Much of America’s self-image as a “city on a hill” comes from our love of justice. We see this clearly in the righteousness we bring to foreign affairs.
“The Audacity of Rope — Crush all the Pirates — Now“, Ralph Peters, New York Post, 14 April 2009 — Excerpt:
Attack their harbors with land, sea and air power. Kill pirates, sink their vessels (including those dual-use fishing boats) and wreck their support infrastructure. The clans behind the pirates must feel sufficient pain to rein in their young thugs. The price for piracy should be stunning. And we don’t need to stay to rebuild Somalia. End the fix-it fetish now. We need to leave while their boats are still burning down to the waterline.
“Pirates in the Gulf of Aden”, Herschel Smith writing at The Captain’s Journal, 1 October 2008 — Excerpt:
“This is easy. We tell the LOAC and ROE lawyers that they’re special and that they should go to their rooms and write high-sounding platitudes about compassion in war so that they’re out of the way, we land the Marines on the ship, and we kill every last pirate. Then we hunt down his domiciles in Somali and destroy them, and then we find his financiers and buyers and kill them.”
“Kill them all” is the advice of the usual suspects, since giving psychopathic advice is a career asset for America’s geopolitical experts. God only knows what the rest of the world thinks when reading these things. Perhaps they note that folks like Ralph Peters and Herschel Smith are silent when trawlers rape — almost sterilize — Somalia’s fishing grounds. No call for our navy to take action then, as they believe the goddess of Justice sleeps quietly.
But when Somalia fishermen-turned-pirates demand ransom for some sailors — gravel in the machinery of western commerce — then let fly our bombers! Let Somalia’s mud huts, their wives and children, feel our wraith.
I recommend that every American pray on New’s Year Eve that God show mercy — not justice — to America. For we have too often used our power neither wisely nor justly.
For more information from the FM site
Reference pages about other topics appear on the right side menu bar, including the Naval warfare and strategy reference page.
Posts on the FM site about pirates:
- All about Pirates!, 12 December 2008
- More about pirates: why we no longer “hang them high”, 5 January 2009
- A Piracy SitRep, 12 May 2009
- What is this “justice” that war-loving Americans speak of?, 31 December 2009
- More about those pirate demons in Somalia, 2 January 2009
- The real pirates sailing the seas, in whom we have no interest and from which we will suffer massive damage, 4 January 2010
- New research about pirates!, 3 March 2010
Afterword
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