These days I don't take the time to read books about pirates as often as I did when I was younger. One of my favorites was John Steinbeck's Cup of Gold about Henry Morgan. He served most of his career in the service of the British crown with Letters of Marque authorizing him to intercept enemy merchant fleets to loot cargo. Henry Morgan had 10 ships and 500 men at his command. He was mobile, heavily armed, and immune from prosecution. With a Letter of Marqe, he was called a privateer - without it he would be a pirate.
It's the same lucrative business model now pursued by Eric Prince and Blackwater USA who have got more than a little bit of the Captain in them. Like Captain Henry Morgan, they have a private combat force outside the regular military chain of command, and observing different rules of engagement. They are sent unmonitored into enemy territories protected by the world's most powerful Get Out of Jail Free card.
Henry Morgan had a history of brutality on the ocean, but eventually found it more profitable to attack coastal towns. He burned ports and attacked cities, commiting a few small atrocities that culminated with his attack on Panama. In 1671, his private force marched on Panama defeating 1500 infantry and calvary forces. They looted the city, burned it to the ground and massacred the inhabitants. Despite his Letters of Marque, Morgan was arrested for violating a treaty but was not convicted and was knighted three years later.
Today its Blackwater USA that sails gunships through Baghdad armed to the teeth, and faces little chance of prosecution for their atrocities against civilians. They've apparently been granted a Letter of Marque by the U.S. State Department.
Although it may seem alittle arcane, the granting of Letters of Marque is specifically allowed in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution:
The Congress shall have the power... To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
Douglas Kmiec, Dean of Catholic University's Columbus School of Law explains the reason:
Occasions where one's citizens undertake hostile activity can often entangle the larger sovereignty, and therefore, it was sensible for Congress to desire to have a regulatory check upon it.
The Constitution grants this power to the Congress, but like so many other Congressional powers, it's the Executive Branch that wields it today. The Department of Defense oversees legions of defense contractors who operate as private enterprises both within and outside the Green Zone zone and provide their own security. Now the State Department has hired its own security force that is both outside the military chain of command and operating with unknown rules of engagement.
In his essay Private Security Contractors and American History, Michael Waller builds a case to support the use of these private security contractors. He notes the use of private forces throughout American history including privateers:
Privateers were also crucial to defeating the British in the War of 1812. The great naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan, though not a fan of privateers, recognized that the nation's fleet of private warships "co-operated powerfully with other motives to dispose the enemy to liberal terms of peace.
Waller is the Editor of Serviam, a magazine for the global stability industry. On a side note, the term 'global stability industry' is creepy, but Serviam Magazine looks like it could be a good read. In the holiday spirit this issue has an article titled "Capt. Myles Standish - The first Thanksgiving brought to you by a PMC." It's not online but I would really like to read it if any one can find a copy.
Seeing the same similarities that I do between Blackwater and the privateers in the days of piracy, Waller comes to quite a different conclusion -- that since the United States has engaged in this behavior before, its fine that it continue. I don't think that's a very compelling case.
First, I suspect we've tried to limit our use of privateers for a number of good reasons, and it is Congress's decision rather than the President's. The use of excessive force by privateers was a constant problem. Captain Morgan's sack of Panama was just one of many slaughters commited under the cover of a Letter of Marque. Blackwater's actions have resulted in the deaths of civillians and now entangle the larger sovereign. It is the U.S. that gets blamed for Blackwater's crimes.
The second and more dangerous outcome of privateering was the inevitable drift towards piracy. When treaties were signed and Letters of Marque were withdrawn from privateers, many continued to operate becoming pirates. Some day when we withdraw our forces from Iraq and no longer have work for Blackwater in the Middle East, we will stop paying their bills, and they will stop following our orders. What happens then? Do they retrain their 20,000 employees for telemarketing jobs, or do they move on to the next paying client?