Letters of Marque?
Tagged with: letters of marque pirates
WASHINGTON — A U.S. lawmaker says Somali piracy has an age-old solution: “Letters of marque” empowering private citizens to chase the seaborne scoundrels from the oceans.
Republican Representative Ron Paul and a handful of conservative theorists say it’s time that the U.S. Congress used the technique, pioneered by European powers in the 18th century as a way to wage naval warfare on the cheap.
Major shipping companies should accept a “go at your own risk” approach and not expect government help when they transit through pirate-infested waters, Mr. Paul said this week in a video posted on the public Internet site YouTube.
“I don’t think just because people go into these dangerous waters that our army and navy and air force and everything has to follow,” he said, adding that letters of marque would allow merchant ships to sail armed.
“I think if every potential pirate knew that this would be the case, they would have second thoughts, because they could probably be blown out of the water rather easily if those were the conditions,” said the Texas lawmaker.
The U.S. Constitution explicitly allows Congress to issue such letters, in effect giving private parties a license to fight hostile seaborne forces like pirates, in theory without fear of being branded pirates themselves.
[More]
Tagged with: letters of marque pirates
WASHINGTON — A U.S. lawmaker says Somali piracy has an age-old solution: “Letters of marque” empowering private citizens to chase the seaborne scoundrels from the oceans.
Republican Representative Ron Paul and a handful of conservative theorists say it’s time that the U.S. Congress used the technique, pioneered by European powers in the 18th century as a way to wage naval warfare on the cheap.
Major shipping companies should accept a “go at your own risk” approach and not expect government help when they transit through pirate-infested waters, Mr. Paul said this week in a video posted on the public Internet site YouTube.
“I don’t think just because people go into these dangerous waters that our army and navy and air force and everything has to follow,” he said, adding that letters of marque would allow merchant ships to sail armed.
“I think if every potential pirate knew that this would be the case, they would have second thoughts, because they could probably be blown out of the water rather easily if those were the conditions,” said the Texas lawmaker.
The U.S. Constitution explicitly allows Congress to issue such letters, in effect giving private parties a license to fight hostile seaborne forces like pirates, in theory without fear of being branded pirates themselves.
[More]
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