Against All Flags

In his address to the nation nine days after the 11 September 2001 attacks, President George W. Bush warned that the battle ahead would take many years and be fought on many fronts. In the years since, we've heard a lot about how our government is fighting the War On Terror (or whatever it's now being called). Our forces are in Afghanistan, and other places, as are the intelligence services. But whether it's following the money trail of terrorist financiers, wiretapping phones, or prosecuting conspirators, there is still some uncertainty, an undercurrent of fear that still not enough is being done to improve the security of the country. That's one of the reasons why the Dubai port deal was scuttled a few weeks ago. Can you honestly say that you feel much safer today than a year or two or four ago? I can't. Do you think that government, at every level, is doing everything that one can reasonably (and within the Constitution), expect, to protect us? I don't.

It was with this in mind that I read an interesting story that appeared last year in the magazine Legal Affairs. According to the article, there is another weapon which can be used to fight terrorism: treating it as piracy. In the early days of European nation-states, privateers were hired to attack and seize ships and goods on the open seas. Piracy was eventually banned by international treaty in the 1800s when national governments realized that the practice was a threat to their very stability. The author advocates setting up an international framework for defining and punishing terrorism as a crime against all nations. Why not try that too?

The story is here.