Yaar, thar be pirates

Interesting news this week: pirates off the coast of Somalia took an American ship (the Maersk Alabama), but the situation has been resolved. The crew of the ship acted quickly and disabled it so that the pirates wouldn't be able to sail it. So three of the four pirates hopped in a lifeboat with the captain of the Maersk. After a while at sea, US Naval forces showed up (the SEALs), ready to rescue the captain. At least one of the pirates had an AK-47 assault rifle aimed at the captain's back, so the commanding officer gave the order to fire. Three Navy snipers dropped the three pirates at the same time, one head-shot each. The captain was rescued, safe and sound.

I have two main thoughts about the whole situation. The first is that it breaks my heart that things are so bad in Somalia that people are having to resort to piracy to make a living. The country basically has no government, and hasn't for a while. There is no easy solution in sight. Even sadder is that these men lost their lives essentially because of the situation they were in.

However, these men did have agency and they used it poorly. The life of an American citizen was in danger through no fault of his own. So my second thought is that how impressed I am with our military men and their skill. They took care of the situation quickly and efficiently, and saved the life of the captain. This is the sort of thing that you read about in a Tom Clancy novel, not hear about in real life.

So I'm glad the captain is ok, that the SEALs are awesome, and that the crew were quick on their feet to prevent bigger problems. But I'm also wondering, what can be done to help the Somali people and prevent this sort of thing from continuing/happening again?