Pirates Are The Gunslingers Of The Old West

The Somali pirates are just the 21st century version of the gunslinging outlaws of the Old American West. They are the Dalton Brothers, the James Gang or the Clantons of Tombstone. There may even be a Billy the Kid among them. The difference is, they aren't robbing trains, stagecoaches or banks, they are stealing ships and kidnapping crews and holding both for ransom. And, just like the outlaws of the old west, they need to be cleaned out.


What is needed for this is relatively simple. First, you put someone on the ships riding shotgun, just like the old stagecoaches did or the trains finally did when they hired The Pinkerton Detective Agency to protect them. Do you really think Wells Fargo was worried that firing back at the outlaws would put them in greater danger than they already were, as todays shipping lines have stated in their explanation of why they don't want to arm their crews? This passive action will not work with pirates any more than it would have worked with outlaws. Remember The Ballad of Liberty Valence - "The point of a gun was the only law that Liberty understood...when the final showdown came to pass, a lawbook was no good!" Like Liberty, all outlaws and all pirates know only one language, the language of violence, and, as distasteful as that language is to some people, it is the ONLY way to get their attention and to stop their attacks on innocent people.


Secondly, if the powers that be are still too terrified to arm their crews, then a few well placed military men could to the same job. I understand that there are not enough warships to escort every merchant ship through the pirate infested waters. But how about putting a few soldiers or sailors on each ship as it enters the danger zone and then take them off when the ship is safely through the peril. People, it is not going to take a company of men to keep these ill trained pirates from boarding a ship, a squad or a platoon would more than suffice to do the job. Kill enough of them, and the attacks will stop.


Lastly, what we really need are a few Pat Garretts, Wyatt Earps, Bill Hickocks and maybe some Texas Rangers to root out the pirates where they hide. These would not be individuals as in the old west, but instead would be governments sending groups of military or hired mercenaries (which, if you break it down to the bare bones, is really what the old west sheriffs and marshalls were!) into the pirate's waters and lairs to "convince" them to stop pirating. If convincing doesn't work, and it won't, then you take them out of the pirate business forever. Know why pirating died out the first time? Because enough of the pirates were hung to convince the rest of them that pirating wasn't such a good way to make a living after all. ("Diein' ain't much of a living!" - Josey Wales) Imagine how many of these pirates would want to change "jobs" when they see a fast boat armed to the teeth (think PT Boat) baring down on them with guns blazing! Or something akin to a Coast Guard Cutter firing relentlessly on one of the pirate mother ships. Take out their mother ships and they have no way to reach the shipping lanes in those small speedboats.


And lastly, we have to ignore all of those bleeding heart liberals who will decry the bloodshed and who think they can turn all of these pirates into fine, upstanding citizens. Does anyone really think that even one of these men is going to start flipping burgers for a living unless he thinks his current job is threatening his life?


They have to be stopped. They have to be cleaned out. The seas have to be made safe again. It won't be pretty, it won't be easy, but it has to be done.