Killing flies with cannonballs

Back in last year’s November, when I started writing this blog, I did so talking about pirates. Then, the modern buccaneers were right on the top of the wave. The kidnapping of a supertanker and a freighter loaded of tanks woke up Governments all around the globe.

Immediately, some countries sent their ships to the area. Not so China and the US, who joined the force months later. Since then, it’s become the biggest and most heterogen combat fleet since World War II, according to the CNN. And although at the beginning it seemed to have some effect on the attacks, truth is that pirates are back in business. They were just enjoying the money from their last prey.

Only in the last month there have been more than 30 seizures -half of them in the last week. “Numancia” Spanish frigate could abort the seizure of a Panamanian cargo on Tuesday. The French weren’t so successful in their rescue attempt. It was the third operation that the French Special Forces were delivering against the pirates, but this one didn’t come out well.

All the others were when the ransom had been already paid and the hostages freed. They ended up with the pirates captured or dead. It was like a warning to pirates, like saying that piracy doesn’t worth. This time the tactic was different. They attempted to rescue the hostages without paying any ransom and the result was a dead hostage.

But what has attracted the attention of the media has been the seizure of a Danish freighter with American flag and crew onboard, the MV Maersk Alabama. The pirates assaulted the cargo ship but the crew was able to recapture it. Pirates then escaped in a lifeboat with the captain as a hostage. He is still held captive.

The captain couldn’t do more than what he did, exchanging himself as hostage for his crew. It was worthless the attempt to escape swimming. The USS Bainbridge who is following the lifeboat of the pirates, couldn’t do anything. It didn’t even have a helicopter onboard -epic fail- and for now, the ship only can monitor the pirates with drones. Another amphibious ship, this one with choppers and Special Ops teams onboard, is heading to the area. The FBI is also negotiating with the pirates.

Meanwhile a small fleet of other seized ships with pirates onboard are also trying to locate their commarades, defying the omnipotent US Navy. The intention is to create a circle surrounding the lifeboat and carry the captain to land where negotiations can be delivered with Washington, even for the future, having the captain as their safe.

This incident has shown even more the need for a new small ship to face this threat. The same kind that Gates pushed in his budget proposal. The big destructors, frigates and carriers are unable to make any good against the rapid squiffs and irregular pirate tactics. But a small, agile ship, able to navigate near the coast and with airborne units -just like the Littoral Combat Ship- is the perfect match for them. And that’s precisely Obama’s and Gates’ phylosophy. Anything else is like try to kill flies with cannonballs.

It also has shown that the fact of having a naval deterrent in the area is worthless. You can deter someone who has something to lose, not someone who doesn’t have anything. Problem is not piracy, that’s the consequence of the poverty and lack of government in Somalia. Before being pirates they were just fishers, why then live in danger?

The problem is in Somalia, on shore, not in the water. America is a young country and may not know a lot about the lessons from History. But just 200 years ago, when the US were a growing nation, they joined their first international military mission abroad to combat the piracy in Barbary. They should remember that the problem wasn't solved until the French invaded Algiers.



Photo. Reuters