Dealing with pirates

The Navy Seals deserve great credit for executing their assignment efficiently and effectively. In fact, everyone involved, including the Maersk Alabama's crew, the captive Captain Phillips, his family, the officers and crew of the U.S. destroyer Bainbridge and the other U.S. Naval ships on scene, behaved perfectly. What a relief.

There is much discussion now on television and in newspapers about what should come next. Everyone seems to agree that piracy must stop but there is little or no agreement on how to stop it. Some are suggesting that the Marines be sent into Somalia to clean out the mess there, but that seems unnecessary. Others are suggesting that ships plying the waters around Somalia carry armed guards to protect them against pirates, which seems obvious but insufficient.

Why not reward each act of piracy with an air attack on or shelling of the pirates' home ports? No U.S. personnel would be endangered and the message to pirates would be clear: Stop the piracy or lose your life. The bombing or shelling would need to be effective, and that would require intelligence about where the pirates are located. The U.S. likely has that intelligence now.

Surely, allowing the piracy to continue and paying ransom for return of the ships and crews should not be an option.