Somalian Piracy- International Terror or Social Injustice?

This has been a really bad month for President Obama. Our European allies have refused to send more combat troops to Afghanistan, North Korea launched a suspected ballistic missile, Iran and Russia remain lukewarm at best to American diplomatic overtures, and to top it all off, Somalian pirates are making headlines again.

A few days ago an American cargo ship, the Maersk Alabama was seized by Somali raiders. After some sort of struggle, the crew managed to retake the vessel. The raiders took the captain of the vessel, 53 year old Richard Phillips hostage. American warships were dispatched to the area following the incident. Phillips attempted to escape pirate captivity by jumping overboard and swimming to a US Destroyer that was following the pirates. Unfortunately, he was recaptured and now remains a prisoner of the pirates.

A hostage situation has developed into a standoff between the Somalians and American forces. Negotiations are underway to procure the release of the hostages. However this apparently isn't enough for American Hawks who can't get enough of war. Since the incident began they have been blasting Obama for not issuing a statement concerning the crisis. Reporters questioned Secretary of State Hilary Clinton on the administration's stance towards the pirates. She deflected the question with laughter and proceeded to change topics.

Republicans are up in arms, charging that Obama is an incompetent president and that he is showing weakness by not dealing strongly with the Somalian piracy. However this is a problem that has been going on for years, so why the sudden outburst now? American forces are already in the area and the FBI has sent in hostage negotiation experts to get our people out alive. What more do Republicans want? Why more war of course! After all, invading Iraq and Afghanistan while simultaneously threatening Russia, Iran, and North Korea just isnt mean enough. After all, America is weak if it relies on diplomacy fro a change instead of indiscriimantely bombing everyone who disagrees with us, civilians included.

Let look at some of the comments from the article posted to a conservative leaning website.
I’d be laughing to if I wasn’t so ashamed of the actions of this president. My God a row boat with five pirates, out of fuel holding off a US warship is beyound belief! What have we become? I’m waiting for three Mexicans with muskets taking over El Paso. Whats next?

Perhaps we should let the Turkish Navy handle the pirates. They still hang men from the yardarm. I’ve seen it.

Hint: Pave Somalian coast and destroy all ports. Let’s have lil bHo monitor that on tv with his sports watching buddy. Boo ya

Will Patrick “Pork Man” Leahy write new legislation to set up a “Piracy Visitor Center” in Vermont where they can serve organic sandwiches and inform the Nation about the need to conduct ethical trade so pirates wont get their feelings hurt?

source:http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/09/why-is-hillary-laughing/

Yes because blowing up these people's only method of trade and importing food is going to make matters better. Somalia is a failed state that has no working government and little infrastructure. Their national economy is a joke. Their Gros Domestic Product for all of fiscal year 2008 was a meager $5.756 billion. We have single businesses here in AMerica that make more profits than their entire country does! I don't know much about economics but I do know that you can't feed a family off of that. Faced with ongoing civil wars between regional war lords, a failed governement, unbelievably high poverty, disease levels, and horrible living conditions, some segments of the population turn to another source of income, piracy.

To be clear I am in no way saying that piracy is right. However, to call these people terrorists is absolutely absurd. They are no different than the criminal in America that steals bread to take home to his children. Do we declare war on these people? No, a better idea would be to give them alternatives to build a healthier and more productive lifestyle. These people have been suffering for years. Piracy has been going on for several years now and no one has been hurt. The ships and hostages are always released unharmed in exchange for ransom money. In reality is all comes down to alternatives. In Somalia, the conditions are so bad that they have no other options. And they are smart enough to realize that the international community doesn't give a rat's tail about their well being.

During the last joint UN and American aid mission a firefight broke out that led to the events dramatized in the movie Black Hawk Down. We lost two helicopters and then ran away like a bunch of cowards. Did we lose the war? NO, there was no war to be lost. We simply didn't care enough about Africa to commit the time and resources needed to better these people's lives. The Rwandan Genocide was supposed to be the last time that America stood by while innocents were massacred by the thousands. Every politician in the UN and American governments admitted after the shooting had stopped and hundreds of thousands lay dead that they had made a "mistake". But they said is would never happen again. A decade later in 2003, women were being raped and shot by the Muslim Janjaweed in the Darfur region of Sudan and not one American politician lifted a finger. It was ok for us to fight a war of liberation in Iraq to get rid of weapons of mass destruction that didn't even exist, but we couldn't stop yet another genocide in Africa. Little boys and girls were hunted down and shot like dogs, men were forced to serve in the milita's or watch their families be slaughtered, women were sold into slavery or worse, yet America did nothing.

Now we stand at a crossroads. Do we help these people who are so desperate to make a living any way they can. Or do we blame the victim and condemn them to death in a war that nobody wants except bloodthirsty Republicans. Remember, to show mercy to the "enemy" is a sign of weakness. America needs to realize who its real enemies are.