My Pirates Solution: Kill Them

I have little interest in calls for bombing Iran. The record, in Iran and its neighborhood, traced back at least 50 years, disinclines American intervention. The advocates, with a record that includes "greeted as liberators," "six months, tops" and "it will pay for itself." don't inspire confidence.

The invasion of Grenada, in my judgment, was petty bullying (unless the United States should have feared Grenada).

There are times, however, when the United States military is an unalloyed, reliable and indispensable force for good -- and this is one of them. When pirates attack a U.S.-flagged vessel, it is time to identify, track and destroy some pirates and their boats.

Frank Zappa, whose work I have long intended to introduce myself to someday, once observed that "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline." I propose expansion of that list to include superiority over pirates.