“The Barbary Wars were primarily about trade, not theology,” he writes. “Rather than being holy wars, they were an extension of America’s War of Independence.”
This guy is wrong—it has always been the same thing - a Dhimmitude Tax on Non-Muslims; that is what paying tribute is about. Western Society has changed and doesn’t understand Allahists—it has always been the same and always will be the same—’.’Submit or Die
And the Treaty of Tripoli was an appeasement treaty. BTW, for anyone who’s interested, PBS is running a show on Islam right now.
I think Hitchens means that for Americans it was a trade war rather than a religious war. Of course it was a religious war, a holy rip-off war, for the Moo's.
This is a great article -- Hitchens deserves wide recognition for this one. He's a card-carrying liberal. If he can get it right, then the Pelosis and Reids and Xlintonx and Cindy Sheehan have no excuses left.
Other than that Sheehan is probably half-nuts.