Buoyed by the remarkable marksmanship of U.S. Navy SEALs against Somali pirates, a debate has emerged about the wisdom of bombing the pirates' support infrastructure onshore in Somalia. Given the painful memory of 18 U.S. soldiers killed in 1993 in Mogadishu in the "Black Hawk Down" battle, deploying U.S. ground forces in Somalia is not seriously being considered, making airstrikes the best military option.

However, before unleashing the United States' vast arsenal of long-range air power against impoverished seaside villages, it is important to recall that the U.S. has already bombed Somalia five times in the last 2 1/2 years with little military or political success, according to media reports. These results show that intermittent attacks against militants in a failed...