"Yo Ho, Yo Ho..."

Somali pirates have once again selected a US Navy warship as their target, with the result being their skiff was disabled, boarded and crew captured, followed by the sinking of the skiff. The mother ship was then located and the pirate crew taken off that ship and captured as well.

"The USS Nicholas, a guided missile frigate, was tracking the pirates when they opened fire early Thursday in Indian Ocean waters, the U.S. military said."

They look harmless enough in custody in the brig, but they do not appear that way if you are a fishing trawler or merchant ship, and they decide to come tearing up beside you firing off AK 47's and RPG rounds. They will wound, kill, board, capture, and ransom off or kill the survivors without a second thought. It all falls under their general notion of appropriate treatment of non-muslims. The media want to play it off as a poverty story, but there are lots of poor places in the world, and yet they are not all infested with pirates.

The sad part of the story is the excessive restraint and general lack of direction the US Navy has been given in dealing with the pirates. It just so happens this particular target they were unable to handle. Perhaps not the next time.