Citizens for Osama

So what's up with U.S. citizens fighting with the Taliban? Seems there are now three U.S citizens trying to claim they are entitled to special treatment under the U.S. Constitution and requesting their immediate return to the States for trial under American laws in a civilian court. They think as citizens of the country they took up arms against, they are now entitled to special treatment as US citizens.

This is going to be a slippery slope for our military and legal system to deal with, some are saying they gave up their citizenship when they joined the Taliban. But does being in the employ of a non-US entity cause you to lose your citizenship? Do foreign nationals who serve in our armed forces become US citizens by virtue of their military service? Let's look at a few examples and see if we can clarify these muddy waters a little bit...

In the early 90's when Australia was purchasing large quantities of the Sikorsky Blackhawk helicopter for their military, they were offering US Army Warrant Officers a Captaincy in their military if they were Blackhawk qualified. The only catch, their laws require all members of the Australian military to be Australian citizens. Our laws in the US do not have this requirement. So while it is not common, there are many non-US citizens serving in the US military. In my 20 years of Army life, I was privledged to serve with 1 British citizen, 3 others from Canada, 2 from S. Korea, and probably a half dozen from various S. American and African countires. So I guess you can say, serving in the US military does NOT make you a US citizen.

We know that if you work for BMW (a German company) in the US, you don't give up your citizenship, and you don't become a German citizen. But what if BMW transfers you to their Stuttgart plant? Now you are going to be moving to Germany and working for a German company. Do you lose your citizenship? Again the answer is NO. In fact this is rather a good position to be in, the US lets you exclude the first seventy plus thousand dollars in income because you are living abroad and working for a foreign company. And, since you are not a German citizen, you are not subject to the Germans 40% income tax. Now you might understand why foreign jobs are popular for people who want to travel and don't mind living outside the US.

So if serving/working for a foreign entity doesn't immediatly cause you to loose your citizenship, and if the Taliban doesn't require converting to an Afghanie to serve/help them. Then I guess you are still a US citizen. Now, if a US citizen, will these guys fall under the new requirements of our new terrorism legislation? I guess they do, and since they are US citizens, they should be brought back to the US and charged as criminals/terrorists under the new laws. But here's the catch, our new laws require the terrorist act to be witnessed by two people. Are we going to be able to find two people willing to testify against these three? I guess you could charge them with treason. Wait a minute, does treason fit?

Sec. 2381. Treason:
Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

Well as we see in "Section 2381 of Chapter 114 (Treason, Sedition, and Subversive Activities) of Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedures" of the US Code, it does fit. In fact the punishment is very possibly much greater for the US citizens (death) than it is for the foreign nationals serving with the Taliban. Most of whom will go free or be returned to their countries of origin.