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Seriously, it seems strange that US Administrations can push our country into wars of questionable justification and value and grind whole nations into the dirt, putting thousands of American lives at risk, but faced with a few pirates with AK-47s and RPGs, the mighty US military is strangely impotent.
Our leaders would do well to recall that when the Barbary pirates ruled the Mediterranean, it was the fledgling US that first refused to play ball, basically going to war against the pirates even as the pirates held US hostages, while major powers such as England and France refused to join a US proposed coalition and continued to pay ransoms. For its efforts, the US was the first to be free of trouble from the pirates, while the rest of Europe continued to pay ransoms for another fifteen years.
My advice is this. The pirates coming to the rescue of the four in the lifeboat with Captain Phillips and holding hostages as human shields must not be allowed to approach the lifeboat, because they cannot be allowed to return to their home port with Captain Phillips as a hostage as well. That would be to completely lose control of the situation, now and for the near future.
The pirates will not kill any of the hostages, provided the US Navy makes it clear that their vessels will be sunk in response, should the pirates harm a hostage or try to approach the lifeboat. It needs to be communicated clearly that is no bluff. If the pirates think they can call the Navy's bluff and decide to test it by killing a hostage or approaching the lifeboat, then the Navy needs to put a few armor-piercing rounds through their engine(s) and leave them adrift at sea like the lifeboat. The home countries of the hostages on those boats may then come to the aid of their citizens.
The four pirates on the lifeboat must not be re-supplied with food or water, and a US warship cannot be dedicated to this standoff for months should the lifeboat happen to have enough supplies already on board to do that. At some point, three or fours days into this seems sufficient, divers should approach the lifeboat and put a hole in it with a small charge. It should be explained to the pirates in advance that if they harm Captain Phillips, or chain, handcuff, or tie him so he goes down with the lifeboat, all four pirates will be tried and promptly executed for piracy and murder.
I would hate to see any harm come to Captain Phillips, he's obviously behaved heroically, but that is the way it must be, if American crews want to serve on vessels that sail in pirate-infested waters. Otherwise, they must be prepared to defend their vessels more effectively, face the consequent risks of being captured, or simply refuse such service, particulary if the companies operating the vessels refuse to adequately arm the crew.
