Beyond the Spin: Piracy is but a symptom

Like most Americans, I closely followed the capture and dramatic rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips, which culminated when three Navy SEAL marksmen killed pirates who had hijacked his freighter ship, the Maersk Alabama, off the coast of Somalia. When I learned that Phillips' life had been saved, I rejoiced - not because he is an American, but because he is a human.

The deceased pirates were also human, but they acted in an inhumane way and, in effect, wrote their own death certificates.

President Obama expressed relief and gratitude.

"I share our nation's admiration for Captain Phillips' courage and leadership and selfless concern for his crew," said Obama, who authorized the use of force. "And I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of [piracy] in that region, and to achieve that goal, we're going to have to continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks."

Surprisingly, some have questioned Obama's decision to approve the use of force. According to Shabelle Media Network in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, Ahmed Bile, a member of Somalia's parliament, said: "They took their citizen and killed our citizens. Maybe there are some Somalis who see that the step is right, but I say it is not right, but totally wrong, because their people are not better than ours."

Whether the United States places a higher value on the lives of its citizens is beside the point. This was a clear-cut case. Pirates had overtaken a U.S. ship with the sole goal of extracting a ransom. And they made it clear that if their demands weren't met, Phillips would be killed.

U.S. officials had the option of paying the money or making the pirates pay with their lives. And when the opportunity presented itself, the highly trained marksmen did what they do best.

I am surprised that other countries haven't fought the pirates more forcefully. According to government officials in Kenya, Somali pirates got more than $150 million in ransoms in 2008. For a variety of reasons, most of the ships do not have armed crews or security teams, making them easy targets.

That's why small boats carrying armed, skinny-legged fishermen can pull up beside huge freighters, scale them, and take crew members captive until their demands are met. Many companies, weighing the possible loss of cargo and lives, opt to pay the ransom.

The piracy issue off Somalia is not a new one. It came to the forefront after the collapse of the Somali government in 1991. The World Bank estimates that three-fourths of the country's population lives on less than $2 a day. Consequently, many residents turned to fishing to feed their families. But fishermen complained of European and Asian ships streaming along their coastline in search of lobster, shrimp, and tuna.

Other ships used Somali waters as a dumping ground for toxic waste, often paying local warlords to allow them to come and go as they pleased. It wasn't long before local fishermen discovered they could make far more money by hijacking big ships loaded with cargo than they could by catching fish. Thus, a new industry was born.

Most of the high-powered weapons used by pirates, including AKM assault rifles, RPG-7 rocket launchers, and grenades, were purchased in Mogadishu or Yemen. And because the Somali coastal region is about three times as large as Texas, it is virtually impossible to effectively patrol the waters.

The root causes of violence in Somalia must be addressed, said Harry Alford, president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.

"What is needed in this region is sophisticated agribusiness - water reservoirs, effective irrigation, and big-time farming strategies to feed the huge populations and prevent the recurring famines and medical disasters, such as HIV and malaria," Alford wrote in his syndicated column.

The United States, after backing an Ethiopian military overthrow of Somalia's government, has a vested interest in the region. So does Osama bin Laden, who called for the ouster of Somalian President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

A Council on Foreign Relations special report observed that rivalries within the Horn of Africa, such as that between Ethiopia and Eritrea, increase "the opportunities for terrorist infiltration of the Horn and East Africa and for the ignition of a larger regional conflict."

In other words, conflicts that involve Somalia and other key African countries are not as remote or as isolated as they may appear to most Americans. And how we react to them may well determine our own safety.