Who else thinks it's a bad idea for the US to train, arm and fund a Somali Coast Guard?

Roderick B

Send in the S.E.A.L.s to secure the hostages; the SEALs & Marines to seize the stolen ships; the Marines to capture the bases & pirates. Go through the bases to recover any of the loot & arsenal ; anything in the arsenal that we don't want for ourselves or our allies throw into the center of the base; Have the Sea Bees drag the pirate "fleet" to the center of the base and pile them up; soak the "fleet" with the materials found in the base; "Willy Pete" the pile! Hang the pirates. Smash all the cisterns beyond restoration. Pack the wells or pour Roman Cement down them! If the pirate base has a harbour, then scrape the base into it after the bonfire has died; otherwise just smash the base to ruin.

Leave the Pirates Dangling as we leave!

In short ...

Bad Idea!

CSnumber1

Yes I agree with you. That region is way too unstable politically. And giving them first hand knowledge of some of the way we operate may indeed backfire in the long run. The only way I would do this, would be to keep a strong US presence in the region for a while....a very long while.

Craig C

Very bad idea. Haven't we learned what happens when we arm extremists? Taliban, Saddam Hussein, etc... This can only come back to haunt us.

Mariner85

The pirates over there are working with their own national law enforcement agencies anyway, so if something goes wrong and we "turn them over" to their authorities, they just get released and recirculated into the pirate ring.

The international community never seems to learn its lesson. A very special thanks to the idiots who elect them into office too.

Waiting for September

I hope we do not end up training them, because all the countries we help end up hating us. And the ones being trained will probably be corrupted and end up fighting against us and training out enemies.

Aspiring Ghost

The short answer is that no leader in the recent past has read Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince", which is essentially a guide to doing anything and everything a governor might need to do.

That said, its difficult to protect US and allied shipping lanes when you're engaged in two wars within the Middle East [GWOT]. So, you have to get someone to do the work.

Ostensibly, the Hearts / Minds philosophy might contend that if you train locals to do something, the overall ideology behind the training is easier spread to others in the area..

Ex. We train / arm / supply the Somali Coast Guard. They think the Green Berets [or whomever] training them are great guys. That rubs off.

They tell their friends and family how great they are. They are in turn inclined to want to be more like those guys.

And, voila. Barring any major obstacles, a democracy springs up. [Or tries.]

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