Somali Pirates, al Qaeda and Superpower Baiting

While the U.S. State Department announced that it was putting into action a comprehensive plan to confront the growing menace posed pirates off the coast of Somalia, including freezing pirate assets (not sure exactly how this would work) and offering aid to the Somali government in an effort to shore up their law enforcement presence, there is an increasing level of hawkish rhetoric emanating from Capitol Hill.  Ike Shelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, sent a letter over to President Obama encouraging him to authorize ground forces to attack pirate safe havens.  According to the letter, it is time for the United States to "pursue these pirates beyond the waters [it is] currently patrolling and into the safe havens where they are operating."  This is a dangerous option for a military that is already committed to major conflict operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, faces a growing criminal insurgency along its own southern border, is getting drawn more deeply into the devolution of the Pakistani state, and has active military personnel confronting jihadi insurgents in places as disparate as Algeria and the Philippines.  Adding another theater of conflict to the frontier warsalready raging, in a state where American forces have a bloody history, will require some serious resolve.  It will certainly not be the equivalent of shooting 3 Somali pirates dead in a life-raft being towed by an American frigate.  It will be much nastier and the ripple effects could be costly.

That cost may come as a result of the superpower baiting that the Somali pirates are now engaging in.  With the help of al Qaeda, pirates in the Horn of Africa now appear to be targeting American ships for the purpose of drawing the United States deeper into a conflict in the region.  Most importantly, eliminating the piracy menace would entail rebuilding and standing up a functioning state in Somalia and it is difficult to believe that the United States or any of its allies has the staying power to guarantee the success of such a monumental undertaking.  According to Jumia Mitva, a Tanzanian engineer that spent over 100 days held captive by Somali pirates, a place where "pirates and warlords, businessmen and gunrunners are almost indistinguishable, is the chaos of Somalia that, for U.S. officials, must fuel concerns of Al Qaeda pressing its way into the mix." 

This may be a fight that the United States will have to stand down from and press the international community to take the lead in confronting with force.  Now is not the time, with so much at stake in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Mexico, for the United States to become blinded by hubris and believe that it can and should confront each and every challenge the world throws its way.

Comments

[Mikey]

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[Mikey]

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