HIT MAN Paul (Photo: Getty Images)
The government is going about catching Osama bin Laden all wrong, says Republican representative and GOP primary contender Ron Paul. What we need is a citizen mercenary mob armed with the might of the U.S. constitution. And, you know, like Uzis and flame-throwers and stuff.
Paul, the only Republican candidate advocating withdrawal from Iraq, wants to bring back a 2001 bill that would have allowed the president to commission private citizens and non-government groups to specifically target Osama and his cohorts. In other words, he wants to send assassins after Al Qaeda. He introduced the "Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001" almost immediately following 9/11 out of anxiety over how the U.S. might retaliate for the terrorist attacks. "I was fearful we would invade and occupy," says Paul. "It doesn't make sense to direct attention at an entire government when attention should be directed at its lawless individuals." He adds, "We wouldn't have been in Iraq [if the bill had passed], and none of these men and women would have been killed."