"letters of marque and reprisal," ... "what does that actually mean?"
GZ, I'm surely not an expert on such things. And I'm pretty sure that as soon as I make my own feeble attempt to explain it, there will be other self-proclaimed "experts" to tell me I'm wrong.
But, as I understand the term, letters of marque are pretty much like "Wanted Dead or Alive" Posters, issued to specific individuals to apprehend or kill others on the High Seas. This was a fairly common practice in the days of sailing ship navies. A head of state would issue the Letter of Marque to a civilian sea captain, authorizing that captain to assemble a crew and outfit a ship to go hunt the bad guys, namely pirates, not unlike a bounty hunter. After capturing the pirate ship, the holder of the marque shared the booty with the state issuing the letter.
A Letter of Reprisal was similar, except it authorized merchant vessels to legally engage the naval and merchant ships of a warring nation.
Interestingly, some famous pirates began their pirating careers with Letters of Marque and Reprisal.
It could be argued that a modern day version of letters of marque and reprisal exists with the $10 million reward on UBL's head, and similar rewards for other Al Qaeda leaders. And, it might be that some of the functions of a letter of reprisal are now fulfilled by our Special Forces. What I think Ron Paul has in mind, though, is "outsourcing" even more of the fight against terrorists. |
