The cheap way to deal with piracy

The pirates that have been terrorizing shipping and fishing areas along the coast of Africa have become quite a nuisance as of late.  Pirate activity has cost companies millions of dollars in ransom fees and lost time.

The United States Navy and other navies from around the world have descended upon the area in an attempt to reduce piracy, but the task is almost undoable.  The area that needs to be covered is a third the size of the United States and there is simply no way to have enough ships and equipment to deal with piracy on the open sea.  The only solution is to stop the pirates on land: take away their safe havens and eliminate their ability to get their boats into the water.  The only way to do that it seems is through a military invasion of Somalia - a failed state that is almost completely lawless.  That would mean invading and trying to set up a working government at a time when the U.S. is already engaged in similar actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Invasion and occupation of yet another country is not an option at this time.  Other governments in the area are equally loathe to commit to such an operation, not wanting to get involved in what is essentially a chaotic mess.  Some, predictably, have called for bombing the small fishing villages and towns that the pirates use for safe harbor.  That is a knee-jerk reaction and would do little to halt the problem and it would harm the local population that depends upon the fishing industry for food and jobs.

One possible solution, and it is a solution that would require one to hold his or her nose while doing it, would be to use security contractors to take control of the fishing villages and towns that are used by the pirates.  There are already plenty of contractors in the area at the moment in Iraq.  The U.S. would not have to foot the bill for the entire operation either; local governments and shipping companies could all help pay for the operation.

Groups like Blackwater/XE would be able to take over the pirate ports and hold them without having to worry about actually dealing with the large problem of the Somali government.  It might even be a boon for the local economies because those security contractors, or mercenaries as I tend to call them, could use those villages as recruiting locations - giving those that may have been involved in piracy a way to make legitimate money.  They already have experience with weapons, after all.  It isn’t a good solution to the problem, but it is a cheap and quick solution.