Advanced Tutorial Needed

Looks like someone is a slow learner.

Somali pirates vow to hunt down, kill Americans

The Liberty Sun's American crew successfully blockaded themselves inside the engine room—the same tactic that the Maersk Alabama crew used to thwart last week's attack on their ship. They were not injured in the attack Tuesday night but the vessel sustained some damage, owner Liberty Maritime Corp. said.

One of the pirates whose gang attacked the Liberty Sun said Wednesday his group was specifically targeting American ships and sailors.

"We will seek out the Americans and if we capture them we will slaughter them," said a 25-year-old pirate based in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail.

"We will target their ships because we know their flags. Last night, an American-flagged ship escaped us by a whisker. We have showered them with rocket-propelled grenades," boasted Ismail, who did not take part in the attack.

Two points: first, these guys aren't that smart. Just well armed.

Second, Congress should immediately vote to exempt our merchant sailors from any stupid international law that prevents them from arming themselves. One good laser-guided weapon, in the hands of a trained sailor, would convince Ismail he should have sailed on a whaler, not a pirate ship.

Having merchant seamen plying the waves without the ability to defend themselves other than cower in the engine room of their ship is a policy that defies common sense. It will not take resourceful pirates long to figure out how to "unlock" an engine room.

Being civilized does not mean that you sign a suicide pact.

Isn't it time we came up with a strategy that assigns intelligence assets to the Somali ports to provide info that would guide our gunboats, aircraft or whatever to pirate vessels, so that the minute they make trouble for someone, we puncture their hulls, so to speak?