Yep - we have the most sophisticated military hardware in the world... but we're helpless against third-world pirates in a lifeboat!
In an age of "asymmetric warfare" the biggest & best high-tech weapons systems don't work.
In Iraq & Afghanistan we've been thwarted by third-world insurgents using car bombs, RPGs, and IEDs.
The use of "predator drones" inside Pakistan?
"WASHINGTON — Even as the Obama administration launches new drone attacks into Pakistan’s remote tribal areas, concerns are growing among U.S. intelligence and military officials that the strikes are bolstering the Islamic insurgency by prompting Islamist radicals to disperse into the country’s heartland.I note that we were driven from Vietnam 35 years ago having lost a similarly asymmetric war.
...
Moreover, they said, the strikes by the missile-firing drones are a recruiting boon for extremists because of the unintended civilian casualties that have prompted widespread anger against the U.S."
[U.S. drones: Killing Pakistan extremists or recruiting them?, 8 Apr 2009. Emphasis added.]
We've learned nothing since then???
What is keeping our military at bay is that they want to save the one guys life. If we didn't value the hostage's life, then the navy could turn the pirates into a fine red mist.
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