During the Bush administration, Somali pirates knew that to attack American vessels meant “shock and awe,” or meant “you are either with us or against us,” or meant “bring it on.” With the Obama administration, the Somali pirates reached a different conclusion. With all the talk of meeting and negotiating with dictators, ending rough treatment of terrorist detainees, and taking a less militant approach to the now-defunct “war on terror,” these pirates thought that America had softened up. They were woefully mistaken.

First of all, just because the commander in chief is preaching a softer approach to foreign policy, it does not make America less American. The pirates thought that they could simply take one of our ships, but the crew fought them back. Then they kidnapped the captain as they retreated in a lifeboat, only to have the captain escape by jumping into the middle of the Indian Ocean. The pirates recovered him but not before a guided missile destroyer, a guided missile frigate, and an amphibious assault vessel started to close in on the boat. Once they caught up, during hostage negotiations, snipers killed three out of four pirates, captured the last, and rescued the captain. Mission Accomplished. Obama authorized the rescue attempt in probably the best decision of his presidency thus far.

It was simple really, if you unleash our the best trained military in the world and give them the tools that they need to perform, they will deliver. Our military has overrun countries in weeks time. Casualties on our side have been at historical lows and the better we get, the fewer of our soldiers will be harmed. We are a 21st century military, but we need a 21st century foreign policy to back it up. The image of weakness abroad has already emboldened North Korea, Somali pirates, and Iran has shown no signs of backing down. The best war strategy is to win without firing a single shot… with fanatical terrorists this is not possible, but with more clear-headed adversaries, we can influence their behavior by not giving them the impression that we will never answer with force. I don’t think that this latest event with pirates will convince the world that the Obama administration means business in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, but its a start.

If we do not make it clear to the world that we are willing and able to use the American military without hesitation, then we make such confrontations more likely and we put our soldiers at risk. Even the during the hawkish Bush administration, many countries assumed that we could not send our troops anywhere else in the world because we were “bogged down” in Iraq and Afghanistan, a message that was carried by Al Qaeda, Iran, international news agencies, our own news agencies, and our own politicians. This led Al Qaeda, North Korea, Iran, and Syria to feel safer… that is, until we started carrying out precision strikes in Pakistan, started detaining Iranians in Iraq, and helped Israel bomb Syria. All in a days work and the world took note. Obama should not let his utopian ideas of human nature be seen as weakness in the world. Even now, the pirates are saying that it was just a fluke and have vowed revenge. Hopefully, the current administration will take action to keep America safe… it’s OK to speak softly, but make sure you’re carrying that big stick.

-AG