Letters of Marque and Reprisal against al-Qaeda? Plus: the Ron Paul Experiment

Interesting little test by Extreme Mortman. But the thing that really caught my eye was the comment made by "richarda" at 2:27 PM, May 25: Ron Paul proposed issuing letters of marque against al-Qaeda? You know...that's a pretty good idea!

Letters of Marque were issued against enemy merchant shipping, which al-Qaeda doesn't do much of, but the concept of private action against an enemy state could be useful. In principle, though, haven't we actually approved that by issuing a large reward for bin Laden's capture?

Al Qaeda leader in Iraq may be dead

Breaking news--some reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in a battle between al Qaeda and some insurgents today. No confirmation yet from US forces, but I bet we'll be scrambling to find out for sure.

It's especially nice to hear that the fighting was between our two enemy groups. The more they hate each other, the better for the Iraqis and the Americans.

Let's see how this goes...