AMEN

For those who believe in miracles, today's rescue of the hostage, Captain Phillips, who had been held by Somalian pirates, might be seen as one. For the rest of us who don't believe in miracles, we show gratitude to the selection, training and bravery of the Navy Seals.

The media would like emulate Geraldo who was criticized for giving away so much information, he was giving troop locations away. The lay public does not have to know every detail of crime investigation, negotiations, policies in areas that would be compromised by the information being made public, and many other reasons. When people ask why the commercial vessels are not armed, they should listen to the many reasons it is actually safer that the pirates know they are not armed. There will be far less bloodshed that way. However, there is no reason there cannot be other ways to outwit these pirates, none of whom I have seen pictured look very old. Let's face it, there are cans of stuff that will fog vision, even temporarily blind. What if someone sprayed Nitrous oxide directly at a pirate, or some similar substance. What about booby traps on board ships. It would seem to me that clever minds could come up with many clever solutions other than making a target range out of the ships. Whatever is decided by law enforcement and the shipping companies, should not be shared with the public so that the pirates can be prepared for what they should unexpectedly meet.