Captain Richard Phillips is the epitome of hero by any definition. His five day ordeal was crowned by the successful nighttime execution of precision marksmanship that took out his three captors. The White House bows for praise, and Senator Russ Feingold calls for direct U.S. involvement in stabilizing Somalia. Has nothing been learned from the experience of Iraq and Afghanistan?

The unquestionable talent of the Navy Seals and their role in successfully terminating this difficult confrontation with Somali pirates will never be fully recognized and applauded by a grateful nation, even if these adept soldiers deserve unrestrained accolades. When allowed to carry out a mission without encumbrances of political correctness, the military shows it can deliver with precision. Today, Captain Phillips and his family are no-doubt grateful for the support of a well trained and exceptionally skilled military. For the first time in his Presidency, Obama stayed out of the way and let experts successfully implement a solution.

Now, enter the politically afflicted meddlesome and sclerotic agendas permeating Washington. Enter the misguided politically correct foreclosures on common sense. Enter concepts of invasions and foreign nation building, and you have propositions for additional foreign policy disasters the likes of which can only be conjured up by an arrogant Administration and Congress.

With six and a half billion people populating this fragile planet, it is idiotic to believe that America can or should stabilize, democratize, infrastructurize, commercialize and adherentize every wayward country on Earth. Somalia, like a hundred other failed states, is a broken nation that America should not endeavor to morph into a modern country. America's responsibility is to itself and its own safety, which means shoring up its own capacities starting with its economy. Where its citizens are placed in harm's way, it should allow its soldiers full and ample latitude to take all necessary action against criminals or terrorists, including covert temporary insertions into foreign lands. Then get out and go home, rather than remain to implement some misguided plans to "fix"?a broken region.

Already in 2009, 78 ships have been attacked by pirates off the Somali coast, and calls for continued appeasement of pirate demands will persist for fear that their violence against hostages might escalate in retaliation. Support for these thieves is strong in the Somali population, and their financial backing comes from external sources supposedly based in places like Dubai or Mogadishu, suggesting that they are well entrenched at home.

America cannot and should not continue to finance and bear the burden of policing the world. Somalia is not simply a country, it represents a dysfunction that is a way of life for hundreds of millions around the world. The fast expanding world population presents an endless road of impossibilities, and America cannot be the infinite source of fixes for broken dreams and ruthless cycling dictatorships. Schemes such as those intended by Feingold should be ignored and drowned in the wisdom that has hopefully been harvested from the foray into Iraq.

Let's not confuse foreign aid, with intruding foreign meddling and foreign nation building.

James Raider writes  The Pacific Gate Post