Posted by Cavguy,
In all seriousness, why isn't the US Navy out there cracking down on the Pirates? I've seen more action out of the Dutch/French than the USN, which strikes me as odd.

We're the largest, and the Royal Navy ended lots of piracy in the 1600's/1700's.

While the navy is contributing in Iraq, it's pretty hard to send a AGEIS crusier up the Tigris, so what are they doing to end this threat to one of their core tasks (freedom of the seas)?
This situation generates more and more questions, and hopefully a public demand for a firmer response. Whether particular pirates are tied into other criminal enterprises, terrorisim, or support for insurgencies, they still present a significant threat to our economy and the global economy, which is obviously a national interest. We should have a policy (one that follow up one), that if you attack our merchant ships, our people, or our allies, then we should send a very strong message.

In regards to the French being more active, the French have always been more active in Africa than the U.S.. Despite all our naysaying about France, they do make some contributions to global security (or more accurately their actions defending their self interests have the collateral benefit sometimes of better global security).

The pirates in Somalia have attacked ships from the around the world (Europe, the U.S., the Middle East, SE Asia, etc.), so there should be enough political capital to send some Marines over the beach to take these thugs out.