The only way to deal with pirates is through the use of crushing military force. This was true in Jefferson’s time and it is true today. Pirates can’t seize ships if they’re dead. In May 1975, communist Khmer Rouge pirates seized the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez. With quick and absolute force, President Gerald Ford took back the ship and its crew. Although a approximately 18 Americans were killed in the rescue operation, the American container ship and its crew were recovered unharmed. It was a very costly operation in terms of American lives lost, but the communist pirates in that part of the world never seized another American merchant ship. Pirates are practical people. If they know they will be killed if they take one of your ships, they will soon stop bothering your ships and attack weaker targets. This principle worked with the Barbary pirates over 200 years ago and it still works today. But do we have the political will to destroy the ships and bases maintained by the pirates, thereby ending this threat once and for all?
