[Texasforever]

. If so, then we are at war with a nation that lacks recognized country borders, just as the President said.

I think that is exactly right and the fact is that that is what Jefferson and Congress thought also. The point of this post was to try to clear up the argument that Congress "declared war" on the Barbary Pirates and that this congress should follow that precedent otherwise Bush is not exercising his war powers as CIC in a time of war unconstitutionally. The fact seems to be that he AND congress are following the exact model that Jefferson and his congress used.

[RightWhale]

The point of this post was to try to clear up the argument that Congress "declared war" on the Barbary Pirates

It is an exceptionally clear piece of writing. I have been avoiding use of the term --war--, but now I see there is no reason to continue doing so.