Cleaning Up a NATO Mess

The title of this Reuters story should be: Clinton cleans up a NATO mess, or shorter Clinton, 'you folks f---ed up.'

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on top of the piracy problems related to NATO that popped up over the weekend. I mentioned the Dutch were not very happy with how their efforts were discarded and pirates were released. I think it sends an excellent message that Mrs. Clinton responded to this issue so quickly.

"We are going to have to determine the best way to bring pirates to justice after they are captured and there will have to be additional discussion of this at NATO, as well," she said at a joint news conference with Verhagen.

"The minister and I agreed that we will take this matter to NATO," she added.

The US Navy needs to buy the Obama administration some time. If the international coalition can buy just a few weeks and prevent hijackings, I get the impression the Secretary of State can fix some of these legal problems and get the law working for the international community, instead of against it.

This is a key point:

"If the Dutch navy had been operating under the EU (European Union), they could have turned over the pirates for trial. NATO has not provided that authority so we need to coordinate this, we need to move very quickly to do so. ... try to get this resolved," she said.

I like what I see here. A fast response to what is an obvious problem is always good. An emphasis on more international coordination is good. The focus on justice is good. These are all evolutionary steps, minor to be sure, but still in a positive direction. I don't know what the future role of NATO is for fighting piracy, but this incident has not reflected well regardless of NATO's intentions.