An answer to piracy off the Horn of Africa

According to sporadic reports from the Indian Ocean, we (the United States and a few other nations whose warships sometimes confront pirates roaming that region) "don't know what to do" with the few pirates we engage and capture, so we simply tell them to "go on home."

Our having no clue as to what to do about simple-but-serious situations should be no surprise because that has been our problem since shortly after the end of World War II (1945).

The answer, Hillary, is so obvious and unarguable that even a lawyer or politician (is there a difference?) might be able to comprehend it: To stamp out evil, you eliminate it; at the very least, you make it clearly undesirable for anyone to be part of such activities. As applied to the Somali pirates, you use their boats as training targets for naval gunners. No captives: No problems with what to do with them, and when word of their likely fate spreads back ashore, the attraction to become a pirate will vanish like a thief in the night.

If that seems a bit brutish to you, think back to the early part of the 20th century when the Axis powers (Germany, Japan and Italy) appeared to be bent on subjugating the rest of the world. The allies (essentially the U.S. and U.K) declared war and waged it successfully, which unavoidably involved killing or maiming perhaps millions of noncombatants. The lesson is: In successfully fighting any ruthless and determined enemy, collateral damage is unavoidable and expected. The key word there is "successful."

In order to reduce Hitler's ability to produce weapons, and thus perpetuate his dreams of world domination, the allies bombed industrial cities into piles of rubble. When our armies marched into France and on to Berlin, they frequently encountered resistance from Axis troops fortified in cities and villages. In the process of neutralizing those opposing military forces, our artillery, tanks and aircraft pounded the areas with weapons that couldn't differentiate between military and civilian targets.

Again, collateral damage is unavoidable in a successful military campaign.

The war in Vietnam was run by incompetent and/or unconscionable politicians who prevented the effective application of all-out warfare; you know the sad result. President George W. Bush's naïve, irresponsible and or simply dishonest approach to controlling the flood of illegals streaming across the border with Mexico was to prosecute and jail border patrol officers for shooting a known narcotics supplier caught sneaking across the border, when he should have been rewarding the officers' exemplary actions. Small wonder that the cancerous invasion of illegals continues to be a problem.

And then there's the debatable conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, wherein our military forces are expected to somehow vanquish a dedicated and fanatical enemy without damage to "civilians" mixed in, intentionally as well as accidentally, with those forces actively engaging our troops.

We couldn't have defeated the Axis powers in the 1940s without waging unrestricted warfare. Vietnam was lost because that sort of effective battle was not allowed. The "war" on drug smuggling and illegal immigration from Mexico has been a failure because reasonable force has not been allowed nor applied to stop those dangerous practices.

The situation with pirates operating in the Indian Ocean between Africa and Seychelles offers no significant question as to what to do with pirates caught in the act. If we want to discourage or even stop that unlawful, costly (we all pay for it, in one way or another) and dangerous activity, all we need do is sink pirate craft with the pirates still in them.

Innocent fishermen don't throw RPG launchers over the side when confronted by a warship, so the chances of making a mistake are pretty small. We shouldn't be concerned about what to do with pirates once caught: Instead, simply blow 'em out of the water.

If we are demonstrably unwilling to use necessary force to combat evil, and if we simply can't stomach collateral casualties, then we would best accept that we have no business attempting to fight for right, wherever wrongs are encountered.

And for those limp-wristed idealists who cling futilely to trust in diplomacy to solve the world's problems, I recommend reading about how Britain's "peace in our time" diplomacy with Hitler failed to stop that obvious threat.