Tired of Pirate Attacks? Time to Call Blackwater

US forces aren't coming, Shippers need to hire their own army
By Paul Stinson,  Newser User
Posted Dec 11, 2008 6:05 PM CST
Tired of Pirate Attacks? Time to Call Blackwater
Yemen coast guards inspect a ship carrying goats from Somalia while patrolling coastal waters off Aden, Yemen. Yemen coast guard said seven Somali suspected pirates have been arrested.   (AP Photo)

Somali hijackers have free rein around the Horn of Africa, and neither the US nor any other nation has a prayer of stopping them with their ineffectual patrols. What to do? Call in the troops—or, more precisely, the fomer troops, writes Peter Hannaford in the American Spectator. Namely, Blackwater. Shipping nations have no choice now but to hire private escorts, and there's none better than the group known for its tough tactics in Iraq.

Commercial ships are rarely armed because of port laws and insurance fears. Blackwater, on the other hand, is no group of Boy Scouts. It has former SEALS on the payroll, a 183-foot ship, and a willingness to shoot to kill if fired upon. "Once hired by a shipping firm, Blackwater will seek to get pirates to understand that instant death could be an occupational hazard of piracy." (More Blackwater stories.)

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