“I deny that these thugs can declare war.”
I tend to disagree on that. Being at war is a mindset and a behavior. These particular scumbags may not be organized in the customary ways in which we, as Western Civilizationers tend to see things, but, their words and recent deeds identify them as having an At War posture.
The whole “Declaration of War” thing has been so morphed, twisted and trivialized in our society that real cause and effect are lost in heaping mounds of nonsense.
If we, as a nation, engaged those who take an At War stance against us properly, efficiently and aggressively, such stances would become real unpopular real fast. As it is currently done, our lack of full range, broad spectrum and aggressively lethal response only serves to encourage those who see us as weak enough to be worth preying upon.
Such weakness is as much a lure to predators as the stink of decayed flesh is to jackals and hyenas.
Yes, but you’re missing the point, not I. Being in state of war imposes obligations on both parties to fight according to a code of war. These seagoing criminals would pull out all the stops, but the laws of war would restrain us or force us into reprisal upon reprisal.
My way is simpler. They’re criminals and if they’re caught in the act of piracy can be killed. You can’t kill prisoners of war.