Posted on 10/10/2001 12:44:32 PM PDT by Demidog
I just received a call from my contact at Ron Paul's office.
Ron Paul today introduced two bills into the House of Representatives which would authorize the State Department to issue letters of Marque authorizing privateers to attack and collect assets from terrorists who commit hostile acts against the U.S.
This means that you (yes you personallywould be able to help to bring down the rogue and nationless enemies of the United States provided you meet a few requirements.
The precendence for this bill is based on specific Constitutional powers and was seen as a remedy by our founders for those nationaless terrorists who committed acts against U.S. merchant ships on the high seas. We're dealing with Pirates here and a significant effort has been made by Ron Paul's team to create a legal definition for "Air Piracy" which would include hijackings.
The text of the Bills have not been published yet but I will update everyone the moment the text becomes available.
The Bills are: H.R. 3074 and H.R. 3076
Please call your congressman and tell him that you want them to either sponsor or support this bill.
Ron Paul Rules.
This is the sort procedure the "crown"{Bush ancestors, look it up} used to deal with pirates back in the day.
Do you know what the requirements are?
I like the Pirate angle.
What is the point of such grand-standing?
Write your congress critters. Demand that all non citizen Muslims be deported NOW. This will make the FBI's job easier in watching the remaining ones. They (the 'citizen' Moslems) may have to go too however.
If my 'culturist' sentiments bother you .... ask yourself this: "Was that fat lady leafing through the Natl. Enquirer in the line in front of me today sending anthrax spoors into the air around me?"
All the terrs had to do was infiltrate the infrastructure of The Sun and dump anthrax spoors into ONE press run.
I can not see it passing. Sounds good though.
Now he wants to authorize American citizens to play Rambo in foreign countries.
I'm beginning to really wonder about this guy.
A quick clarification, if I may:
When people like Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson contort and revise their "principles" if doing so affords them opportunities to keep themselves in the public eye, it's grandstanding.
When Ron Paul, who has been an aggressive champion of the Constitution, personal liberty, and the Rule of Law acts (as he has thousands of times over the years) on his beliefs, it's being principled.
Same for terrorists. A bounty hunter who lives for the chase is willing to cross from jurisdiction to jurisdiction to track someone down. Quite routinely bounty hunters will go to Mexico to grab someone who jumped bail in California or Texas. They're more efficient than cops, who would have to notify local Mexican authorities, argue extradition, etc. Red tape dissolves when privateers are around.
Uriel1975 initiated it on the following threads and engaged Murray Sabrin to give us a bit of a push.
CAPITALISM AT ITS FINEST... A Modest Proposal for Citizen's War
A Modest Proposal for Citizen's War... Mobilizing the Forces (MARQUE & REPRISAL UPDATE)
Please read there for an excellent discussion of the issues.
I don't mind explaining to folks about the nuances of privateers, pirates and bucaneers but this is important news and we can discuss the details without all of the inuendo and character assasination don't you think?
By the way, do you realize we've scooped all major media and networks with this story. That's a good thing in case you haven't figured it out yet.
Do you remember what our President said about this war on terrorism? It will be prolonged and will involve many different nations. There is no chance that the war will be over before this bill is passed.
Maybe you should take a course in actually answering a question as was posed in reply #11.
What exactly is a "privateer"? Is that a modern day "mercenary"?
Oops I forgot, asking Libertarians a question is verboten(I guess it invades on Libertarian reality).
Please forgive me all knowing one, the high and mighty, dcwusmc.
Do you know what the requirements are? I like the Pirate angle.
The rules are likely to be similar to those that apply to bounty hunters. And you will most likely have to be a US citizen, and post a bond of somekind.
privateer n. 1. a privately owned and manned armed ship commissioned by a government in a war to attack and capture enemy ships, esp. merchant ships. 2. a commander or crew member of a privateer.
Now, if you care to update "privateer" word for modern usage it can easily be applied to bounty hunters and hackers.
mercenary adj. 1. working or done for payment only; motivated by a desire for money or other gain; venal;greedy --n 1.a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army 2 any person who will do anything for money; hireling
Now, to me it seems these have two distinct definitions. A mercenary is hired assuming payment, where a privateer is responsible for collecting his own rewards, hence the stress on merchant traffic. Reading the second noun definition of "mercenary" it seems that any job could label someone as a mercenary.
These defs came from Webster's New World Dictionary.
Anyway...fun with words time over.
All booty was to be brought to a special court which then divied up the booty between the state, the privateer and any private citizen who might have claim to some of the posessions in the haul.
For instance if your goods being shipped to America had been taken by a Pirate and recovered by a privateer, you would have to provide evidence that the goods were first on their way to you and the court would determine that the privateer had no claim to keep the items. Anything not contested would be kept by the privateer minus a tax.
I wish my congress critters had half the understanding of the Constitution and the principles of liberty that he has.
Bump!!
But do you honestly believe it will pass the Senate, and George W. Bush will sign it?
I think this is appropriate. I think further, that there may well be some enterprising ex-military folks who may find that this is a lucrative business for them to pursue.
Wow you scooped all the major media(except maybe Soldier of Fortune magazine), about a Congressman submitting a bill that the US employ mercenaries.
Sheesh you Libertarians are a weird bunch. First you have Lew Rockwell and Co, saying that the WTC atrociites are the US's fault because of an "interventionist" foreign policy and now we have the most Libertarian member of Congress saying that we should officially autorize mercernaries.
Excuse me but aren't mercenaries only effective when they can operate in secret(i.e. no official government sanction).
Leave it up to the Libertarian wing to pronounce our intentions with chest beating thumping, because it is wrapped up in 18th century language.
They are long standing, effective means of bringing the total impact of war to the enemy.
They are also effective "force multipliers", to use some modern terminology. These free up military assets to pursue the military assets of the enemy, unencumbered by other distractions. At the same time, lower value assets of the enemy can be captured as prizes of war by privateers and the citizen militias.
How much can we get for some of those Toyota trucks the Taliban are always roaring around the countryside in?
Heh, that made me remember a story from an uncle that was a PI/bounty hunter and ex-security chief of a (state that borders Mexico) Governor. He entered Mexico and captured a bail jumper and had a little problem re-entering. Seems like the Mexicans aren't real happy when they find an American in the process of bringing a handcuffed Mexican back over to our side.
He was glad that he had memorized a phone number of the Governor, and after a couple of tense hours, he was allowed to cross without his prisoner. I don't think he went back to Mexico after that, at least for business purposes. Heh, learn something new and remember something old every day I guess.
Good post.
Yes, one is likely bring unstoppable assets against rogue regimes, and the other is likely to get arrested like a cross-dressing French journalist.
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