THERE ARE NO TRANSNATIONALISTS IN FOXHOLES:

Dutch sidestep EU red tape to rescue German ship (MIKE CORDER, 4/06/10, AP)

Gaining fast on the pirates who had seized a German freighter, Dutch naval captain Col. Hans Lodder had no time to waste on bureaucracy.

Sidestepping the command of the European Union's anti-piracy task force, he went instead to his own government for authorization to recapture the ship by force. [...]

Lodder said he decided to seek permission from his own command for an "opposed boarding" — one where pirates may resist — rather than act under procedures laid down by Brussels.

"We just told my force commander we would operate under national command until after the boarding," Lodder told The Associated Press. "We kept everyone in the EU informed of everything we did."

A spokesman for the EU mission acknowledged the Dutch action avoided a delay and was legitimate.

"For speed of reaction, if you're on the spot ... (and) dispatched at haste to react to something immediately, the best thing to do is to go under national command," said Cmdr. John Harbour, U.K.-based spokesman for the European Union Naval Force Somalia.