Stand By To Repel Boarders!

For some time now, I've been joking that as I believe Blackwater had lost its security contract in Bagdad, why not hire its guys out to the merchies fighting off Somali pirates?

Well bow down before the armchair acumen of Robbo the Llama, because none other than that modern day Grant, Gen. David Petraeus is now saying the same damned thing:

WASHINGTON – The global shipping industry should consider placing armed guards on its boats to ward off pirates who have become increasingly violent, the U.S. military commander who oversees the African coastline said Friday. Gen. David Petraeus who came to the Capitol to talk about a wide variety of issues told a House committee Friday that just trying to outrun or block pirates from boarding cargo ships isn't enough to deter sea bandits off the Somali coast who are becoming more aggressive. The Pentagon is starting to study how to better protect merchant shipping, but hasn't yet come up with a formal plan.

The shipping industry has resisted arming their boats, which would deny them port in some nations.

In response to questions from a House Appropriations subcommittee, Petraeus said defensive preparations short of armed guards "can work. You can have water hoses and others that can make it more difficult."

But in a wry tone, he added: "It's tough to be on the end of a water hose if the other guy is on the end of an RPG. So you've got to think your way through that calculation as well."

What has puzzled me all along is why anti-pirate measures should be all that difficult. I mean, it's not as if these guys are bearing down on their prey in heavy cruisers with overwhelming firepower. The attacking force is typically a couple small boatloads of thugs armed with RPG's and maybe a few machine guns. It strikes me that even a moderately-armed merchie would be able to blow these clowns out of the water at 500 yards.

I understand that the hesitancy on the part of the merchant marine to fight back centers around not logistics or firepower but complications involving international law, port access and the like. It seems to me that at some point - especially when fighting lawless savages - one must jettison these niceties. (Of course, this is a variation on the old adage that the Constitution is not a suicide pact.) Where that point is, exactly, I don't know. But it strikes me that Gen. Petreus is suggesting we're pretty darn near it.