Is it time for Congress to “grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal” since terrorists in the War on

[jody]

Terror have no country?

Our Constitution gives Congress the authority “To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water”.

Letter of marquee

A letter of marque is an official warrant or commission from a government authorizing the designated agent to search, seize, or destroy specified assets or personnel belonging to a foreign party which has committed some offense under the laws of nations against the assets or citizens of the issuing nation, and has usually been used to authorize private parties to raid and capture merchant shipping of an enemy nation.

The formal statement of the warrant is to authorize the agent to pass beyond the borders of the nation ("marque" or frontier), and there to search, seize, or destroy an enemy's vessel or fleet. It is considered a retaliatory measure short of a full declaration of war, and, by maintaining a rough proportionality, has been intended to justify the action to other nations, who might otherwise consider it an act of war or piracy. As with a domestic search, arrest, seizure, or death warrant, to be considered lawful it needs to have a certain degree of specificity to ensure that the agent does not exceed one's authority and the intent of the issuing authority.

Reprisal

In warfare, a reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of the laws of war to punish an enemy for breaking the laws of war. A legally executed reprisal is not an atrocity.

To be legally justified, a reprisal can only be directed against the party carrying out the original violation, can only be carried out as a last resort, after having given formal notice of the planned reprisal, must be proportionate to the original violation, must have the aim of persuading the original violator to comply with the legally accepted behavior in future, and must not continue after the illegal behavior ends.

[Redstone]

1. Isn't that what they gave Blackwater, minus the niceties and responsibilities?

Redstone

[jody]

4. Absolutely as long as Iraq exempts Blackwater from Iraqi justice. n/t

[DJ13]

2. Congress wont do that, and the President doesnt want it

The vague "war" on terror is a welfare program for the military industrial complex.

If the actual combatants were narrowly targeted it couldnt continue indefinitely.

[jody]

5. Some terrorist leaders like Bin Laden are known, couldn't they be targeted? n/t

[Hydra]

8. Bush declared that he wasn't interested in Bin Laden

I heard from someone that they had him at Tora Bora and ordered the sniper not to fire.

[jody]

10. Makes sense to me. n/t

[PVnRT]

3. Letters of marque? Like in the days of pirates?

Redstone is right, Blackwater already has that, they're just plundering the U.S. government instead of foreigners.

[jody]

6. Understand but Blackwater's role is not specifically a letter of marque because it was not issued by...

congress.

[PVnRT]

7. Yeah, I know

That was more hyperbole than anything.

[Hydra]

9. Privateers

We don't need those, really. We ignore the usual "rules" of war anyway.

[jody]

11. Privateers pay their own way. n/t

[Bandit]

12. You seem to believe in some manner Congress knows what it is doing.

I doubt anyone in Congress has ever heard of either of these. These are part of our laws and it has become increasingly apparent Congress knows nothing about our laws..

[jody]

13. I agree with you. You might enjoy the LTTE below I ran across related to this topic.

Electing congresspersons

The period of madness approaches known as Alabama's election season. I offer my simple solution to elect congresspersons to represent us in the U.S. House of Representatives.

I propose that every legal voter pay a modest fee of $10 to have their Social Security number entered into a congressperson lottery. One number would be chosen to represent each congressional district, about 165,000 voters.

Five hundred thousand dollars from the fees would be given immediately to the lucky winner. The remaining fees, more than $1 million, would be set aside to award to the winner based on voter approval of the congressperson's performance.

For example, voters would be asked after the winner has completed their two-year term, "Do you believe Congressperson Doe did a good job?"

If 90 percent answered "yes," then the congressperson would receive 90 percent of the lottery fees. That should be nearly $1 million. Of course, if only 10 percent answered "yes," the congressperson would receive about $110,000.

The only losers in my scheme would be do-nothing incumbents, preying lobbyists, political party functionaries and campaign lackeys.

The real winners would be We the People!

[razors edge]

14. Wouldn't the bulk of the reprisals

ultimately take place on the sovereign property of another nation requiring a deference to legislation and treaties later adopted concerning the State(s) in question?

[jody]

16. Perhaps but would letters of marque be appropriate? n/t

[razors edge]

17. Could be a start.

I just don't know how it would play out from there. Not a Constitutional lawyer myself. But I do like the way you think about reclaiming the document and using it for the purpose it was written.

[Recursion]

15. Actually several legal theorists have argued...

...that Congress's power to punish piracy is a better model for fighting terrorism than the President's power to wage (and Congress's long-abrogated power to declare) war.

They're probably right.