Before we declared independence, we enjoyed the "protection" that the Brits had been buying from the pirates for a long time. The Brits bought the protection by paying tribute to the pirates, and our own vessels were issued passes so that we could enjoy that same protection. When we declared independence, we had no passes, and had to come up with the money to pay our own tribute to them. So basically we tried appeasement by paying them off, and we did so for like 15 years. Jefferson didn't even recommission the navy until 1794, so without the payments (which were bankrupting us) our merchant ships were defenseless. The Barbary pirates had been basically ruling the Mediterranean since the Crusades. When Jefferson took office in 1801, the head honcho pirate from Tripoli demanded a ton of money from the new administration, and Jefferson refused. Then the pirates declared war on us, and we defended ourselves accordingly. So, the reason we got attacked was money, not because they were radical muslims who wanted to kill all infidels. If you can buy any kind of "protection" from "radical" muslims, they ain't "radical" muslims.