Piracy on the high seas... TODAY

It looks like the Jolly Roger has come out of retirement..

As counterterrorism experts worry aloud about the risk of a USS Cole (search)-style attack on commercial shipping, the number of violent attacks and acts of piracy on oil tankers and other commercial vessels worldwide has soared 37 percent over last year. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy, tasked with protecting U.S. interests in all the world�s oceans, has shrunk to its smallest size in almost 100 years.

The trend in shipping attacks is alarming. The 234 attacks between January and June 2003 were not only more numerous but also more deadly and dangerous than before, with more deaths and hostage-takings. In addition, recent months have seen heavily armed attackers target small oil tankers in the Malacca Strait (search), in ambushes that the International Maritime Bureau, which compiles the data, describes as �politically motivated.� Among the suspects are Muslim rebels from Indonesia�s breakaway region of Aceh (search), which has ties to international terrorism.

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