It seems little has changed, over 200+ years, with our Islamic friends on the seas.
"To the shores of Tripoli" . . .
Good ole' 12 ga does the job again.
Reminds me. I heard that faux-libertarian, right-wingnut idiot who wrote that book A Non-Politically Correct History of the United States (or something like that, has a pic of a Confederate soldier on the cover) on CSPAN the other day quoting Jefferson to the effect that Congress should never cede the power to make war to the President. He's expert in U.S. history and doesn't know that Jefferson himself ordered a squadron of ships (then the entirety of capital ships in the U.S. navy, and in terms of capital investment the major part of U.S. standing forces period) to confront the Barbary pirate nations without even consulting Congress?