Thursday, April 16, 2009
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Republican Congressman Ron Paul suggests curbing the piracy off Somalia by authorizing the volunteering US civilians to confront the bandits. Earlier in the week, Paul called on Congress to revive the practice of contracting private ocean liners to engage with hostile vessels offering bounty as an incentive, Politico reported on Wednesday.
"I think if every potential pirate knew this would be the case, they would have second thoughts because they could probably be blown out of the water rather easily if those were the conditions," Paul said.
His plan would require congress to issue "letters of marque and reprisal," which allow private parties - privateers - to attack and seize the property of other parties who have violated international law -- something which Congress has not been attempted at since the 1810s.
National security think tanks, though, back the idea strongly citing its sweeping effects.
"It may work in the sense that if you give people incentives to fight piracy, you'll see more action taken against it…. The ocean is huge and, practically speaking, there's no way the Navy can prevent piracy; it's too big,” said Andrew Grotto, a senior national security analyst with the Center for American Progress.
The comments came after the Navy snipers rescued Captain Richard Philips from Somali pirates killing three of the captors on Sunday. Phillips had reportedly volunteered to be taken hostage in exchange for the freedom of his crew when the bandits boarded his Maersk Alabama vessel last Wednesday.
Though opening the floodgates of praise for the US Navy, the mission reportedly cost tens of millions of dollars, a source said. This is while "the only cost under letters of marque would be some sort of bounty for the pirates," said another expert Eli Lehrer.
"Given the experience in Iraq with private contractors, that effort showcases the difficulties dealing with folks who aren't answerable to anyone but shareholders," Grotto added.
He was referring to the presence of private contractors in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion of the country which resulted in the killing of innocent civilians. The most controversial incident of the kind was the 2007 murder of 17 Iraqi civilians by US contractor Blackwater.
Source: April 16, 2009