Go Navy!

The best news story I have heard in months was written about the rescue of a U.S. ship captain from pirates. You've all heard about it. Navy Seals shot and killed three pirates. That's what I'm talking about!

Finally we have a clear example of proper force being used when we felt our interests or citizens were threatened. At I haven't heard anyone crying about the poor pirates (which is surprising). Of course these were lower level henchmen. Of course they come from poor countries with few choice. But they made a choice to threaten a U.S. citizen, and I'm glad they got shot for it. Actually, we need a bit more of that.

Our kinder and gentler approach to creating a peaceful world has me exceptionally worried. The reasons are simple, and are as true on an elementary playground as they are in global politics:

1. Bad people take advantage of weakness, unfairly
2. Talk is cheap, truth is apparent only in action
3. Pretending to abide by the rules while continuing to behave badly only fools blind idealists, the willfully ignorant, and cowards looking for excuses.

Iran, North Korea, Pirates, Hamas, Al Qaeda - these are bad people. Bad people intent on doing harm. In my personal experience (and yes, I've been on the wrong end of a gun before) bad people will abuse every opportunity for as long as possible. They will lie, cheat, stall, steal, and beg if it furthers their goal of achieving power (the only real goal they seem to have). This leaves only one option - a powerful response.

Powerful responses must be three things:
Decisive
Clear - to the point of being impossible to misunderstand
Without apology

The item on that list that is most often screwed up when people attempt to act strongly is the "without apology" part. It is one thing to feel badly about needing to act strongly, it is another to apologize for doing so. Mixing up the two feelings puts you at risk of further harm, as guilt shows weakness.

Shoot more pirates. Stand tall about it. It may not be fun, or pretty, or fair, or proud. But it is necessary. And we must have the courage to do hard things if we expect to defeat bad people.