Captain Sarkozy Attacks.(International Edition; PIRATES)(France fights off piracy)

Byline: Christopher Dickey

France puts its prestige on the line against the pirates. It's winning--and America could, too.

In the dusty pirate havens of Puntland, a state within the failed state of Somalia, Kalashnikov-bearing buccaneers had grown leery of the French flag even before the latest skirmishes. Three times since April of last year Somali gunmen have seized pleasure boats with French passengers and crews--and all three times the French have negotiated, then attacked. "In Puntland they talk about avoiding 'the French option'," says John S. Burnett, author of the prescient 2002 study of modern piracy, "Dangerous Waters." "They know French commandos will come after them," says Burnett, "and some of these French guys are really tough mothers." At last count, the French had killed at least four pirates. One hostage died in a crossfire. But 12 alleged pirates have been taken to France to stand trial, with three more on the way. Another 11 have been landed in Kenya to face justice there.

There are lessons for the United States in the French actions, some of which may already have been learned. The rescue of the American Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama on Easter Sunday was carried out with tactics very similar to the French operations. American sharpshooters killed three of the Somali pirates and the one survivor is now in the United States awaiting trial. But the most important lessons are about what goes on before the first round is fired: defining the threat and coordinating the response.

The way things stand now, more than 300 sailors from all over the world are being held hostage by various Somali pirate organizations. Yet attempts to organize an international response have been less about collective action than a collection of inactions. At the moment, the United States, the Chinese, the Russians and several other states are linked together in what is called Combined Task Force 151, operating out of Bahrain, but since it was pulled together late last year that group has spent much more time observing pirates than deterring or attacking them.

There is also a NATO squadron of five ships moving through the Gulf of Aden on a show-the-flag mission from the Mediterranean to Southeast Asia. But when the NATO ships have detoured to fight pirates, they have pulled their punches: a Canadian warship foiled an attack on a Norwegian vessel April 19, disarmed the gunmen--then let them go. That same weekend Dutch Marines freed some 20 Yemeni captives of the pirates, but also set the waterborne brigands free. The legal ramifications of holding alleged pirates on a ship without trial until they can be taken to uncertain jurisdictions were deemed too complicated.

Why such disarray? Partly because of the shipping industry itself. No navy or collection of navies could patrol all the waters off Somalia all the time, and the pirate syndicates have good intelligence, apparently paying off sources in the shipping industry and working password-protected Web sites to identify ...