, or die at sea raiding a cargo ship? If you think the answer is obvious, you need to visit Somalia.
Aaarrrgh!
With regard to " the cost of doing business ". Are the corporations able to deduct these payments as cost of doing business? If so, they have no incentive to not keep paying. If the payments to pirates were out of profits there might be a different attitude toward " just paying ". Perhaps legislation would help.
We wants the redhead!!
Of course, given the fact that Somalians face some of the worst living conditions in the world, the piracy option is very attractive. The name of the game of their daily struggle is "survival of the fittest"...what are their alternatives???
I found this article interesting and very true!
If we cant stop 17th century-like "piracy" off the Horn of Africa in the 21st century, How are we going to deal with better armed and better trained terroist cells around the world?? Maybe we need to just let the East India Tea Company handle it? Take that Jack Sparrow !
Sounds like they need to hire armed ex-soldiers as the crew.
Why not a military solution: equip every American ship with RPG's, one man trained to use them, and announce to these animals we're going to blow them out of the water if they come within oone hundred miles of an American vessed. That wouls send a very appropriate message.
Want to end this problem real easy, keep weapons onboard train the crew and if or when attacked show no mersy kill them and drop them overboard. Once the bodies wash ashore (or become shark bait) maybe it will sink in you dont take on the ships.
There's actually a relatively simple and cheap solution to this problem.
Merchant vessels are unarmed; however, they carry a ton of fuel oil to run their main engines. Simply run a pipe into the fuel tanks, add a pump, then run pipes down each side of the ship with some atomizer nozzles and an ignitor.
When the pirates pull alongside, you active the pumps, spray fuel oil on them and their boat, ignite it, and leave them burning in your wake.
Cheap and easy.
Until ALL the countries whose ships have been attacked make some concerted effort to stop this piracy, it will continue. And until the world community of nations makes it clear that piracy will not be condoned, it will grow.
An interesting fact was that the American ship did not have any type of weapons on board for them to use to protect themselves. I agree that violence isn't the long-term answer, but why are we allowing our own people to go into danger zones with no way to defend themselves? Where are the NRA protests? Where are the military ships we have patrolling there? Could they not do like was done in WW2 and form convoys of ships, guarded by military ships?
Every pirate needs a wench!
Kill them all, blow up their boats. What other "responce" is available? Make them tea? Bake a cake? They do it because they can get away with doing it; make the price too high, and it will go away.
I would think that with all the modern, high-tech surveillance and other monitoring equipment that is available,"suspicious boats" could be monitored and intercepted somehow whether by aircraft or watercraft. I know it is a large area, but some of these devices are pretty sophisticated and could provide invaluable information concerning potential pirate activities.