Somalian Pirates

I have to admit that I was a little shocked and hard to convince when I heard that a couple of pirates had taken over a ship a few days ago. My initial reaction was one of surprise and I had to ask myself....do pirates still exist? When I think of pirates the first thought that comes to mind is "Pirates of the Caribbean". The image that automatically comes to mind is a dirty, disheveled man with a wooden leg and a patch over his eye. The movie depiction of pirates is somewhat comical in my opinion. The events that took place 5 days ago, however, was no laughing matter. A cargo ship carrying a US captain and crew members was attacked and the crew members taken hostage. Once I heard about this story on the news, I immediately decided to research piracy in the world and international seas. To my surprise, piracy is actually a serious problem to international shipping off the Somali coast and due to the most recent event I believe that something needs to be done to help fight piracy. Should the United States government step up to the plate and help combat piracy in lawless countries like Somalia? What type of consequences should be in place against captured pirates?