Have you ever wondered which is the most corrupt nation on the planet? Transparency International's corruption index gives Somalia that prize. It's ranked last out of 180 nations.

In the jargon of foreign policy, a nation not working well is a "failed state." Have you ever wondered which evidences the greatest failure? Competition is great. Zimbabwe, North Korea and Burma come to mind. But Foreign Policy magazine gave the 2008 prize to … Somalia. The nation, on central Africa's eastern coast, presents a dark picture.

Somali pirates have hijacked 42 ships in the Gulf of Aden in the last year. Fourteen are still being held. Right now, three Chinese warships are steaming to the gulf to join an impromptu navy formed by more than a dozen nations in recent weeks.

That's the world's response to the catastrophe that is Somalia: treat the most overt symptom. In mid-December the United Nations gave up its effort to create a peace-keeping force to restore some semblance of order. "Not one nation has volunteered to lead," acknowledged Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary-general.

A so-called transitional government controls no more than a few square blocks of downtown in the capital, Mogadishu. Even with that, the nation's president resigned last week, adding to the turmoil. Meantime, Islamic militants battle for the rest of the country while imposing a form of Islamic governance so extreme that it might give even the Taliban pause. These militants preach jihad against America and threaten air traffic flying into Mogadishu as well as the shipping lanes. All the while, many of Somalia's people starve.

Some grow so desperate that they pay smugglers to take them to Yemen – hardly a beacon of security and prosperity. But too often, Somali smugglers cram hundreds into their boats, take their money, ferry them a few miles offshore of Yemen, then throw them overboard. They have to swim ashore through shark-filled waters.

Most people still in Somalia rely on humanitarian aid, but militants are also kidnapping aid workers.

Why should we care? People are wasting away in a dozen or more nations around the globe. What makes Somalia "special"? It's just the sort of nation – lawless, disaffected, anti-Western – that attracts al-Qaida operatives and others of that ilk.

Western intelligence officials have said for weeks that these types are making homes there. They need only stand outside one of those mosques preaching jihad to find recruits.

The day is past when the West can turn a blind eye toward troubled nations. The world is connected in so many ways, both laudable and malign. It's perfectly understandable that no nation would be eager to send peacekeeping troops to so treacherous a place.

What other nation has hosted a peacekeeping mission that was such a spectacular failure that it spawned a major motion picture: "Black Hawk Down"? But the stakes are just too high, and not just for the United States. When the Bush administration helped Ethiopia invade Somalia in 2006 to depose the Islamic regime, that inexorably led to the chaotic state that is Somalia today. The nation wound up with an Islamic regime that also hates America.

A nation that Islamic militants control is not going to host jihadists whose only targets are in the United States. Western interests everywhere are fair game. If anyone doubts how evil these people really are, consider a repugnant incident two months ago.

In Kismayu, a port city, 13-year-old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was on her way to visit her grandmother. Three thugs raped her. Her family tried to report the rape to the al-Shebab militia that controls the city. After hearing the story, the militiamen charged Aisha with adultery and sentenced her to death.

Two days later, militiamen hauled her to a city stadium. The teen was buried up to her neck. About 50 men stoned Aisha to death; 1,000 spectators looked on.

I understand how hard it is to send young men to serve in such a place, even under a blue U.N. hat. But don't think only about terror groups setting up shop there. Think of Aisha.