“LET PRIVATEERS TROLL FOR BIN LADEN" (December 04, 2001)

“LET PRIVATEERS TROLL FOR BIN LADEN -- HON. RON PAUL (Extensions of Remarks - December 04, 2001)

“HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, December 4, 2001

“. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I recommend my colleagues read the attached article ``Let Privateers Troll for Bin Laden'' by Larry Sechrest, a research fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California, and a professor of economics at Sul Ross State University. Professor Sechrest documents the role privateers played in the war against pirates who plagued America in the early days of the Republic. These privateers often operated with letters of marque and reprisal granted by the United States Congress.

“Professor Sechrest points out that privateers could be an effective tool in the war against terrorism. Today's terrorists have much in common with the pirates of days gone by. Like the pirates of old, today's terrorists are private groups seeking to attack the United States government and threaten the lives, liberty, and property of United States citizens. The only difference is that while pirates sought financial gains, terrorists seek to advance ideological and political agendas through violence.

“Like the pirates who once terrorized the high seas, terrorists today are also difficult to apprehend using traditional military means. We have seen that bombs and missiles can effectively and efficiently knock out the military capability, economy and technological infrastructure of an enemy nation that harbors terrorists. However, recent events also seem to suggest that traditional military force is not as effective in bringing lawless terrorists to justice.

“When a terrorist stronghold has been destroyed by military power, terrorists simply may move to another base before military forces locate them. It is for these reasons that I believe the drafters of the Constitution would counsel in favor of issuing letters of marque and reprisal against the terrorists responsible for the September 11 attacks.

“Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld recently acknowledged the role that private parties, when provided sufficient incentives by government, can play in bringing terrorists to justice. Now is the time for Congress to ensure President Bush can take advantage of every effective and constitutional means of fighting the war on terrorism. This is why I have introduced the Air Piracy Reprisal and Capture Act of 2001 (HR 3074) and the September 11 Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001 (HR 3076). The Air Piracy Reprisal and Capture Act of 2001 updates the federal definition of ``piracy'' to include acts committed in the skies. The September 11 Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001 provides Congressional authorization for the President to issue letters of marque and reprisal to appropriate parties to seize the person and property of Osama bin Laden and any other individuals responsible for the terrorist attacks of September 11. I encourage my colleagues to read Professor Sechrest's article on the effectiveness of privateers, and to help ensure President Bush can take advantage of every available tool to capture and punish terrorists by cosponsoring my Air Piracy Reprisal and Capture Act and the September 11 Marque and Reprisal Act. LET PRIVATEERS TROLL FOR BIN LADEN (by Larry J. Sechrest)

“In the wake of the Sept. 11th attacks, a group of American businessmen has decided to enlist the profit motive to bring the perpetrators to justice. Headed by Edward Lozzi of Beverly Hills, California, the group intends to offer a bounty of $1 billion--that's billion with a ``b''--to any private citizens who will capture Osama bin Laden and his associates, dead or alive.

“Paying private citizens to achieve military objectives seems novel but is hardly untried. Recall Ross Perot's successful use of private forces to retrieve his employees from the clutches of fundamentalist Muslims in Iran in 1979.

“We are all familiar with bail bondsmen, who employ bounty hunters to catch bail-jumping fugitives. Less familiar are two U.S. companies, Military Professional Resources Inc. and Vinnell Corporation, which provide military services to governments and other organizations worldwide.

“Historically, private citizens arming private ships, appropriately called ``privateers,'' played an important role in the American Revolution. Eight hundred privateers aided the seceding colonists' cause, while the British employed 700, despite having a huge government navy.

“During the War of 1812, 526 American vessels were commissioned as privateers. This was not piracy, because the privateers were licensed by their own governments and the ships were bonded to ensure that their captains followed the accepted laws of the sea, including the humane treatment of those who were taken prisoner. Congress granted privateers ``letters of marque and reprisal,'' under the authority of Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.

“Originally, privateering was a method of restitution for merchants or shipowners who had been wronged by a citizen of a foreign country. Privateers captured the ships flying the flag of the wrongdoers' nation and sailed them to a friendly port, where a neutral admiralty court decided whether the seizure was just. Wrongful seizures resulted in the forfeiture of the privateers' bond to the owners of the seized ship.

“If the seizure was, just, the ship and cargo were sold at auction, with the bulk of the proceeds going to the privateer's owners and crew. The crews were volunteers who shared in the profits, and the investors viewed the venture as remunerative--albeit risky,

“Privateering soon evolved into a potent means of warfare. Self-interest encouraged privateers to capture as many enemy ships as possible, and to do it quickly. Were privateers successful in inflicting serious losses on the enemy? Emphatically, yes. Between 1793 and 1797, the British lost 2,266 vessels, the majority taken by French privateers.

“During the War of the League of Augsburg (1689-1697) French privateers captured 3,384 English or Dutch merchant ships and 162 warships, and during the War of 1812, 1,750 British ships were subdued or destroyed by American privateers. Those American privateers struck so much fear in Britain that Lloyd's of London ceased offering maritime insurance except at ruinously high premiums. No wonder Thomas Jefferson said, ``Every possible encouragement should be given to privateering in time of war.''

“If privateering was so successful, why has it disappeared? Precisely because it worked so well. Government naval officers resented the competitive advantage privateers possessed, and powerful nations with large government navies did not want to be challenged on the seas by smaller nations that opted for the less-costly alternative--private ships of war.

“In sum, the armed forces of the U.S. government are not the only option for President Bush to defeat bin Laden, his al Qaeda network, and ``every terrorist group with a global reach.'' The U.S. military is not necessarily even the best option.

“Let's bring back the spirit of the privateers. By letting profits and justice once more go hand-in-hand, victims and their champions can have an abundance of both, rather than a paucity of either.”

It’s Time to Issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal:

The Constitution’s Preamble and Purpose: “We, the People of the UNITED STATES, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure Domestic Tranquility, provide for the Common Defence, promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and our Posterity, DO ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION for the United States of AMERICA….”

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Comment: The Congress, and the President have established we are in a state of war with terrorism. “We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.” “The only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it and destroy it where it grows.”

The culling of indviduals and small groups of pirates and terrorists, living within peaceful societies, is not a practical role for armies. So the Founding Generation has wisely provided the Constitutional means to destroy such adversaries with speed, accuracy, economy and a minimum of effort. While it is not economic or reasonable to use a “howitzer” to swat a fly, it is economic and reasonable to use a “Swat Team.”

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Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England The RIGHTS of PERSONS. BOOK I. CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. OF THE KING'S PREROGATIVE.

“IV. BUT, as the delay of making war may fometimes be detrimental to individuals who have fuffered by depredations from foreign potentaties, our laws have in fome refpect armed the fubject with powers to impel the prerogative; by directing the minifters of the crown to iffue letters of marque and reprifal upon due demand: the prerogative of granting which is nearly related to, and plainly derived from, that other of making war; this being indeed only an incomplete ftate of hoftilities, and generally ending in a formal denunciation of war. Thefe letters are grantable by the law of nations y, whenever the fubject of one ftate are oppreffed and injured by thofe of another; and juftice is denied by that ftate to which the oppreffor belongs. In this cafe letters or marque and reprifal (words in themfelves fynonimous and fignifying a taking in return) may be obtained, in order to feife the bodies or goods of the fubjects of the offending ftate, until fatisfaction be made, wherever they happen to be found. Indeed this cuftom of reprifals feems dictated by nature herefelf; and accordingly we find in the moft antient times very notable inftances of it z.

“z See the account given by Neftor, in the eleventh book of the Iliad, of the reprifals made by himfelf on the Epeian nation; from whom he took a multitude of cattle, as a fatisfaction for a prize won at the Elian games by his father Neleus, and for debts due to many private fubjects of the Pylian kingdom: our of which booty the king took three hundred head of cattle for his own demand, and the reft were equitably divided among the other creditors.

“But here the neceffity is obvious of calling in the fovereign power, to determine when reprifals may be made; elfe every private fufferer would be a judge in his own caufe. And, in purfuance of this principle, it is with us declared by the ftatute 4 Hen. V. c. 7. that, it any fubjects of the realm are oppreffed in time of truce by any foreigners, the king will grant marque in due form, to all that feel themfelves grieved. Which form is thus directed to be obferved: the fufferer muft firft apply to the lord privy-feal, and he fhall make out letters of requeft under the privy feal; and, if, after fuch requeft of fatisfaction made, the party required do not within convenient time make due fatisfaction or reftitution to the party grieved, the lord chancellor fhall make him out letters of marque under the great feal; and by virtue of thefe he may attack and feife the property of the aggreffor nation, without hazard of being condemned as a robber or pirate.”

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Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 (The Congress shall have Power) “To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land or Water; …”

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Related Clauses from the State Constitutions of 1776–1791. “The Declaration of Rights of the State of Delaware. “20. That in all cases at all times the military ought to be under strict subordination to, and governed by the civil power.”

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The Constitution of the State of Georgia. “44. Captures both by sea and land to be tried in the county where such shall be carried in; a special court to be called by the chief-justice, or in his absence, by the then senior justice in the said county, upon application of the captors or claimants, which cause shall be determined within the space of ten days. The mode of proceeding and appeal shall be the same as in the superior courts, unless after the second trial, an appeal is made to the continental congress; and the distance of time, between the first and second trial, shall not exceed fourteen days: And all maritime causes to be tried in like manner.”

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The Declaration of Rights, Constitution of North-Carolina. “17. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of the state; and as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by the civil power.”

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The Constitution of the State of South-Carolina. “33. That the governor and commander in chief shall have no power to commence war, or conclude peace, or enter into any final treaty, without the consent of the senate and house of representatives.”

“42. That the military be subordinate to the civil power of the state.”

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Chapter I, Declaration of Rights, Constitution of the State of Vermont. “XVIII. That the people have a right to bear arms, for the defence of themselves and the State: and as standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by the civil power.”

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Related Clauses from the “Articles of Confederation” “Art. 9. The united states in congress assembled, shall have the sole and exclusive right and power on…appointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and establishing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in all cases of captures, provided that no member of congress shall be appointed a judge of any of the said courts.”

“Art. 9. The united states in congress assembled, shall have the sole and exclusive right and power…of granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of peace; …”

“Art. 9. The united states in congress assembled shall never engage in a war, nor grant letters of marque and reprisal, in time of peace; …”

“Art. 9. The united states in congress assembled, shall have the sole and exclusive right and power…of establishing rules for deciding in all cases, what captures on land or water shall be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land and naval forces in the service of the united states shall be divided or appropriated; …”

“Art. 9. The united states in congress assembled, shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, except in cases mentioned in the sixth article*; …”

*“Art. 6. No state, without the consent of the united states in congress assembled, shall send any embassy to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance, or treaty with any king prince or state; nor shall any person holding any office of profit or trust under the united states, or any of them, accept of any present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince or foreign state; nor shall the united states in congress assembled, or any of them, grant any title of nobility.

"No state shall engage in any war without the consent of the united states in congress assembled…nor shall any state grant commissions to any ships or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the united states in congress assembled, and then only against the kingdom or state and the subjects thereof, against which war has been so declared, and under such regulations as shall be established by the united states in congress assembled, unless such state be infested by pirates, in which case vessels-of-war may be fitted out for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall continue, or until the united states in congress assembled shall determine otherwise."

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Related Clauses from "The Federalist" “The powers falling within the first class, are those of declaring war, and granting letters of marque; of providing armies and fleets; of regulating and calling forth the militia; of levying and borrowing money.

“Security against foreign danger is one of the primitive objects of civil society. It is an avowed and essential object of the American union. The powers requisite for attaining it, must be effectually confided to the federal councils.

“Is the power of declaring war necessary? No man will answer this question in the negative. It would be superfluous therefore to enter into a proof of the affirmative. The existing confederation establishes this power in the most ample form.” James Madison, No. 41.

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“1. ‘No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal, coin money, emit bills of credit, make any thing but gold and silver a legal tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility. ‘

“The prohibition against treaties, alliances and confederations, makes a part of the existing articles of union; and for reasons which need no explanation, is copied into the new constitution. The prohibition of letters of marque is another part of the old system, but is somewhat extended in the new. According to the former, letters of marque could be granted by the states, after a declaration of war. According to the latter, these licenses must be obtained as well during war as previous to its declaration, from the government of the United States. This alteration is fully justified by the advantage of uniformity in all points which relate to foreign powers; and of immediate responsibility to the nation in all those, for whose conduct the nation itself is to be responsible.” James Madison, No. 44.

Excerpts from “ True Intent of the First American Constitutions of 1776-1791” ISBN 0-7414-0235-1

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http://www.bobjust.com/bush092001/

Following is part of President Bush's address to a joint session of Congress and the nation, on September 20, 2001.

… “Americans are asking, "How will we fight and win this war?'' We will direct every resource at our command--every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war--to the destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network. Now, this war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago, with a decisive liberation of territory and a swift conclusion. It will not look like the air war above Kosovo two years ago, where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat. Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes visible on TV and covert operations secret even in success. We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.

“From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime. Our nation has been put on notice, we're not immune from attack. We will take defensive measures against terrorism to protect Americans. Today, dozens of federal departments and agencies, as well as state and local governments, have responsibilities affecting homeland security. These efforts must be coordinated at the highest level. … The only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it and destroy it where it grows.”

“Many will be involved in this effort, from FBI agents, to intelligence operatives, to the reservists we have called to active duty. All deserve our thanks, and all have our prayers. And tonight a few miles from the damaged Pentagon, I have a message for our military: Be ready. I have called the armed forces to alert, and there is a reason. The hour is coming when America will act, and you will make us proud. This is not, however, just America's fight. And what is at stake is not just America's freedom. This is the world's fight. This is civilization's fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom. We ask every nation to join us. We will ask and we will need the help of police forces, intelligence service and banking systems around the world. The United States is grateful that many nations and many international organizations have already responded with sympathy and with support--nations from Latin America to Asia to Africa to Europe to the Islamic world. Perhaps the NATO charter reflects best the attitude of the world: An attack on one is an attack on all. The civilized world is rallying to America's side. They understand that if this terror goes unpunished, their own cities, their own citizens may be next. Terror unanswered can not only bring down buildings, it can threaten the stability of legitimate governments. And you know what? We're not going to allow it. …”

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