[Dean's World] Dean: Pirates & Terrorists--Same Thing?

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Dean:
Pirates & Terrorists--Same Thing?
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1157589160.shtml


   Aziz over at Nation Building (who really need to get a new URL if
   they're to be serious about bringing in new people, especially people
   who may not be particular fans of Howard Dean) has a [1]tentative
   endorsement of the idea of treating terrorists by the same laws as
   pirates.

   And, all jokes aside, this is a very serious argument. Please no
   jokes.

   (And no, this does not mean that Dean's World will discontinue its
   tradition of honoring [2]International Talk Like A Pirate Day in two
   weeks. We will continue that fine, fun tradition. But that is a joke,
   entirely for fun, meant to honor great fantasy movies like [3]Treasure
   Island or [4]Captain Blood or [5]The Princess Bride. Having fun with
   humorous mythological fluff is no different from enjoying a film like
   [6]Aladdin, which may take place in Baghdad but contains absolutely no
   serious suggestions for how to behave in Baghdad that I'm aware of.
   Fun is fun, this is serious.)

   What I'd ask the fine folks at Nation Building is this: you're
   tentatively endorsing this, and I can see why. It's a powerful idea,
   and worth taking seriously. Piracy at one time, in the early 1700s,
   had the tacit support of many nations, including the Spanish, the
   Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, and some of the northern coastal
   states of Africa as a form of illicit (and thus plausibly deniable)
   warfare. After a decade or three of this, all the states involved
   began to recognize that this was a bad idea, and not strategically
   viable. They all began cracking down on it hard, some a little later
   than others.

   But there is a danger to this view of terrorism. My own gut says this
   is a proposal with much merit, but it amounts to declaring that
   pirates and terrorists enjoy no civil rights protections to speak of.
   Anyone declared a pirate or terrorist may be killed on sight or, if
   captured, hung by the neck until dead, dead, dead by a fairly quick
   military tribunal--what some might call a "kangaroo court."

   Under such a view of terrorism, for example, many of the inhabitants
   of Guantanamo Bay would simply be dead now, summarily executed after a
   quick military tribunal. Appeal? Perhaps an impassioned appeal to the
   head of whatever state captured you (Bush in America's case, Blair in
   the UK's case, and so on) might save your neck. But probably not.

   I know many people who are quite ready for this and would not shed a
   tear over the fact that some cases might wind up being unjust. C'est
   la guerre will be the not-particularly sympathetic response from many.
   I might join them. In fact I'll just be honest: I probably would.

   But are you guys up for it? It would certainly add clarity to the
   muddied waters.

References

   1. http://dean2004.blogspot.com/2006/09/war-on-pirates.html
   2. http://talklikeapirate.com/
   3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Island
   4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Blood_%28film%29
   5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_%28film%29
   6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_%281992_film%29