Posted on 02/22/2015 1:41:25 PM PST by Apple Pan Dowdy
Obama should really pick up a history book sometime, and read about how one of his predecessors, and one of our nation’s Founding Fathers, handled the threat posed by radical Islamic jihadists, way back in 1801. (Read about how Thomas Jefferson responded to radical Islamic kidnappings, beheadings, and extortion)
(Excerpt) Read more at pjtn.org ...
“From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of “TRIPOLI!”
Obama’s getting payback to what Jefferson did to his com-padres.
Almost everything Jefferson did puts this administration to shame. Then again, I doubt the idiots in this administration have the ability to feel shame.
Barbary 0bama.
I thought this is what Obama was talking about when he said “Islam has been woven into the foundation of our society since it’s founding”. It was Evil then, it is Evil Now.
You silly. That’s Islams greatest contribution to our nation. A top knotch Navy.
In contrast, today's liberal hipsters grow Muslim sympathy beards and get anally fisted by their Hillary's Army girlfriends.
Someone please show me where I'm exaggerating.
You see! Obama was right! Islam was a intregal part of the founding on this nation!
Fighting back against these murderous satanic savages led directly to the creation of the US Marines!
“Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute.”
“You silly. That’s Islams greatest contribution to our nation. A top knotch Navy.”
The Islamics deserve no credit, unless one is infatuated with a threat.
The US Navy - such as it was - began its buildup under the administrations of George Washington and John Adams, more in response to the depredations of the French during the Quasi War than anything, and a general recognition that no one would take the country seriously, unless it acquired some military strength.
Thomas Jefferson disliked the notion of a blue water Navy: he feared it would encourage imperial ambitions. He attempted to reverse what had been done, and float a bevy of small gunboats for coastal defense. When the War of 1812 began, the country was lucky that the bureaucracy moved slowly; much of the real fleet was still usable. The gunboats proved helpless against Britain’s Royal Navy.
President Jefferson did not “send in the Marines” - local US officials did that on their own hook because communications were too slow with DC to get anything useful done. Lt Presley O’Bannon and his eight or ten Marines did march from Alexandria to Derna, a true feat of endurance and pluck, but one that mattered hardly at all in the greater conflict.
The unpleasant geostrategic truth was that all seafaring trading nations dealt with the Barbary pirates in various ways, as seemed prudent. All - the United States included - paid ransom or tribute, or took direct military action, or applied diplomacy according to the needs of the moment, and the best guess as to what might succeed. “Millions for defense, not one penny for tribute” was never more than a campaign slogan.
After besting the Royal Navy in single-ship encounters, and managing to avoid being totally wiped out, the US Navy came out of the War of 1812 with a greatly enhanced reputation, for the quality of its weapons and ships, and the seamnanship and courage of its crews. The Algerians attempted more moves against US merchant traffic; President Madison got Congress to declare war in February 1815, and sent two powerful squadrons immediately. They captured key Algerian vessels without missing a beat; suddenly the Barbary leaders had far less enthusiasm for a fight. Peace talks came right along, and a treaty was signed by July. Speedy, even by modern standards.
Islamic piracy of the day declined but slowly, over the next couple decades, thanks to a combination of factors. The Ottoman Turks roused from their torpor and brought the Barbary provinces under more complete control; after the final defeat of Napoleon, the Royal Navy put together a large naval force, and it sailed into several harbors, then bombarded the coastal cities into rubble. The sort of response that would be condemned today, by wimpy public opinion, and the self-appointed moral arbiters who really think international law has meaning.
But Thomas Jefferson does not deserve the credit bestowed on him by the pjtn.org article. The US Marines, though, predate the Barbary Wars by a fair spell. They predate the founding of the country, coming into existence on 10 November 1775.
I think Usagi_yo was being sarcastic.
Anyway, your post is interesting. It encourages me to read more on the subject.
“I think Usagi_yo was being sarcastic.
Anyway, your post is interesting. It encourages me to read more on the subject.”
Thanks to samtheman for the courteous reply.
And if Usagi_yo was being sarcastic, it’s my turn to apologize. Cast and tone do not always transmit well, on chatboards.
If I had any larger points, they might unfold along these lines:
1. Just because no war was officially declared, it doesn’t mean there was no fighting going on.
2. The fostering and sustainment of military capability can take a long time, even if the right conditions and attitudes exist already. Capability does not spring full-wrought from nothing; the higher the tech, the greater the investment. In capital, in training, in creation of a suitable corporate culture (execrable phrase, but a better one has yet to appear).
Americans resist 1 and 2, with determination; we’ve gotten away with indifference and simplistic remedies in the past, but we ought not press our luck indefinitely.
3. Early on, American sea power manifested itself in individual units of high quality. Numbers were another matter.
4. The Islamic pirates of 200 years ago respected nothing but superior force, and superior will when it came to application. Eventually, the Western trading sea powers got their act together and did the deeds.
Can we do the same today? The issue remains in doubt. Of a certainty, today’s Islamics laugh at us when we tolerate antiwar protesters in our midst, who object (noisily) to the mere suggestion that we undertake wholesale bombardment of cities, the way the Royal Navy did, in the early 19th century. The precious protesters believe compassion and nonviolence are virtues with no upper limit; our enemies believe they are weaknesses.
The Americans who dared to split from Great Britain, and then dared to begin to build a nation along lines very much unproven, ran huge risks and met with some success. We should realize that it was never a sure thing, then guard and sustain what they bequeathed, in such a manner that contemporaries and posterity will be in no doubt that we believe it too. To do less - to pass it off as providential - would belittle their efforts.
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