When Terrorists are Pirates

Running across some interesting ideas while scouting around on things and it is probably time to spell out some of what Privateers can do. Now, as part of the High Seas power of Congress law is made to address piracy and other internationally lawless activities and that is a whole area in and of itself but is pretty simple to figure out. The US Code, Title 33 covers most of the waterways portion of this and so it is worth looking at that to find out what can be done via mandate and Letters. And Title 18, Chapter 81 goes into Piracy and Privateers.

Sec. 1651. Piracy under law of nations

Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, shall be imprisoned for life.

Sec. 1653. Aliens as pirates

Whoever, being a citizen or subject of any foreign state, is found and taken on the sea making war upon the United States, or cruising against the vessels and property thereof, or of the citizens of the same, contrary to the provisions of any treaty existing between the United States and the state of which the offender is a citizen or subject, when by such treaty such acts are declared to be piracy, is a pirate, and shall be imprisoned for life.


Sec. 1654. Arming or serving on privateers

Whoever, being a citizen of the United States, without the limits thereof, fits out and arms, or attempts to fit out and arm or is concerned in furnishing, fitting out, or arming any private vessel of war or privateer, with intent that such vessel shall be employed to cruise or commit hostilities upon the citizens of the United States or their property; or

Whoever takes the command of or enters on board of any such vessel with such intent; or

Whoever purchases any interest in any such vessel with a view to share in the profits thereof--

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.


Sec. 1657. Corruption of seamen and confederating with pirates

Whoever attempts to corrupt any commander, master, officer, or mariner to yield up or to run away with any vessel, or any goods, wares, or merchandise, or to turn pirate or to go over to or confederate with pirates, or in any wise to trade with any pirate, knowing him to be such; or

Whoever furnishes such pirate with any ammunition, stores, or provisions of any kind; or

Whoever fits out any vessel knowingly and, with a design to trade with, supply, or correspond with any pirate or robber upon the seas; or

Whoever consults, combines, confederates, or corresponds with any pirate or robber upon the seas, knowing him to be guilty of any piracy or robbery; or

Whoever, being a seaman, confines the master of any vessel--

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

Basically you do not outfit a vessel to act in a Piratical way, nor take part in, nor own any part of a Pirate scheme, serve as a Privateer *against* the United States as a Citizen, and as a commander of such vessel you *do* put up a fight. But this one is very special to remember for later on:

Sec. 1661. Robbery ashore

Whoever, being engaged in any piratical cruise or enterprise, or being of the crew of any piratical vessel, lands from such vessel and commits robbery on shore, is a pirate, and shall be imprisoned for life.

Yes, it seems obvious, but do read on...

Chapter 113B goes over Terrorism, as such which are acts:

(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

This can occur either overseas or domestically. So terrorism is a pretty broad category. These are further enumerated by those things which transcend National Boundaries:

Sec. 2332b. Acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries

(a) Prohibited Acts.--

(1) Offenses.--Whoever, involving conduct transcending national boundaries and in a circumstance described in subsection (b)--

(A) kills, kidnaps, maims, commits an assault resulting in serious bodily injury, or assaults with a dangerous weapon any person within the United States; or

(B) creates a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to any other person by destroying or damaging any structure, conveyance, or other real or personal property within the United States or by attempting or conspiring to destroy or damage any structure, conveyance, or other real or personal property within the United States; in violation of the laws of any State, or the United States, shall be punished as prescribed in subsection (c).

(2) Treatment of threats, attempts and conspiracies.--Whoever threatens to commit an offense under paragraph (1), or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be punished under subsection (c).

(b) Jurisdictional Bases.--

(1) Circumstances.--The circumstances referred to in subsection (a) are--

(A) the mail or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce is used in furtherance of the offense;

(B) the offense obstructs, delays, or affects interstate or foreign commerce, or would have so obstructed, delayed, or affected interstate or foreign commerce if the offense had been consummated;

(C) the victim, or intended victim, is the United States Government, a member of the uniformed services, or any official, officer, employee, or agent of the legislative, executive, or judicial branches, or of any department or agency, of the United States;

(D) the structure, conveyance, or other real or personal property is, in whole or in part, owned, possessed, or leased to the United States, or any department or agency of the United States;

(E) the offense is committed in the territorial sea (including the airspace above and the seabed and subsoil below, and artificial islands and fixed structures erected thereon) of the United States; or

(F) the offense is committed within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

(2) Co-conspirators and accessories after the fact.-- Jurisdiction shall exist over all principals and co-conspirators of an offense under this section, and accessories after the fact to any offense under this section, if at least one of the circumstances described in subparagraphs (A) through (F) of paragraph (1) is applicable to at least one offender.

So these are definitely actions taken against individuals and/or the United States itself.

Thus Chapter 7 is a good place to start on Piracy:

Sec. 381. Use of public vessels to suppress piracy

The President is authorized to employ so many of the public armed vessels as in his judgment the service may require, with suitable instructions to the commanders thereof, in protecting the merchant vessels of the United States and their crews from piratical aggressions and depredations.

Here the President is authorized to employ 'public armed vessels' in protection of merchant vessels, pretty straightforward, that.

Sec. 382. Seizure of piratical vessels generally

The President is authorized to instruct the commanders of the public armed vessels of the United States to subdue, seize, take, and send into any port of the United States, any armed vessel or boat, or any vessel or boat, the crew whereof shall be armed, and which shall have attempted or committed any piratical aggression, search, restraint, depredation, or seizure, upon any vessel of the United States, or of the citizens thereof, or upon any other vessel; and also to retake any vessel of the United States, or its citizens, which may have been unlawfully captured upon the high seas.

And those armed vessels may seize piratical vessels that have attempted acts contrary to the laws of the high seas. This is what one may do if meeting up with a pirate trying to do things contrary to those laws of the high seas:

Sec. 383. Resistance of pirates by merchant vessels

The commander and crew of any merchant vessel of the United States, owned wholly, or in part, by a citizen thereof, may oppose and defend against any aggression, search, restraint, depredation, or seizure, which shall be attempted upon such vessel, or upon any other vessel so owned, by the commander or crew of any armed vessel whatsoever, not being a public armed vessel of some nation in amity with the United States, and may subdue and capture the same; and may also retake any vessel so owned which may have been captured by the commander or crew of any such armed vessel, and send the same into any port of the United States.

Now here is where it gets to be interesting as a ship need only have part or partial ownership by a US Citizen to be eligible to fight back against piratical takeover.

Sec. 384. Condemnation of piratical vessels

Whenever any vessel, which shall have been built, purchased, fitted out in whole or in part, or held for the purpose of being employed in the commission of any piratical aggression, search, restraint, depredation, or seizure, or in the commission of any other act of piracy as defined by the law of nations, or from which any piratical aggression, search, restraint, depredation, or seizure shall have been first attempted or made, is captured and brought into or captured in any port of the United States, the same shall be adjudged and condemned to their use, and that of the captors after due process and trial in any court having admiralty jurisdiction, and which shall be holden for the district into which such captured vessel shall be brought; and the same court shall thereupon order a sale and distribution thereof accordingly, and at its discretion.

'In any court having admiralty jurisdiction', which does pertain to the high seas, of course. So, bring the pirates and their vessel in, have them adjudged being pirates and the court can immediately order the sale of the vessel. That customarily also *includes* the contents thereof.

Sec. 385. Seizure and condemnation of vessels fitted out for piracy

Any vessel built, purchased, fitted out in whole or in part, or held for the purpose of being employed in the commission of any piratical aggression, search, restraint, depredation, or seizure, or in the commission of any other act of piracy, as defined by the law of nations, shall be liable to be captured and brought into any port of the United States if found upon the high seas, or to be seized if found in any port or place within the United States, whether the same shall have actually sailed upon any piratical expedition or not, and whether any act of piracy shall have been committed or attempted upon or from such vessel or not; and any such vessel may be adjudged and condemned, if captured by a vessel authorized as mentioned in section 386 of this title to the use of the United States, and to that of the captors, and if seized by a collector, surveyor, or marshal, then to the use of the United States.

Thus the vessel itself used in piracy is liable for capture and condemnation. This is getting very interesting, to say the least!

Sec. 386. Commissioning private vessels for seizure of piratical vessels

The President is authorized to instruct the commanders of the public-armed vessels of the United States, and to authorize the commanders of any other armed vessels sailing under the authority of any letters of marque and reprisal granted by Congress, or the commanders of any other suitable vessels, to subdue, seize, take, and, if on the high seas, to send into any port of the United States, any vessel or boat built, purchased, fitted out, or held as mentioned in section 385 of this title.

This power of the President to 'authorize the commanders of any other armed vessels' under the Letters or 'the commanders of any other suitable vessels', is a broad sweeping one as that last is open to *anyone* designated by the President as 'commander' of a 'suitable vessel'. The President is fully responsible, of course, but that is the way the Executive powers work on foreign affairs: wide latitude.

Sec. 387. Duties of officers of customs and marshals as to seizure

The collectors of the several ports of entry, the surveyors of the several ports of delivery, and the marshals of the several judicial districts within the United States, shall seize any vessel or boat built, purchased, fitted out, or held as mentioned in section 385 of this title, which may be found within their respective ports or districts, and to cause the same to be proceeded against and disposed of as provided by that section.

The basic follow-up to allow the folks running ports and such to automatically seize vessels that are identified as piratical or taking part in piratical activities. So that covers the high seas part!

Next up, the air.

Here is Title 49, Subtitle VII for perusal:

Sec. 40106. Emergency powers

(a) Deviations From Regulations.--Appropriate military authority may authorize aircraft of the armed forces of the United States to deviate from air traffic regulations prescribed under section 40103(b)(1) and (2) of this title when the authority decides the deviation is essential to the national defense because of a military emergency or urgent military necessity. The authority shall--

(1) give the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration prior notice of the deviation at the earliest practicable time; and

(2) to the extent time and circumstances allow, make every reasonable effort to consult with the Administrator and arrange for the deviation in advance on a mutually agreeable basis.

(b) Suspension of Authority.--(1) When the President decides that the government of a foreign country is acting inconsistently with the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft or that the government of a foreign country allows territory under its jurisdiction to be used as a base of operations or training of, or as a sanctuary for, or arms, aids, or abets, a terrorist organization that knowingly uses the unlawful seizure, or the threat of an unlawful seizure, of an aircraft as an instrument of policy, the President may suspend the authority of--

(A) an air carrier or foreign air carrier to provide foreign air transportation to and from that foreign country;

(B) a person to operate aircraft in foreign air commerce to and from that foreign country;

(C) a foreign air carrier to provide foreign air transportation between the United States and another country that maintains air service with the foreign country; and

(D) a foreign person to operate aircraft in foreign air commerce between the United States and another country that maintains air service with the foreign country.

(2) The President may act under this subsection without notice or a hearing. The suspension remains in effect for as long as the President decides is necessary to ensure the security of aircraft against unlawful seizure. Notwithstanding section 40105(b) of this title, the authority of the President to suspend rights under this subsection is a condition to a certificate of public convenience and necessity, air carrier operating certificate, foreign air carrier or foreign aircraft permit, or foreign air carrier operating specification issued by the Secretary of Transportation under this part.

(3) An air carrier or foreign air carrier may not provide foreign air transportation, and a person may not operate aircraft in foreign air commerce, in violation of a suspension of authority under this subsection.

Here the big notice is in the Presidential waiver authority. And there is then a good 'catch-all' for extension of the high seas rights to airspace and such in the General Provisions:

The application of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (72 Stat. 731; 49 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1301 et seq. [see 49 U.S.C. 40101 et seq.]), to the extent necessary to permit the Secretary of Transportation to accomplish the purposes and objectives of Titles III [former 49 U.S.C. 1341 et seq., see Disposition Table at beginning of this title] and XII [see 49 U.S.C. 40103(b)(3), 46307] thereof, is hereby extended to those areas of land or water outside the United States and the overlying airspace thereof over or in which the Federal Government of the United States, under international treaty, agreement or other lawful arrangement, has appropriate jurisdiction or control: Provided, That the Secretary of Transportation, prior to taking any action under the authority hereby conferred, shall first consult with the Secretary of State on matters affecting foreign relations, and with the Secretary of Defense on matters affecting national-defense interests, and shall not take any action which the Secretary of State determines to be in conflict with any international treaty or agreement to which the United States is a party, or to be inconsistent with the successful conduct of the foreign relations of the United States, or which the Secretary of Defense determines to be inconsistent with the requirements of national defense.

Which is pretty all-encompassing and even moreso in times of war given this:

Sec. 40107. Presidential transfers

(a) General Authority.--The President may transfer to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration a duty, power, activity, or facility of a department, agency, or instrumentality of the executive branch of the United States Government, or an officer or unit of a department, agency, or instrumentality of the executive branch, related primarily to selecting, developing, testing, evaluating, establishing, operating, or maintaining a system, procedure, facility, or device for safe and efficient air navigation and air traffic control. In making a transfer, the President may transfer records and property and make officers and employees from the department, agency, instrumentality, or unit available to the Administrator.

(b) During War.--If war occurs, the President by executive order may transfer to the Secretary of Defense a duty, power, activity, or facility of the Administrator. In making the transfer, the President may transfer records, property, officers, and employees of the Administration to the Department of Defense.

Now here the modern Congressional Authorization for the Use of Force would apply. What is this getting up to? Well consider that during wartime a President may transfer the duties of the FAA for Administration to the Dept. of Defense and apply that, particularly, to those things which do not abide by the various Treaties covering the air AND the High Seas laws as set by Congress. This includes the following from Special Aircraft Jurisdiction:

CHAPTER 465--SPECIAL AIRCRAFT JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES

Sec. 46502. Aircraft piracy

(a) In Special Aircraft Jurisdiction.--

(1) In this subsection--

(A) "aircraft piracy'' means seizing or exercising control of an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States by force, violence, threat of force or violence, or any form of intimidation, and with wrongful intent.

(B) an attempt to commit aircraft piracy is in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States although the aircraft is not in flight at the time of the attempt if the aircraft would have been in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States had the aircraft piracy been completed.

(2) An individual committing or attempting or conspiring to commit aircraft piracy--

(A) shall be imprisoned for at least 20 years; or

(B) notwithstanding section 3559(b) of title 18, if the death of another individual results from the commission or attempt, shall be put to death or imprisoned for life.

(b) Outside Special Aircraft Jurisdiction.--

(1) An individual committing or conspiring to commit an offense (as defined in the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft) on an aircraft in flight outside the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States--

(A) shall be imprisoned for at least 20 years; or

(B) notwithstanding section 3559(b) of title 18, if the death of another individual results from the commission or attempt, shall be put to death or imprisoned for life.

(2) There is jurisdiction over the offense in paragraph (1) if--

(A) a national of the United States was aboard the aircraft;

(B) an offender is a national of the United States; or

(C) an offender is afterwards found in the United States.

(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term "national of the United States'' has the meaning prescribed in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(22)).

Fascinating stuff, no? So add up the following for wartime piracy coverage of aircraft and it will include any aircraft wholly or even partially owned by a Citizen of the United States, either directly or via company shares or if a national of the United States was on board the aircraft. This means that *any* terrorist organization that has taken part in 'air piracy' of any sort involving an aircraft owned or in-part owned via joint ownership in a company, or has had a US national on-board is considered to be a Pirate operation. That is in *addition* to being a terrorist organization!

Here the broad and sweeping anti-Piracy powers and those for terrorism *combine* to give a President quite sweeping authority against all Nations, companies, groups, organizations and individuals that traffic with, aid or support knowingly any terrorist organization that has committed attacks against the United States its 'vessels or property thereof'. Which *includes* simple 'robbery ashore', such as kidnapping a US national as part of a terrorist act and taking items from them wantonly. That is *also* Piracy! Which can incur the broad sanctions and wrath against all of those that aid and abet those terrorists, including seizure of vessels trafficking with them.

This is what I mean by 21st Century Privateers!

With Warranted Citizens and their Companies granted Letters by Congress to use warpowers of the United States, the President can then direct such to go *after* the full panoply of suppliers for terrorist organization that knowingly traffic with them and *seize* vessels and demonstrate proof of that in the closest US Admiralty Court or to other US Official of Port or Interior Authority of the Federal Government.

This, specifically *includes* aircraft as they fall under the High Seas provision 'catch-all' and the authority to stop entire air carriers during wartime then requires *only* a consultation with the Sec. Def. and Sec. State. Further, the President can then target specific air carriers for seizure by Privateers along with their property, goods and anything else they have as part of the war powers. Get it, bring it in, demonstrate proof, sell at auction or for Bounty if Congress has set such or other Prizes as allowed by Law.

What this categorically is *not* are: bounty hunters, mercenaries or any rag-tag group of individuals. Unless the President deems such as necessary to carry out such activities, but that is usually a last resort sort of deal, as Presidents have normally stuck to a bit higher up the food chain for Warranted and Sanctioned organizations. Congress can set what is necessary for that, allow armament of those groups as those groups see fit to carry out their responsibilities and then the President can set forth the goals per group or for all groups depending on scope of need.

This is known as: Asymmetrical Warfare by the Citizens of the United States and their Warranted Companies.

Every terrorist organization that has gone after US vessels or 'property' and attacked same is a Pirate organization. It may *also* be a terrorist organization, in which case the entire broad set of powers can be used against it. Thus a mere 'threat' by an organization to destroy US property makes an organization a terrorist organization. An actual attack upon US property or ships *also* makes it a Pirate organization. Intent does not matter as it is the activity that defines what is being done. Thus that perusal at Terror Knowledge Base looking for mere property damage against US Government facilities starts to yield a long, long list of groups that are not only terrorist but Piratical.

When will the United States *ever* begin to treat them as such?

Syria must go

This is something that I will state because no one else really wants to. People are trying to figure out ways to 'deal with Syria in a realistic manner' or 'getting Syria to stabilize the region'. Ok, let me start with just a bit of history that the 'Realists' did not address when they had the Ears of the Mighty in Power. I go over the Diplomatic Concept of Casus Belli with this post and I will extract a bit from there:

The 1983 Beirut Embassy bombing was caused by Hezbollah, which is linked to Iran. But to operate it must get help from Syria, which has some say on what may or may not go on.

The 1983 Beirut Marine barracks attack which killed 241 US Armed Forces personnel, and was carried out by Hezbollah. Note that an attack upon a military emplacement is an act of war.

The 1984 Beirut Embassy bombing by Hezbollah.

Yes, each of these is a Casus Belli involving the warlike use of arms against the sovereign soil of another Nation or against its legitimate Armed Forces. Each of these required the logistic cognizance and approval of Syria to be carried out and they are at the very least complicit in all of them. Hezbollah has been a joint training and recruitment operation by Syria and Iran since 1982. Thus the activities of Hezbollah are directly accountable to Syria and Iran.

To those wondering about the Statute of Limitations of a Casus Belli: there isn't one. Each cause to give rise to just war is separately accountable and may be used by those suffering such attacks.

Now, onto the near-present and the Syrian use of North Korean 'supernotes' to undermine the currency of the United States. While Syria may serve as a mere distribution point, their pre-existing ties to North Korea, as seen with their purchase of NoDong missiles in the 1990's, does indicate a more than 'nodding acquaintance' with North Korea, and even some indication of having just a little bit of interaction with them. With that it is hard to see how 'supernotes' could get into circulation WITHOUT Syria catching on. Especially after the first few surfaced in the early 1990's. Continued circulation up to at least 2000 indicates that Syria has passing acceptance on this activity, which is to undermine the US dollar in the region and bring economic destabilization by doing so. Getting people to distrust the paper currency of the US would go a long way towards making the US seen as a 'non-serious' Nation with regards to its currency. In point of fact, given the OTHER activities already done by Syria, this would be considered an act of Commercial Warfare. Mind you, North Korea faces the exact same charge as they only have a 'ceasefire' arrangement with Allied powers. In both cases, they are legitimate Casus Belli that would, in a previous era, have roused a Nation so abused to hand out reprisals if not go fully to war with the offending Nation.

Over this entire time, Hezbollah, acting in full knowledge of its activities in both Syria and Iran, has given much grief to an Ally of the United States, namely Israel, by continued acts of hostility and war upon Israel. Each and every shooting, bombing, hostage taking, IED, missile attack, mortar attack and even infiltration of spies into Israel is a Casus Belli. That is a per-instance deal as that is the way the system of diplomacy has been set up. So, the next time you hear of 'Hezbollah rockets raining down on Israel' remember that each and every single one of those is a Casus Belli. Every bullet fired without declaring war, by Hezbollah or its patrons in Syria and Iran is a Casus Belli. Israel has been damned tolerant to something that, if this were the US circa 1801 or 1901 would have lead to an expeditionary force to either hand out harsh reprisals or take over the offending Nation. And with complete and utter 'Just Cause'.

Because of the recent dust-up with Hezbollah, I finally realized that after all of these long post-WWII decades since the founding of Israel in 1948, not one single Nation has actually defined what would actually lead to Peace in the Middle East. We have had a Peace Treaty here and there, and a bit of bribery to pay off some folks to 'play nice', but that really isn't much of a plan now, is it? And since everyone loves to blame Israel, I will point out that they did, indeed, do the hard work to actually make a Nation out of the piece of the British Transjordan that they were given. Palestinians were given the EXACT SAME OPPORTUNITY. One of these two sides did everything it could to make a Nation for itself, create jobs, make an economy, offer freedom to its Citizens and even has a multi-ethnic culture that even has a large portion of Arabic people in it. The other just wanted to complain and fight and sit in refugee camps once they lost those battles.

But there is an actual solution to this: Enforce the Nation State Concept, remove the legitimacy of NGO's and non-State military players and hold supplying Nations accountable for same. Yes, with all the 'Realists' in the State Department of the United States, this has never, once, been put forward as an option. What this would do is mean that the next attack by any non-Nation State group or organization would be directly linked to their supplier or supporter. And war could then be waged upon said supplier or supporter. Which is the whole 'Just War' concept of diplomacy, which we seem to have forgotten in this day and age.

Even without that, however, fully supported groups can be held accountable for such TODAY. An item of interest showed up during this last little tussle in Lebanon, really something quite of interest. When Hezbollah set up one of their cruise missile firing sites, they actually decided to do something quite extraordinary that actually has caused Nations to go directly to war in almost an instant. You see these fine fellas decided to do some 'target practice' on a civilian merchant freighter.

It was crewed and manned by Egyptians and the ship itself may have been owned by an Egyptian company flying under a third Nation's flag of convenience to get by insurance. In any event a hostile act of war was committed by Hezbollah upon legitimate, peacetime shipping of a Neutral Nation and that ship was sunk. Which, of course, is a Casus Belli, in this case not only for the incident, but for each individual killed or wounded or needing rescue, plus whoever owned the vessel itself. Hezbollah firing as it did on that vessel without declaring open Warfare nor by same being done by Syria and Iran, declared War upon Egypt for Both Syria and Iran.

Now, moving onto Iraq, we have the entire Riverine campaign of 2005 to finally cut off the easy supply lines of the Ba'athists from... yes, Syria. Ending up in the Tal Afar area, which is near that tri-corner between Turkey, Syria and Iraq, puts one within easy spitting distance of each. And as Turkey has no real need to send insurgents, money, weapons, supplies and such into Iraq, that leaves the sole remaining supply zone as: Syria. Mind you, UAV's have actually gotten images of the live motion video sort, of folks crossing the desert from Syria to Iraq. And then patrols are sent out to stop them and investigate and quite some few have had, yes, money, weapons, bomb making equipment and supplies. All being shipped illegally into Iraq to foment illegitimate warfare via terrorists and insurgents. And as that material has been implicated in some number of MNF deaths, each US soldier so targeted gives rise to a Casus Belli against the supplying Nation involved. That being Syria, then, just about every single US Casualty in the Mosul region and directly North and fully to the West and South West can be directly linked to the supply lines of Syria to the insurgents.

You may do the math.

Now a few folks might quibble that Syria isn't, you know, directly complicit. Well, lets put it this way: when illegal aliens work their way across the US border from Mexico and Mexico does *nada*, it is complicit by its INACTION in that activity. Similarly, Syria, by taking no activity to enforce its borders to ensure regularity of legitimate passage of goods is complicit in their movement from Syria to Iraq.

Yes, the screams of the 'tribes living there don't respect borders' and such will be heard. Guess what? Doesn't matter. That is the deal of having a Sovereign Nation State with Defined Borders. You are fully accountable for what *leaves* from your side and goes to the other side of the border. If Syria wanted to work out an arrangement so that a way could be found to ensure that the cross-border tribes were not the recipients of illegal goods and arms and make that verifiable, then there might be a cause to have a complaint. To this late date, under multiple regimes and governments and rulers, dating all the way back to the post-WWI era where these borders were set up, they haven't DONE THAT. Yes, Iraq is just as much to blame. No that does not remove the actual blame of supplying illegitimate insurgents in a neighboring Nation with illegally transported goods from the Nation of origin.

And not only does this go for the US, but it goes for any Soldier of the MNF from other Nations! Isn't that a joy? Of course this ALSO goes for Iraq, itself, for every bomb-blast, mortar attack, sniper attack, RPG attack, kidnapping, and so on. On a per-incident basis and per-person basis.

Now, seeing things in the good old light of International Diplomacy as it was practiced before the 'touchy-feely' age seems to be getting us somewhere!

In point of fact we can now start to outline the Coalition of the Aggrieved that have a Beef with Syria via its Actions: United States, Israel, Egypt, Jordan (check your local web browser for terrorists attacks assisted by Syria), Iraq, and every coalition member who has had a serviceman killed or wounded in that area directly bordering Syria or due to any group which Syria directly supports, which includes: Hezbollah, Ba'ath Party, and even some of al Qaeda. Plus a scattershot of gunmen, thugs, and 'bombmaker for hire' sorts.

Why, by looking at Syria through the old, cold lenses of State based diplomacy, it appears to be this thing known as an 'outlaw Nation'. A general scoundrel that is looking to destabilize its neighbors and benefit from that. You might want to ask Lebanon about the spate of assassinations due to, yes, you guessed it, Hezbollah. Also the Syrian Secret Police and Foreign Ministry, and whatever other Spy System du Jour they have.

Now we can move onto the WMD front. And beyond all the FMSO documents that point to Syria worrying about placement of US aircraft in Jordan and Russian operatives suddenly cleaning up a number of industrial sites and those lovely truck convoys going from Iraq to Syria just before the war, there is this little ditty that Ray Robison uncovered, which I first reported on here and will now do so *again*. Mr. Robison was writing an extended article and adding on to it over time, but here is the meat from the Kuwaiti Newspaper Al Seyassah which was on their website Monday the 25th of September 2006 in Kuwaiti, so it needed to finally get to anyone's attention in the West by first going into Arabic and then into English. All highlighting is mine:

A Syrian nuclear program managed by Iraqi and Iranian scientists in the Al Haska area.

Brussels- From Hamid Geriafi

European intelligence sources based at the headquarters of the European Union in Brussels released information yesterday about the “presence of an active Syrian nuclear program in a secret location Northeast of the country, being supervised by nuclear scientists from Iraq, Iran and some scientists of the previous Muslim Soviet Republics, and it seems that the program has reached the stage of medium activity”.

The information, which Al seyassah got from British security sources in Brussels, revealed that “the brother of the Syrian president, Major Maher Al Assad -in charge of the Republican Guard brigade- along with his maternal cousin of the Makhlouf clan are supervising this program since the end of 2004 in the Northeastern district of Al Haskah situated next to the Iraqi and Turkish borders and which has a Kurdish majority”.

The information - of which the British security sources hinted that it might be coming from the German intelligence which is active in some Middle Eastern countries- revealed that “the Syrian nuclear program is relying on equipment and materials that the sons of the deposed Iraqi leader, Udai and Qusai supervised their transfer to Syria by using dozens of civilian trucks and trains, before and after the US-British invasion in March 2003”. Therefore according to those sources, the international inspection teams or the British and US intelligence could not find one “nuclear needle” in Iraq even though everybody knew about the existence of a huge program since the end of the seventies, before the Israeli planes struck and destroyed its main reactor in the Tuwaitha area near Baghdad in 1981.

The British security sources in Brussels assure Al Seyassah that “Iranian nuclear scientists are cooperating with their expertise, equipment and materials in addition to approximately 60 Iraqi nuclear scientists” that had found refuge in Syria after the onset of the war in Iraq and around 20 scientists that had moved from the former Soviet republics at the beginning of the nineties after the collapse of the Soviet Union and after the first government of Gorbatchev pulled out its nuclear weapons from those new republics”.

The sources said that “the Iranians are supporting the Syrian nuclear program, which was originally built on the remains of the Iraqi program after it was wholly transferred to Syria, with materials, equipment and expertise which are more advanced than it originally was. The Iranian could have brought up an advanced plant to enrich Uranium, of which the West is totally unaware.”

Now this is not a very friendly thing to do now, is it? Transferring all that wonderful work that was done during the Saddam era to Syria and then getting Syrian, Iranian and probably some Russian sponsored ex-Republic scientists to lend a hand. Now do you remember that Iran was part of the AQ Khan Network? Slipped your mind? How about this from via TMCnet:

31 AUG 2006 - Mitutoyo exported 10,000 devices since 1995, most of them illegally+

(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) TOKYO, Aug. 31_(Kyodo) _ Mitutoyo Corp., a precision instrument maker at the center of an export scam linked to weapons of mass destruction, has exported some 10,000 precision measuring devices, most of them illegally, since around 1995, investigative sources said Thursday.

The Metropolitan Police Department's Public Safety Division is investigating the possibility that some of these instruments were exported to North Korea and other nations suspected of developing nuclear weapons via a nuclear black market formerly run by Pakistani nuclear physicist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the sources said.

In addition, the police are investigating suspicions that a Mitutoyo-made precision measuring machine of a different type from the firm's three-dimensional measuring machine that went to Libya via Khan's smuggling network was exported to an Iranian firm suspected of links to Iran's nuclear development program, they said.

On Aug. 25, the police arrested Mitutoyo Vice Chairman Norio Takatsuji, President Kazusaku Tezuka, and three other executives on suspicion of illegally exporting two high-tech measuring devices convertible for use in the manufacture of nuclear weapons to Malaysia in 2001.

One of the two 3-D measuring machines was found in a nuclear research facility in Libya by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors during their 2003-2004 checks.

The machines can be used to make centrifuge machines to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons by determining their dimensions and minimizing shape distortions with high accuracy. Their export is subject to restrictions under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law and the Export Trade Control Ordinance.

The police found that Mitutoyo's two other precision measuring instruments -- a form tracer for measuring the roughness of the surface of products and a roundness tester -- were handed over to Scomi Precision Engineering Sdn. Bhd. of Malaysia, suspected of being at the core of Khan's network, the sources said.

The police are investigating fresh suspicions that the two devices were exported to Libya as a "three-item set" with one of Mitutoyo's two 3-D measuring machines, which had been found to have been shipped via Dubai to Libya on an Iranian-registered vessel, they said.

The sources knowledgeable about investigations at the Public Safety Division said the Mitutoyo management decided to expand exports in the first half of the 1990s when its sales dived.

Then its project team developed computer software to make its precision measuring machines appear less accurate than they are to bypass Japan's export regulations on high-tech products convertible for the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, the sources said.

Although some Mitutoyo employees alerted the management to the illegality of exporting high-performance machines using the software, referred to with an in-house code name of "COCOM," Takatsuji and others silenced the critics, telling them such exports have been decided as "a company policy," they said.

In addition to disguising the precision machines as devices with lower capabilities than they actually have, Mitutoyo filed export permit applications with customs, in which they falsely said their overseas arms were the final destinations of the machines to bypass the regulations on exports to countries and firms suspected of developing weapons of mass destruction, they said.

Mitutoyo, based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, is a leading maker of high-tech precision measuring machines and runs a network of subsidiaries, research institutes and factories in more than 20 countries, including the United States, Europe and Asia.

Takatsuji and Tezuka acknowledged the allegations related to the exports to Malaysia for which they had been arrested, informed sources said, adding the two executives have denied that the management ordered employees to bypass the export regulations.

But a senior official at the Public Safety Division said they believe the management issued such orders, adding Mitutoyo "has placed priority on just boosting sales and I cannot find any sense of ethics in them as a company."

Copyright 2006 Kyodo News International, Inc.

Yes, nice to see that Iran was in the business acting as a middle-man to ship nuclear separators from third-party Nations so as to escape all of the International Agreements that it had signed on to. But we may also remember that the AQ Khan folks had Mr. AQ Khan a warhead design expert as its base. The individual who made copies of his work and sold them through his network. Thus Pakistani warhead designs are in circulation as engineering and specification diagrams of how to make a nuclear warhead. Think of it as: "WMDs for Dummies - nuclear edition". And Syria itself has trade and economic ties to North Korea, which, we may remember, has been touting ITS nuclear program. And ex-Russian Republic scientists that have worked on the Russian/USSR nuclear weapons program are also in Syria. Gives one pause for thought, doesn't it? Especially as Iranian airliners do *not* need to be inspected for nuclear materials. I wonder where their design finishing group is?

So, here is the question: how do you stabilize Iraq and start the stability process moving *forward* in the Middle East and get it off the dime it has been stuck on for a few decades?

When I looked at actually what would be a 'good idea' to take out Syria before this, one of the large conceptions was that Iraq needed to be put in to a position of 'dynamic stability'. It could retain multiple factions and religions, but they had to be given something worth *having* beyond these paltry concepts of liberty, freedom, just laws and the such like. To get to that position of 'dynamic stability' requires a change of Demographics away from the Shia majoritarian stranglehold which isn't working out too well because the Shia are pretty much divided INSIDE their part of Islam. Their inter-sectarian problems are forcing the current Government to dawdle. It is not in a good position to do much of everything, although a good first response would be to declare the Sadrists and Badr folks 'outlaw' and their political party put in jail to be held accountable for the tens and hundreds of killings that they have supported. Keep their party legal, remove its representatives from Parliament. Until the Party disavows violence and taking up arms it can sit and rot. That might bring down the current Government but it could also force a larger coalition to get something done once the reprobates are in jail.

All of that said, to change Iraq the Demographics themselves must be changed. And so there you have all these wonderful Kurds sitting in Syria. And the fact that very few Nations there actually 'liked' the post-WWI treaties, and Syria is destabilizing the region, it might finally be time to say: You know, those old Empire Carvers that Created This Mess could have done a Better Job of It. Thus, any Nation that attempts to destabilize its Neighbor in the Middle East can look to something that happens in the US every 10 years: Re-Apportionment.

A bit of Gerrymandering.

Lets give the Kurds a Just Reward for waiting Patiently for the West to uphold Its word since the 1920's. Syria really doesn't need a seaport, given as how it no longer respects International Civilian Shipping, and the Kurds would LOVE TO HAVE ONE and thus break out of their major problem of being land-locked. Throw in a few Sunni border tribes and mixed ethnic towns and provinces and leave the Alawites in a small, land-locked Nation that will need to 'play nice' with Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and the new powerhouse of the Middle East: Iraq.

Why will this not fall into utter disarray? An excellent question and I am glad you asked it!

What is the main Iranian threat to Iraq? Cutting off the Straits of Hormuz.

What happens if you give Iraq another way to get oil out of their Nation via another seaport outside of the range of Iran to get to?

The Iranian threat is set aside and suddenly they are just threatening, but not able to do much of anything. Iraq could also offer pipeline services into Kuwait, so it would not be threatened.

The joy of this is that it can only be done if both the Kurds and Shia in the South AGREE TO IT. Of course now having fast, overland shipping from the Med. to the Persian Gulf thus cutting off scads of shipping TIME for Europe is a huge, huge incentive. Suddenly Iraq, by agreeing to have a more or less secular government can offer a large opportunity for employment, stability, and be free of threats from Iran.

In all of this, Hezbollah will wither and die without support in Lebanon.

Israel will no longer have Hezbollah and Syria to worry about, along with Egypt and Jordan. Lebanon has shown little real interest in attacking Israel. Two small States with lots of good coastline. Suddenly the real threats to Israel are from the Palestinians ONLY and they will find their funding sources evaporating with Syria and Iran no longer able to directly funnel money and arms to them.

It will not be beautiful, but it has a chance at Peace for the first time since the end of WWI for that area. With a bit of ethnic realignment a new way of doing things can start to take hold. And Iran is suddenly isolated as IT is then a Nation depending upon an oil export economy. It can no longer threaten all of Iraq with a 'lightning strike' attack on the south.

And the greatest of all joys in this?

By using an Afghanistan style campaign and the might of the US Air Force and a few CVN Battlegroups, the amount of troops we will need to find for a Coalition numbers in a few thousand. Ten thousand should do it. Maybe put Poland in command, they seem to have a way with folks in the Middle East that the US just doesn't. Because as we have demonstrated against the armored forces of Iraq, there is NO ARMORED FORCE ON THIS PLANET THAT CAN STOP THE UNITED STATES. The paradigm of light, fast, mobile and semi-competent is a winning mixture with the addition of the mightiest air forces on the planet. All of which means that Iran will be staring at US Armed Forces not doing much at all in Iraq. They could then sit and stew as the plan moves from Stage One to Stage Two.

Oh, and do notice that the US promises ZERO rebuilding aid, although we will find a few companies to kick into the 'pipeline kitty' and I think that a few European Nations would welcome a ready Iraqi supply source in the Med. Pretty damned sure of it seeing as how Russia hasn't been a good player the past few years. It would be a good thing to see Iraqis doing some of this rebuilding stuff on their own.

So there you have it: a plan to start stabilizing this God Awful Mess that our Parents have left to us because they couldn't figure it out.

Let us not pass this mess on and worse to Our Children.

Or they will damn us to some very hot places in the afterlife for not doing something while the doing was cheap, easy and the RIGHT THING TO DO.