by Richard Watkins

Created on: April 20, 2009   Last Updated: April 22, 2009

The anti-piracy goals of the Combined Task Force 151 stop short at the water's edge. If the goal is to stop piracy, they will not meet it. In order to successfully stop pirates from capturing ships, kidnapping crew members, and looting cargo, the goal must not end at dry land. The problem that has caused piracy began in Somalia, not in the Gulf of Aden. Military personnel and officials realize this and are frustrated by it. The Combined Task Force is strictly a maritime force.

In order for there to be a successful anti-piracy program, it will take three successful keys: the maritime community (merchant ships) the coalition (military) and the governance of Somalia. So far the international military has come together to guard the waters, but the international community has failed Somalia. There is no real plan as to how to deal with the criminals while landbased.

The U.S. Military has U.S. Central Command task forces in hotspots like Afghanistan and Iraq, but not in Africa. Authorities say land based operations would have to be handled by AFRICOM. Spokespersons for AFRICOM say its the responsibilty of CENTCOM because that command has always handled security concerns in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The AFRICOM spokesman would not discuss what future operations might be held in Somalia, except to say that currently there are no land based operations to coincide with the Combined Task Force 151's efforts at sea. The CTF151 says that they are the sea, their charter is the water. As far as this goes, the goals are to stop piracy attacks at sea. Our military feels confident it can accomplish this goal, but to eliminate piracy more needs to be done for the country that it orginates from.

The United States led anti-piracy task forces consists of war ships from several different countries manned by military to help control the piracy problem in the Gulf of Aden. Several countries are taking part including Iran, China, Singapore, Japan, and European ships in protecting the waters in this dangerous but highly traveled gulf. Because each country cannot protect only its own merchant,s ships, all countries take part in protecting each other's.

The goal is to get international cooperation in protecting the shipping lanes for all. The other goal is to get the merchant shippers to take the necessary steps to travel the high risk waters more safely and to work together to look out for each other. With a military presence as large as this, the waters should become safer. One month after its formation, the United States arrested seven pirates and confiscated weapons on board their skiff after they failed to take over a German owned tanker.

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