Vive La France: France Raids Somalian Pirate Camp

I'm not one to cheer for violence, but I have no sympathy for these pirate thugs. Vive La France!

French commandos seized six pirates in Somalia on Friday during a daring helicopter raid launched shortly after the bandits had released the 30-strong crew of a luxury yacht hijacked last week.

French officials said the owners of the yacht paid a ransom to obtain the freedom of the crew and as soon as it was clear that they were all safe, the commandos went into action aboard helicopters to track down the pirates.

A district commissioner in Somalia told Reuters that five local people had died in the attack, but the French military denied killing anyone in their daylight raid.

Daylight raid. Very nice. The report is a very good read of the attack. It also looks like we were on target, the FS Jeanne D'Arc (R 97) was involved, very nice for an old warhorse. Sometimes having the right tools for the job in the region makes a big difference. Interesting, there are a bunch of cadets from a bunch of other nations on her during this cruise, and they just learned a handy lesson for the future regarding how to deal with thugs.

I've been impressed with Sarkozy from the beginning, and some very smart French friends of mine told me my optimism was misplaced. Just got off the phone with one such friend, and I love hearing the words "you were right" in that sexy French accent.

Not the point though. The point is hostage taking just got more dangerous for the pirates of Somalia. Next time regional pirates come across a French flagged ship, my bet is they bypass it and find a ship flagged to a weaker nation. This action offers the foundation for deterrence in the future, and in the long run makes maritime traffic in the region safer.

God bless those commandos, may they all return home safely. Anyone who snarks France leads from the back of the line is now out of line, they just took point, and have been doing so on a number of the very tough military issues lately.

And for the record, we found this a very interesting aspect of the story:

A French admiral was also parachuted into the sea and picked up by the task force to help lead the operation.

Just curious, but can your Admiral do that?