Perhaps it's time to take the fight to the pirates

It's not Capt. Jack Sparrow holding an American hostage in the Indian Ocean. No swashbuckling is going on and there's nothing romantic about the thugs who hold people and shipping businesses ransom. So the world community has difficult decisions to make, and it appears as if they have to be made now.

Last week an American ship with relief aid was boarded by Somali pirates. The crew fought back and kicked the pirates off the ship, but not before the American ship's captain was taken hostage.

U.S. war ships have converged on the standoff and pirate ships are joining the fray. The pirates are bringing in other hijacked ships with dozens of hostages as human shields. U.S. ships have already turned back some of those pirate ships.

Somali pirates are making tens of millions of dollars every year hijacking ships and taking hostages. Shipping companies pay the money to get everyone back safely. They chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

Last week, French authorities killed two pirates and one of the hostages was also killed in the attack. Unfortunately, it looks as if a line in the sand has been drawn and it's time to risk lives to suppress this violence.

At some point we can't wink and nod at the pirates and pay them off. They live in a lawless land with no working government to control their actions. They have a safe haven in Somalia, and their attacks on the high seas keep increasing with money being easy.

We don't need a war in Somalia, but we must start fighting back against the pirate operations. Until now, hostages have been let go after ransoms were paid, but the world community can no longer sit back and allow this kind of criminal activity.

It's time to take the violence to the bad guys. Some innocent people will die, and if any of our loved ones were in harm's way, we probably would be less inclined to advocate violence, but this can't continue.

Until we fight back, there will be much more of the same. And it's likely to spread. Why wouldn't criminals want millions of easy dollars by hijacking a ship? It's surprising there isn't more of this going on. Of course, Somalia is the perfect place for these kinds of actions.

We're probably going to see more bloodshed of innocent lives. That's a terrible price to pay, but what's the alternative?