Senator declares war on pirates

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) announced a plan on the Senate floor Thursday to defeat pirates sailing near the Horn of Africa.

"Once pirates put to sea we can be their masters," said Kirk. "They have very weak means of opposing us. A set of vessels blockading pirate-dominated ports with aggressive orders to attack or sink any vessels leaving Somali ports should make quick work of pirate operations."

Kirk was responding to a series of attacks plaguing the Gulf of Aden that have taken the lives of American citizens. In one such attack last week, pirates killed four Americans who were yachting in a remote stretch of sea between Oman and Somalia.

Kirk's plan, as presented in his speech on the Senate floor, would take four actions:

1. Create a pirate exclusion zone that would allow the boarding or sinking of any ship leaving Somali waters that was not first approved and certified by allied forces.

2. Create an expedited legal system to facilitate the swift prosecution of pirates captured on the high seas.

3. Blockade pirate-dominated ports like the one in Hobyo, Somalia.

4. Broaden the U.S. Navy's power to attack and arrest pirates that leave Somalia's 12-mile territorial limit.

Kirk said his plan could "include the summary sinking of pirate ships."