"Pirates is soooooo stupid!"

I’m not even sure where to start on this one.

First of all, kudos to the U.S. Navy for freeing Capt. Richard Phillips who was being held captive by pirates in the Indian Ocean.

The Associated Press quoted self-proclaimed pirate Jamac Habeb as saying: “From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them. Now they become our number one enemy.” He was speaking of U.S. forces.

This statement, and Habeb’s mentality, makes my head spin.

Let’s consider the situation. These “pirates” are nothing more than armed thieves. They board merchant ships, armed with assault weapons, for the purpose of stealing what they can, then holding the vessel and crew for ransom, to the tune of millions of dollars. The article does state that the pirates rarely harm the crew. I guess that’s some consolation after being threatened and held at gunpoint.

This pirate freely claims that they capture foreign ships. Does he truly think that the respective countries wouldn’t attack? Are these crews not already under threat of being killed?

And here’s the real kicker: “Now they become our number one enemy.”

Enemy of who? Who do they represent? These thieves aren’t representatives of any country. They’re just trying to get as much money as they can from what the ship carries and whatever ransom they can collect for the vessel and crew. Maybe they’ve formed some pirates union that we’re not aware of and we’ve offended them by taking back what’s ours. I’m fairly certain that piracy is unlawful in most, if not all, international waters.

He is right to some extent; they are our enemies and become so any time they take one of our vessels by force, and should be treated as such.

Here’s my suggestion (for what it’s worth): any time a vessel in any international waters is determined to be a pirate ship it should immediately be confronted by an armed naval ship. Those aboard should be given the opportunity to immediately leave the ship, by whatever means they have available. The pirate ship should then be summarily sunk; no questions, no options.

Let Long John Silver return to his own country and be a pirate on foot. I’ve never been one, but I’m pretty sure it would be hard to be a pirate without a boat.