Thomas Jefferson and Barak Obama - Dealing with Pirates, Then and Now
America’s problem with pirates is not new. In the late 18th and 19th century, this country already had the same concerns we have presently with Muslim pirates. The theater of operations then, the Barbary Coast, was in Africa’s North; today’s pirates are based on Africa’s East, in Somalia. In a country where the government is weak and easy to buy off, where the balance of power is very unstable, and where all sides (insurgents and the government) stand to gain much from such operations there is no incentive for Somalia to stop them. The western response has, so far, been pathetically feeble.
Shortly after it declared independence in 1776, US commercial vessels became prey to the Barbary Coast pirates, while financial profit was a very powerful motive for these pirates, there was a far better reason for their actions. Let’s remember, that America was not yet a world power, was not capable of foreign military action and barely had a Navy:
Very simply put, the Barbary pirates were committed, militant Muslims who meant to do exactly what they said.
Take, for example, the 1786 meeting in London of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the Tripolitan ambassador to Britain. As American ambassadors to France and Britain respectively, Jefferson and Adams met with Ambassador Adja to negotiate a peace treaty and protect the United States from the threat of Barbary piracy.
These future United States presidents questioned the ambassador as to why his government was so hostile to the new American republic even though America had done nothing to provoke any such animosity. Ambassador Adja answered them, as they reported to the Continental Congress, “that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.”
Sound familiar?
…that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise. Yes, gentle reader, it is all too obvious that IslamoFascist terror long antedated today’s excuses. It is also obvious that the only language they understand is by giving them more trouble than they can handle… Just as Thomas Jefferson did!
[...]Note that America’s Barbary experience took place well before colonialism entered the lands of Islam, before there were any oil interests dragging the U.S. into the fray, and long before the founding of the state of Israel.
America became entangled in the Islamic world and was dragged into a war with the Barbary states simply because of the religious obligation within Islam to bring belief to those who do not share it. This is not something limited to “radical” or “fundamentalist” Muslims.
Which is not to say that such obligations lead inevitably to physical conflict, at least not in principle. After all peaceful proselytizing among various religious groups continues apace throughout the world, but within the teachings of Islam, and the history of Muslims, this is a well-established militant thread.
Note that America’s Barbary experience took place well before colonialism entered the lands of Islam, before there were any oil interests dragging the U.S. into the fray, and long before the founding of the state of Israel. The excuses Western liberals drum up (and are readily adapted by IslamoFascists) to find justification or at least “understanding” for IslamoFascist terror in our age did not exist at the time of the early pirates. Yet… their motivation was no different than it is now, to subdue Dar-al-Harb (The House of War) as infidel lands are referred to by faithful Islamists. In fact, even Osama bin Laden, never once mentioned Israel or the Palestinians until 2003!
America’s actions against Tripoli (part of today’s Libya) from 1801-1805 and against Algiers in 1815 put a stop on pirate action against America, but not against Europe which continued to pay tribute for a few more decades, before they too had had it. By the time Jefferson became President in 1801, the US had already paid out over $2,000,000 to the various crowned heads of the Barbary Coast. The Bey of Tripoli now demanded a new payment of $225,000 (at a time when the total US governmental budget was a mere $10,000,000) which had to be handed over by a certain date, or Tripoli would declare war on the US. President Jefferson refused to give in to blackmail and responded with force, on Tripoli’s own shores. Jefferson’s bringing the war to the enemy’s own land and later by James Madison was effective and stopped pirate action on American vessels for almost two centuries.
Today we once again, face Muslim pirates. I can just hear it, gentle reader, surely you mean to remind me that at at least one supertanker (a 1000ft vessel, carrying oil to the West) belonged to Saudi Arabia. Somali insurgents - who profit the most and are directly involved in pirate operations - are a part of Al-Qaeida thus Saudi Arabia, in spite of being a Muslim country is a natural target in view of some anti Al-Qaeida raids conducted by the Saudis.
Over the weekend the captain of an American cargo vessel, being held as hostage by the pirates, was rescued by the American Navy who shot his captors dead. This action sent a message that the tables are about to be turned on them. The UN has already authorized the use of force against pirates on sea and on land. President Obama, however, had only instructed the US Naval Task Force in the area to intervene only if there was reason to believe Captain Richard Phillips’ (of the Maersk-Alabama) life was in danger. When they saw one of his guards point at Phillips’ back with an AK-47, it was obvious they had to intervene.
Though the Navy’s efforts are highly commendable, our Commander-in-Chief’s orders are troubling and present us with quite a few questions. Did Obama’s administration plan to negotiate with these people and pay a ransom? Mr. Obama is quite well acquainted with the Qur’an in its original language, is his knowledge of America’s history just as deficient as his many faux pas at the recent G20 Summit showed his understanding of protocol is? Should not a President of a country know its history well enough to learn from what worked and avoid what didn’t? Or was the American taxpayer to be soaked again and again in “bailing out” Somalia’s warlords?
To be fair, while making the pirates pay a heavy military price is the only way to stop piracy, America is militarily overextended. However, a united front of European/American/Asian/Muslim nations can stop this threat of the high seas in its tracks. Saudi Arabia has been threatened, China has been threatened, various European nations have been threatened… Will they coordinate a united response or will they appease and pay ransom?
Meanwhile President Obama, whose leadership style is not to lead but let things happen, has been shamed into speaking up as a result of our Navy’s superb action: Obama pledges to fight piracy; pirates vow revenge. Will the western nations wake up and make the pirate’s lives unbearable or will the pirates exact revenge?!?!? Surely, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison must be turning in their graves!
Chaim
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