There is no excusing bad behavior on the part of the pirates as they have been doing this for centuries. Moreover, I sincerely doubt it's about feeding starving families because neither a wide screen television, nor a luxury automobile, is very nutritious.
And yes, the U.S. military was brutal in the Philippine-American War. We were fighting guerrilla forces in a declared war. And atrocities were committed by both belligerents in that war.
At the time, there was a great deal of domestic political pressure to end that conflict. And it was ended. Ultimately resulting in Philippine Independence.
And, not 50 years later the U.S. was defending the Independent Philippines, side by side with Filipinos, against a much more brutal occupier - The Japanese. The U.S. liberated the Philippines with Filipino partisans and guerrillas.
But that is beside the point as Somalia and the Philippines are on two separate continents.