Posted on 04/16/2009 12:55:11 PM PDT by Pyro7480
Before we even learn the name of the Somali teenage pirate we are reportedly about to bring to trial in the United States, and with Al Qaeda reportedly urging the sea-faring criminals to become genuine terrorists, its time for a brief refresher course on America and its long, rich history hounding and being hounded by with pirates. The following is courtesy of historian George C. Herring’s George C. Herring’s masterful work, “From Colony to Superpower, U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776,” which is part of the Oxford History of the United States....
Even into the 1830s, when America had better established herself as an international power, we had a sporadic pirate problem. This time it was Malayan pirates, off the coast of Indonesia, who seized an American vessel, killed some of its sailors, and made off with the ship’s cargo. President Andrew Jackson, always spoiling for a fight, sent a large warship to the East Indies and tore the place up. Don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
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