A SEAL Team could take care of this BS...

[MicroBalrog]

Nope. 
We made a deal with someone who would love to attack America to finance them, though.
Seems to be a theme.

Have the French ever attacked America?

[freedom lover]

Yep. French and Indian War circa mid 1700's.

[MicroBalrog]

Yep. French and Indian War circa mid 1700's.

Now that is a smart-aleck answer. :D

THe point is, after America supported France, numerous times, it hasn't come back to bite it.

[Jamisjockey]

Now that is a smart-aleck answer. :D

THe point is, after America supported France, numerous times, it hasn't come back to bite it.

France is a stable worldly power without massive religious anti-western ideologoy. 

[MicroBalrog]

France is a stable worldly power without massive religious anti-western ideologoy. 

So now we're back to discussing this on a case by case basis. Which is exactly what I think we should be doing.

[red headed stranger]

Did the Iraqis or the Afghan warlords ever leave Iraq and Afghanistan to attack the US?

That is not the point in my mind.  In both cases we facilitated the rise of tyrannical governments.  I'm not too fond of US resources being used to do that.   

[Nitrogen]

Would you suggest America should have let the Soviets take over Afghanistan?

No, but we should have kept influence in the area instead of just abandoning it to the wackos we funded and armed, the way Charlie Wilson later wish he had pushed Congress to do.

[roo_ster]

So now we're back to discussing this on a case by case basis. Which is exactly what I think we should be doing.

Agreed.

Also, sometimes the best possible answer will have some consequences that are undesirable.  Reality is complex and dangerous.

[Bigjake]

France is a stable worldly power without massive religious anti-western ideologoy. 

Give it a few decades... 

[KD5NRH]

That is the key tight there.  You can kill as many as you want but if they make $10m at a pop, it won't matter.

Sure it will; you've just got to make sure you want to kill them all.  If you're quick and visibly successful, you'll do fine.

I can think of plenty of things I might do for $10,000,000, except for the fact that I would have less than a .01% chance of surviving any of them long enough to even accept the payment, much less spend it.

[Jamisjockey]

So now we're back to discussing this on a case by case basis. Which is exactly what I think we should be doing.

Okay, fine.

In this case, the people we could fund to deal with the pirates are Islamofacisanticals......people who'd like to kill us and destroy our western way of life.  Our track record with funding and arming these types is piss poor.