Posted on 09/14/2001 11:15:24 PM PDT by Uriel1975
As you've probably heard, Bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist organization is estimated at as many as 20,000 followers in a loose-knit collective spanning as many as 37 countries. While Federal military action is entirely justified against the actual nation-States proven to be active sponsors and harbors of organized terrorist operations, surely we do not expect to declare National War on all of these countries where recruitment, support, and training cells exist. Nor should we trust the (shall we say, not 100% perfect) resources of US counter-terrorist Intelligence, hamstrung in their operations by the "rules of engagement" imposed upon them by the nature of their work and by their host countries to effectively eliminate these cancers. So -- what are we to do?
The Issuance of Letters of Marque and Reprisal is a fully-Constitutional Federal Power which was specifically intended for the prosecution of Vengeance against the "stateless terrorists" of the Founder's day -- Pirates, Brigands, private armies, military adventurers, etc.
The purpose of a Letter of Marque and Reprisal is to create a financial incentive for private-sector military professionals -- trained mercenaries with an ability to travel individually or in small groups without detection -- to bring justice to those "stateless terrorists" identified as enemies of the citizenry. To gather intelligence on the ground, hunt these individuals down where they are hiding, and apprehend or eliminate them in their nests. The advantages of these private, paramilitary units (which are NOT mutually exclusive to a purposeful and directed Military response against defined physical targets) may suggest themselves already; so let's address the disadvantages first:
-- so does the US Criminal Justice system, every year... but we still prosecute Murder, because Murders must be avenged. But - bearing in mind for a moment that this is not a perfect world - ask yourself this: Who is likely to kill more innocent people -- a private mercenary unit who is looking for a specific individual so that they'll get paid, and knows that getting caught "in-country" could leave them at the mercies of a hostile foreign kangaroo court if they hit the wrong target..... or a B-52 bomber at 20,000 feet??
-- They already did try to kill the President (and Congress, too), and the soon-to-be-coming mass bombing raids against diverse and sundry Jihadistans aren't very likely to make them cozy up to us and play nice.
-- September 11, 2001. And what is stopping them from doing it again, using different tactics, against different civilian targets is... what? The point is bloody well moot.
-- Yes, and I'm proposing to pay them a heck of a lot more than the average 18-year old infantryman we're about to put into harm's way - and only if they volunteer for the mission, at that.
-- Puh-leeze. Congress just busted the budget to the tune of $40 Billion for what may turn out to be the preliminary battles in a long war. We could bounty the heads of every single al-Qaeda operative at $1/2 million apiece for a quarter of that. And amounts averaging that level are probably appropriate, given a desire for swift and effective retribution, and the dangers that private contractors will face.
Those objections addressed, let's now consider a proposal.
RESOLVED, That the Senators and Representatives of the United States in Congress Assembled, acting by the Powers granted them under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution of the United States of America, do hereby issue and grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal against those agents and operatives of the Al-Qaeda Terrorist Organization, such as the Department of Defense acting on the direction of the President in consultation with this Congress, shall specify. Terms:
In support of the prosecution of these Letters of Marque and Reprisal, the Congress of the United States directs the Department of Defense to provide registered contractors with such armaments, equipment, logistical support, and intelligence as the contractors shall reasonably require; and may provide such discrete transportation and assistance in the prosecution of these contracts as the Department of Defense shall deem appropriate. However, in the case of capture by a hostile agency, the Department of Defense shall have the right to disavow any knowledge of, or responsibility for, the contractors in question; especially in the case of any contractor action against targets not specified for Reprisal by the Department of Defense.
Good one! I wonder what these terrorists would say if we invited them to a Texas Style Pig Roast -- and they were the main course!
I do like "American YEEHAWD" though. This saying would also pay respect to the great state of Texas, from which our President hails.
We could even change the slogan from "Don't Mess With Texas", to "Don't Mess With The USA!"
Store owners 'double price of US flags'
Florida governor Jeb Bush has made an emergency declaration allowing prosecution of retailers hiking up prices in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
State officials say they have received 300 complaints in the last five days about inflated prices on American flags and other patriotic items.
State Attorney General Bob Butterworth says in one case a South Florida store owner had doubled the price of flags.
Retailers found guilty of profiteering will face fines of up to $25,000 (about £17,000), reports the St Louis Post-Dispatch.
Story filed: 20:22 Saturday 15th September 2001
The Issuance of Letters of Marque and Reprisal is a fully-Constitutional Federal Power which was specifically intended for the prosecution of Vengeance against the "stateless terrorists" of the Founder's day -- Pirates, Brigands, private armies, military adventurers, etc.
The purpose of a Letter of Marque and Reprisal is to create a financial incentive for private-sector military professionals -- trained mercenaries with an ability to travel individually or in small groups without detection -- to bring justice to those "stateless terrorists" identified as enemies of the citizenry. To gather intelligence on the ground, hunt these individuals down where they are hiding, and apprehend or eliminate them in their nests.
The Founders wrote into our Constitution, a pretty good answer to your question.
JH2, check this out.
Well, I threw it together on the fly, but on review I think it turned out okay, I guess...
It's about as finalized as it needs to be, I suppose.
Only two corrections immediately spring out at me:
2.) There should be a line-space between the end of Clause #4 (Stated Bounties) and the beginning of Clause #5 (Provisions and Reservations).
With those corrections, feel free to copy this to anyone whom you would like, excepting only that you should confer any further revisions with me in advance, and give proper attribution (My bona-fides will be in your FReepMail box shortly). Thanks. ***Addendum -- you know that I tend to use bolding and underlining to attempt the simulation in written text of an emphatic "debate-style" speaking voice. Feel free to tone it down if you like, or just use the raw text if you prefer.
United States CIA/NSA, British MI-6, and Israeli Mossad/Shin-Bet can do the honors of assembling the list. Final List be reviewed and approved by, I would suppose, SecDef (or his appropriate lieutenants).
and then a means to prove that the kill has occurred,
Required Terms of Proof (perhaps photographic, perhaps physical evidence -- this is war, there's no excuse to be squeamish) may be specified by SecDef as condition of Bounty.
and that may be difficult if in a hostile zone.
Indeed. And that is a strong argument for permitting acceptance of these letters of Marque and Reprisal by ex-military, ex-intel, or ex-security mercenaries (as I suggest) and refusing their acceptance to, say, dogcatchers (also as I suggest -- clause, #1: "excepting those contractors whose services the Department of Defense shall consider prudent to refuse")
Assuming the US is willing to get its agents to go down and dirty, this free lance scheme seems to involve risks that exceed the benefits.
The private mercenaries going after righteous Vengeance and a half-million bucks per terrorist head (rough average) are entitled to be the judge of that, don't you think?? Nobody's drafting them, this is (by definition) a volunteer-only operation. Ross Perot 1979, albeit search-and-destroy, not seek-and-rescue (Yes, Perot's op was a little messier in execution than most people realize. But that is to be expected. The bottom line is, they went in, fully accomplished the mission objectives, and got out. Fact.).
I doubt Islamic nations will tolerate free lancers wandering around in any event,
Who said the free lancers are going to ask anybody's permission? Clause #5: "in the case of capture by a hostile agency, the Department of Defense shall have the right to disavow any knowledge of, or responsibility for, the contractors in question".
Registered Contractors go in with no implied safety net. They know this. The opportunity for vengeance, and the money, are freely offered; so are the risks.
while they would have to accommodate US agents.
Sure they'd "accomodate" official US government agents (somewhat) -- Although if Al-Qaeda really does have 20,000 followers world-wide, "official" US Counter-Terror just got stretched real Freepin' thin. Whaddya suppose message we're gonna send to over 1,000-2,000+ individual terrorist cells worldwide? "Please take a number, US Government Counter-Terror Ops will get to your case eventually??"
Meanwhile, the Islamic "host country" security service guy assigned to act as liaison to US Dep't. of State makes a phone call tipping off his cousin's brother-in-law (who is the local Bin Laden cell leader) that US Counter-Terror is going to swing by his safe house in 30 minutes... and he's gone like the wind.
Free-lancers, on the other hand, are not going to be constrained by the usual red tape... and besides, free-lancers aren't Mutually Exclusive to "official" US Counter-Terror ops anyway, they're just coming from a different level, and from a different direction.
And it seems to me that's a good idea, as the Battlefield doesn't seem particularly "two-dimensional" anymore after Sept. 11, 2001. We're not going to win a 3-d chess game if we only play a single-level game.
I've gotta prayer meeting before Sunday Evening Church tonight. See you after the service.
I'm not sure that you understand how deep cover government agents operate. They don't have a host government nanny. But if they get in trouble with the host government, the host government would be told to lay off.
The stakes are huge, the threats are real and permeating the whole society through muslim inlets and their supporters as well as possible diplomatic special forces used on US soil to assist them on technicalities. We are at war, we have no time to discuss the sex of the angels, we have to scatter indeed and isolate muslims, their supporters and diplomats. Can America do that? In the current mood of political correctness it is a difficult task, one that looks like trying to inform Jerusalem in 52 AD that it is about to be destroyed by a Roman army at the gates....
Judgment Day America.
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