Another 'catch and release' incident with Somali pirates

By Bruce Thompson

Today there is yet another story of a NATO ship, this time from Portugal, catching pirates, now armed with explosives, and releasing them. The reason the officers of the NATO ships are releasing "enemies of humanity" is their concern over being prosecuted for crimes against humanity under the UN Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), a treaty the United States did not sign.

Just as with "Global Warming", our nation had the good sense to reject European groupthink. We are free to act. Captain Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama was absolutely correct when he "cautioned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday that arming commercial ship crews should only be a part of a broader protection plan against piracy. He said that government protection for ships is his preference as long as everyone knows who is in charge in a crisis."

And the United Nations was almost right when it "authorised a `hot pursuit' policy last year that allows navies to go after pirate bases on the shore"

And even the Seychelles Coast Guard has the "right stuff". It captured and will prosecute Somali pirates.

What is needed is Presidential authority to give authority to Rear Admiral Michelle Howard, the black woman in command of Combined Task Force 151 since April 5, 2009, to send the Marines on the USS Boxer ashore to capture the pirate bases in the fine United States Marine Corps Tradition of "to the shores of Tripoli (and Somalia)".

The best defense is a good offense, and they don't come any better than the US Navy & Marine Corps!

But President BHO isn't man enough to act! That's the greatest flaw in his OODA ((Orient, Observe, Decide, Act) loop. He can't decide. George W. Bush was "The Decider". He must have taken that quality with him when he left the White House, just as the Clintonistas stole the W's from the computer keyboards when they left before him.