Something needs to be done to stop the problem, though this is a significant escalation. Taking the battle to the beaches might easily become ugly though, unless there's a clear idea about who is on the beaches. Despite all of the talk about pinpoint accuracy with the modern military, the reality is that a lot of innocent civilians are still being killed. If this new policy starts, civilian deaths are certain to be part of the future. Just because the future dead civilians are likely to be poor Africans, doesn't make it any less of a problem. The western military doesn't see it that way, but the political leadership should. Al Jazeera:
Germany's foreign ministry has said that the European Union is considering giving its anti-piracy forces the go-ahead to attack Somali pirate bases on the ground. Anti-piracy operations currently take place in the Indian Ocean, but in future the forces could be allowed to attack pirates' arms dumps, boats and bases. Andreas Peschke, German foreign ministry spokesman, said on Friday that the "limited destruction of piracy logistics on the beach" is under discussion but "no deployment on land".
