Arrrrggghhhh!! Back in the day. Like the 1800's when the United States was starting to assert itself as world power through trade, the biggest threat to the country around the world was pirates. We built up the US Navy and sent them our through the sea-lanes of the world to make sure the world was safe for commerce. At the time the biggest nest of pirates was off the coast of North Africa.
Now that we have been distracted by imaginary nuclear weapons in Iraq, guess what's making a comeback. Pirates. Now, off the east coast of Africa. The Europeans are scrambling to come up with naval forces to keep the seaborn theives from stealing their oil tankers. Funny, you don't hear George Bush talking about pirates. Maybe that's a good thing.