“Next time, we won’t be so lucky.”

Shane Murphy, first officer of the freed U.S. merchant ship “Maersk Alabama,” called on the world Monday to wake up to the dangers of piracy. Murphy spoke less than 24 hours after the U.S. military killed three pirates who had been holding the captain of the Maersk Alabama hostage on a lifeboat.

“We would like to implore President Obama to use all of his resources and increase the commitment to ending this Somali pirate scourge,” Murphy said at a news conference in Mombasa, Kenya. “Right now there are ships being taken. At sea, it's a global community. It doesn't come down to nations.” Currently more than 200 mariners from a variety of nations remain captives at sea.

“America has to be at the forefront of this. It's time for us to step in and end this crisis. It's a crisis. Wake up. This crew is lucky to be out of this with every one of us alive. We're not going to be that lucky again.”

Many would ask, though, "is it the role of the United States to 'police' international waters?" In a time when U.S. Armed Forces are deployed in places such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Eastern Europe -- to name just a few -- should the U.S. be the nation "to be at the forefront?" Or should we be moving toward the forefront of crises such as those in Darfur and Zimbabwe?