The Attorney General spoke. “There would be some international legal considerations that we would be wise to take into consideration before doing something like that. You might recall when President Clinton attacked Osama bin Laden by simply sending off a flurry of Tomahawk missiles into Afghanistan and Sudan. That clearly violated the sovereignty of those countries. There were all kinds of international ramifications—”
“I don’t really care if there are ramifications for our attacking him in another country if we’re sure he’s there. It’s not that that I’m worried—”
“Yes, sir, what I meant was if we can avoid some of that, it might be wise to do so.”
The rest of the people in the room shifted uncomfortably. None of them had any particularly new or creative ideas on how to attack terrorism. They didn’t want to say anything at this point and look stupid before they knew the way the President wanted to go.
Congressman Lionel Brown, the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, spoke. “I may have an idea, Mr. President.”
Everyone in the room looked at him. When he spoke about the military, people listened. The President knew better than to try to argue with him about military policy. At least here. “What might that be?”
Brown had been debating whether to actually bring it up. He was afraid he would look foolish. “I’m a little embarrassed to say where this idea came from, but I’ve been thinking about it ever since it came across my desk. When I first heard it, frankly, I disregarded it. But it’s one of those ideas that grows on you. It has definitely grown on me. In fact, since hearing about the idea, although initially rejecting it, I had my staff look into it and research it over the last few weeks.”
“What is it?”
“This Sheikh al-Jabal, by his own words, has declared war against the United States.”
Everyone in the room nodded their understanding. “Several weeks ago, after that Navy officer was killed in the bus attack in Israel, I received a letter from his roommate on a carrier in the Mediterranean. I’m sorry, but I don’t recall his name. He was very upset. On reflection, I think I failed to give the letter the respect it deserved, probably because it came from such an unlikely quarter. What he said” — Brown hesitated, knowing this was his last chance to avoid being known for this idea, however it came out — “was that Congress should declare war against Sheikh al-Jabal. As an individual. And against the Assassins, as a group. He had even gotten the JAG officer on the carrier to do some research on the issue, and he saw no reason why it couldn’t be done. The Lieutenent got a priest, of all things, to do an analysis of whether it would be a just war under the old just war doctrine that goes back hundreds of years. Both of those other officers supported him. This Lieutenant is one of my constituents, and frankly, I think we should give his idea some consideration, certainly more than I gave when I first heard of it.
“We declare war against countries when they attack us. At least we used to. Yet most of the attacks nowadays are from individuals, or terrorist groups. Why not declare war against them and use the full force of the military to go after them? Why not attack this Sheikh al-Jabal with the military which was designed to do just that? We always turn away from responding with the force of the military, and declaring war, when that is exactly what seems to be called for.”
Congressman Brown watched the faces of those in the room. He smiled, knowing what was happening in their minds: crazy idea, interesting idea, clever idea, it will never work, who will support it, is it going to prevail, am I on the right side?
Brown was most interested in the President’s impression. He had a lot of respect for President Garrett, and the fact that Garrett had done what only two other people in the room had done — served in the military. President Garrett had been in the Army for two years after college. It wasn’t much, but it was more experience than any other President since Bush. Brown could see the surprise on Garrett’s face. Not unpleasant surprise, good surprise. He was clearly stunned by the thought.
“Would that be legal?”
“I had my staff look into that. I have to give the Lieutenant credit. The JAG officer he roped into looking at this got it pretty much right. There is nothing that says we couldn’t do this.
“We’ve never done anything remotely like that.”
“Mr. President, I’ve been thinking about this a lot,” Brown said, leaning forward in his chair. “We have lost our way in using the war powers as they were designed. We somehow got to the position where war had to be total war. We had to declare our intention to completely destroy another country if we were going to go to war with that country. I think that came out of World War II, where only unconditional surrender was acceptable. That wasn’t the old understanding of war in this country, and certainly not the understanding of war at the time the Constitution was written.”
“Is everybody tracking this?” the President asked the others.
They were interested, but not yet ready to commit to supporting the idea.
With every eye on him Brown continued. “Speaking for Congress, if I might — and without its authorization — we have lost track of our power to declare war. Congress has abdicated its role. During Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm, Kosovo, many other times, we have sent troops, sometimes hundreds of thousands of troops, and not once did we declare war. That is unconscionable. It stems from a misunderstanding of a declaration of war.”
“You think we could do it here?” the President asked.
“I think so, Mr. President. This murderer has declared war against us, and seems intent on seeing it through. He isn’t just issuing hollow threats. I think we should return the favor. I propose that we declare war against him. As an individual. And against his group.”
“How?” President Garrett asked.
Brown stood up, unable to sit still anymore. “When the Korean War started, we had the World War II mentality. Only the stakes were higher — a potential nuclear war with Russia — but also, as I said, war was understood to mean total annihilation. We haven’t declared war since. Yet fifty thousand Americans died in Vietnam. We tell their families that we weren’t at war? If you go back before World War II, such as to the Spanish-American War, or the War of 1812, no one thought that it meant we were going to level Spain, or England. It simply meant that we would set a political objective attainable only through warfare, and achieve it. There was no misunderstanding about that. And Congress declared war. The President agreed, but it was Congress that declared that it was warfare that would accomplish the objective.
“The way to deal with terrorists today is to declare war against them. Pursue them with the full force of the military wherever they are. If they’re in Syria — we go into Syria. The general rule is that no one can harbor combatants. We have the right to pursue those with whom we are at war. The country that protects combatants does so at its own risk.”
“Are you serious?” the Attorney General asked. “You want to declare war against one man?”
“Exactly,” Brown said. “It’s time to go to war against terrorism. Not with the CIA, not by the DEVGROUP, or the Delta group, not by some covert cooperation with another country’s intelligence arm. I mean full-out, wide-open, out-in-the-sunshine war against them. We declare war, the President signs it, and we pursue them to hell and back until the war is over. We don’t have to live with the ridiculous niceties of the judicial system, where we have to send FBI agents to arrest them, and give them their rights, and try to drag them back to the United States for trial. That is one of the most ridiculous concepts ever devised in the history of combat. Imagine Genghis Khan tearing out after someone who had just burned a village in his territory, and having one of his men climb down from his horse and say to the bad guys — you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” He waited for their smiles to fade. “We know who did these acts. What exactly was it that Hitler had done to us in 1941? Nothing. There had been some skirmishes in the Atlantic. We waited until Hitler declared war against us, and then we returned the favor. That’s what we should do here — return the favor. Declare war back.” Brown suddenly felt conspicuous. He had gone on too long. The silence of those around the room seemed to confirm his fears. “Please forgive my rambling. I feel strongly about this, and I believe it is the correct course. I think we should go to the public with this as soon as we can, and tell the American people what our intentions are. I see no harm in having a wide-open debate about this today. Tomorrow. For a week. Whatever it takes, we debate it, we declare war, and we go after him.”