Pirates. In the spring of 2009, we followed their every exploit on the high seas with obsessive trepidation. Which ship did they capture today? Why are they doing this? And then we got distracted by something else, swine flu probably, and forgot about them entirely. Which is too bad, because the one good thing about the pirates is that it made us feel great when we defeated them, as when that team of snipers saved Maersk Alabama captain Richard Phillips. And in these Dark Times we live in, some pirate vanquishing would be kind of a nice pick-me-up, wouldn’t it? Luckily for us … it just happened.
Early this morning, a team of 24 Marines stormed a German-owned ship that had been captured yesterday by pirates off the coast of Yemen. Without even firing a shot, the Marines took control of the ship and detained the nine pirates onboard, ensuring that its very unsexy cargo of steel chains would arrive at its destination safely. It was “the first time that a U.S. military team boarded a large vessel under pirate control,” and it went flawlessly. Sure, those pirates were probably just a bunch of ragtag, malnourished African youths. But we’ll take our victories where we can get them. America!
U.S. Marines Retake Ship From Pirates [WSJ]
