Send Marines after the pirates

Arther Herman:

US Marines have been singing about their exploits on the "shores of Tripoli" ever since President Thomas Jefferson sent them to scour out the world's most dangerous pirates, the Barbary corsairs, from their bases in North Africa in 1801. Now President Barack Obama may have to give the Corps the chance to add a new line - by sending Marines to destroy the newest generation of pirates, this time on the other side of Africa.

Piracy has been an index of civilization's ability to enforce law and order since ancient times. Yet the ability of our civilization to do that is now in question.

The Nov. 15 seizure of an Arabian oil tanker by armed Somali thugs off the Kenyan coast is just the latest incident.

Forget the Johnny Depp stereotype. These pirates wear designer shades, use cellphones and GPS, and tote Kalashnikov assault rifles. As of today, they're holding the Sirius Star, its 2 million barrels of oil and its 25-man crew hostage for a ransom of $20 million.

And if these pirates aren't stopped, the problem will only keep growing.

Some 16,000 merchant ships a year traverse the ocean in the Gulf of Aden region. Since August, the enforcers of the laws of the sea there have been the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, along with other NATO warships, in an international force patrolling to ward off attacks by the new corsairs.

Yet the Navy finds itself helpless to stop the attacks. The taking of Sirius Star makes 95 international vessels hijacked this year, triple the number last year. Pirates now hold 17 freighters and 339 crew members hostage - and no one can do a thing about it.

Why? Stopping the pirates at sea is almost impossible. The time that lapses from when the crew of an innocent ship spots the approach of a high-speed pirate boat until it is boarded is less than 15 minutes - not enough time to get a US frigate to come to the rescue.

Even when a warship manages to catch up with a captured vessel, its options are limited: It can't sink the target without endangering the crew and cargo. And boarding ships under hostile fire is a vanished art in modern navies - as is handling hostage situations.

Faced by the vast stretches of the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and the challenges of mobilizing a multinational force against a cunning and elusive foe, our Navy has become a helpless giant.

With no better answer, companies quietly pay the ransoms. Meanwhile, America's NATO allies fear that, if they arrest irregular fighters like pirates, they'll be accused of violating someone's "human rights."

Yet the traditional laws of the sea on piracy are clear. What's needed aren't more naval patrols or new laws - but a new strategy.

History teaches that the only way to destroy pirates is from the land, not the sea - by wiping out their bases.

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That is what I have been saying for months. Getting bogged down in lawfare in dealings with pirates is a mistake. We must destroy their base of operation and their assets including all mother ships and and speed boats. It is easiest to do that at their base of operations. We should also impose a blockade of all Somali ports. It might eventually be loosed into a quarantine where any departing boats are inspected.

All that is lacking in handling this situation is the will. We clearly have the means and the necessity is obvious. Waiting for the Obama administration is a mistake.