As Max noted, Somali pirates released the Sirius Star, the Saudi supertanker seized in November.  The U.S. Navy photographed the $3 million ransom dropped onto the ship by a remote-controlled parachute.

Did we try to apprehend the Somalis once they released the ship and its crew?  No, we did not.

We didn’t?  We didn’t do anything to stop the perpetrators even though we were close enough to record the events on film.

We should have captured or killed the Somalis instead of idly observing their chance drowning. Every pirate has now realized that the mightiest nation in history has, by its own hand, made itself weak and ineffectual.  This wasn’t “restraint”-it was paralysis.

And why should we care?  Because every rogue leader, dictator, and autocrat has also watched events off the coast of Somalia and learned the same lesson.

We may not deserve what happens next, but we should not be surprised when it occurs.