[Travis McGee]

The war in which we fight today is the longest conflict in human history. It's time to learn from history, not repeat its mistakes.

[PetroniusMaximus]

***The war in which we fight today is the longest conflict in human history.***


Indeed it is!


"You shall name him Ishmael,
for the LORD has heard of your misery.
He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers."

[hedgetrimmer]

Just started reading about this in a book called "The Commodores". To defend American ships and interests against the Algerian blackmailers was one reason the United States Congress approved the creation of a federal navy. The original navy was commissioned with exactly the ships and firepower Congress felt was needed to overpower the Algerians and stop the kidnapping and ransome of Americans and American merchant ships.

[Spirited]

Guess the current President is not an historian.
So we waffle.

[Texasforever]

It wasn't until 1801, under the presidency of Jefferson, that the U.S. engaged in what became a four-year war against Tripoli

This is not quite correct. Jefferson was dragged kicking and screaming into the Barbary Wars. It was Congress that told him to get off his duff and do something. He had refused to do anything until Congress "declared war" a point that Hamilton belittled him over since the BP had already declared war. Jefferson only acted when Congress passed a joint resolution directing him to take action. That joint resolution was the model used for the WOT congressional joint resolution.

[Moonman62]

What Sept. 11 did to the U.S. economy in 2001, the mass shipjacking of 1793 did to the fledgling U.S. economy in that year.

911 didn't have much of a negative effect on our economy. If anything, it got Greenspan to take his boot off the economy's neck.

[ccmay]

What's the moral of the story?

Easy. Christendom must suppress Islam in the harshest manner. The Mohammedan fiend must always have our boot on his filthy throat.

[Barset]

Thank you for posting this. It makes sense to view the Islamic jihad against the West as a continuum and not as a series of isolated incidents.

Since the eighteenth century the West's wars have been limited in purpose, colonies, independence, trade routes, etc., and lacked the religious fervor or frenzy of wars in the middle ages.

Islam, though, over centuries, has never lost its focus, the conversion or complete destruction of non-Islamic people.

We are not fighting a "war on terror" but skirmishes to quell the most violent and dangerous jihadists, while the "moderate" Muslims stake out their bases within the nations of the West to await the final suicide of the West.

Judging by the the abortion worshippers' mass indulgence in the pornography of infanticide last weekend, Islam has not long to wait.

[Brilliant]

Good read.

[oh8eleven]

And just who did we send to Tripoli?

1805 - U.S. Marines assemble a fleet to Derna, Tripoli to put down Barbary Coast pirates taking a toll on American merchant ships in the Mediterranean. Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon and his Marines marched across 600 miles of North Africa's Libyan Desert to successfully storm the fortified Tripolitan City of Derna. Marines today sing about the victory in the second line of their hymn: "to the shores of Tripoli." The Marine Corps officer sword, adopted in 1826 and used today, is modeled after the Mameluke scimitar given to O'Bannon in appreciation.

They marched 600 miles across the desert and still kicked butt! Semper Fi ...

[jslade]

"From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of TRIPOLI" Where have I heard those words before?

[GBA]

Here's a "Thanks for posting this!" bump. A very interesting read!

[RippleFire]

bump

[spunkets]

Bump for Jefferson the neocon.

[The Mayor]

Bump!

[veronica]

Fascinating. Great post, as always. :)

[Publius6961]

Jefferson inquired of his European hosts how they dealt with the problem. He was stunned to find out that France and England both paid tribute to the fiends – who would, in turn, use the money to expand their own armada, buy more weaponry, hijack more commercial ships, enslave more innocent civilians and demand greater ransom.

Nothing has changed all that much, has it?

The only thing missing from the article is the famous statement made in Congress during discussions about how to solve the problem. And it is as applicable today as ever:

"Millions for defense. Not one cent for tribute!"

[Gritty]

Today, 200 years later, we are now re-engaged fully in the fight against the Muslim Pirates, which was only temporarily suspended by Treaty in 1805.

The Marines, today as then, are in the lead elements.

[Terriergal]

this was an excellent article. I caught it in the WA times the other week while out of town and hoped someone had posted it! thanks!

[Terriergal]

PING!