Piracy Watchdogs Urges Navies to Fight Back

U.S. Navy Too Busy to Take on Pirates

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell made similar points in Washington today.

"We are actively engaged in trying to prevent and deter piracy. This notion that there's inaction out there is just utterly false," he said.

Morrell said the patrols by U.S. and other warships have been a deterrent to pirates.

"More [attacks] are being prevented than are actually being carried out," he argued.

Nevertheless, there have been nine ships seized by pirates in the last 13 days.

"I also take issue with this whole issue that it's incumbent upon the armed forces of the world, the navies of the world, to solve this problem," Morrell said.

While the Navy has a responsibility to protect shipping lanes, "the shipping companies also have an obligation to secure their ships to prevent incidents such that we've been seeing at alarming rates over the past several months," he said.

If the U.S. Navy did intervene to rescue a ship, there are other problems to consider.

"And one of those is: 'OK, let's say you capture a bunch of pirates. What do you do with them?'" Morrell said.

He added that if countries are willing to board suspected pirate ships and rescue captured ships, "We need to figure out a more global, systemic agreement on how to deal with pirates."

"Don't look at this solely through the prism of what more can the U.S. Navy do, and why isn't the U.S. Navy being more aggressive," Morrell advised.

Somali piracy won't end until stability is established onshore in Somalia, a country impoverished by a generation of civil war that has virtually eliminated any functioning government or economy.

The current government is threatened by a growing Islamic insurgency, making it unable to develop a working economic system or take on the pirates.

"You could have all the navies in the world having all their ships out there, you know; it's not going to ever solve this problem," Morrell said, until the chaos on land has ended.

Morrell scolded one shipping company that has announced it will simply avoid the area and instead sail around Africa, an expensive three-week trip.

"I understand them wanting to take defensive measures, but ultimately, that's not the solution to this," Morrell said. "And to me, in scenarios like that, pirates win. And they should not be allowed to win. We need to use the Gulf of Aden."