When we were attacked by al Qaeda on September 11, 2001, we were faced with one option. Send our military overseas and attempt to kill every last one involved. Search and destroy. Six years later, Bin Laden and his gang are just as active as they were on Sept. 11th and seem to be gaining steam. We've spent over a trillion dollars on the War on Terror and don't have much to show for it. Where did we go wrong, and what should we have done?

Where did we go wrong?
Most people would agree that we shouldn't declare war on a loose organization of other organizations spread throughout the world. The military complications alone should deter even the most adamant. Our military force, while the tough, is not very mobile. You can't attack just one country at a time. They'll just run to another country. In order to prevent the migration of the enemy, you have to attack them all at once. Sending 10,000 troops to Afghanistan in a day is very hard to do. Sending 10,000 to 25 different countries is even more difficult. Directing those troops stationed in all those countries to capture a specific unit of the organization in that particular country is even more ambitious. The manpower required to pull off this operation would be substantial. Nearly impossible. And expensive. Very expensive. This is why we don't have a War on Al Qaeda.

We shouldn't declare war on a method used in combat, such as guns, knives, bombs, or in this case, terror. Most Americans will understand the emotional connection between the terrorist organization known as al Qeada and the War on Terror. They attacked us, so we will attack them. As stated before, the logical implications of calling it the War on Al Qeada involved too much coordination and expense. The War on Terror however, implies simply that we will declare war on anyone affiliated with terror that we come across. However, what is terror? Is this a legal definition defined in a law or act declared by Congress? The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were obvious acts of terror. What if they had just tazed the flight attendent during flight as an act of protest and nobody died. Is this still terror? Then what if she died from the tazer, is that terror? In order to erradicate something like terror, it has to be clearly defined as to what it actually is. If not, you are giving the government a blank check to declare war on whoever they see fit. Some might argue that the Bush administration would never abuse this blank check privilege. Be that as it may, who's to say that the next administration won't. Do you trust Hillary to declare war on whoever she wants as long as she declares them terrorists. Therefore, it is easy to deduce that declaring a War on Terror was a problem to start with.

What should we have done?
The Constitution was written by some of the greatest minds our country has ever known. However, they did not reinvent the wheel. Many of the concepts incorporated into the Constitution came from works of great minds before them, people like John Locke and Thomas Paine. However, there was another concept that precluded even these bright men. Issuing letters of marque and reprisal.

Letters of marque and reprisal, also known as privateering, has been around since the 13th century and it reached its peak between 1589 and 1815. Privateers are merchants who are authorized by a government to attack foreign navies and shipping. Generally, there are restrictions placed on these privateers as to what they can and cannot do. They do not have complete freedom to do whatever they wish. They are made to sign bonds in the event that they break these restrictions. The use of privateers was especially useful during the American Revolution as our navy was still in its infancy and we did not have many commissioned ships. Privateers captured over 600 British ships during this time period. It was used again in the War of 1812 and in the Civil War.

If we used privateers immediately after the attacks on Sept. 11, we could have caught al Qeada off guard. Our military is too slow to have such a swift attack. We've been fighting for six years without producing any serious dents in al Qaeda or capturing bin Laden. Issuing letters of marque and reprisal could have saved us years of fighting and hundreds of billions of dollars.