[wideawake]

SJackson, you say that we did not declare war on the Barbary pirates. crz says that we did declare war.

If you follow the Ron Paul definition of a declared war, we definitely did not declare war on the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War. The Pasha of Tripoli attacked the US consulate in Tripoli and desecrated the US flag. President Jefferson, as Commander-In-Chief, responded militarily without any formal Congressional declaration of war.

However, by the sane, non-Ron Paul definition, the Congressional approval of the funding of the Naval expedition against Tripoli was a de facto declaration of war.

[SJackson]

Of course even Ron Paul doesn’t believe the Ron Paul standard, having voted for an authorization for use of military force before he voted against an authorization for use of military force.

[mnehring]

You are right.. technically, Congress first authorized tribute to be paid to the pirates and agreed to treaties with Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripolitania. The Tripolitan War basically started when the USS George Washington was captured because the tributes weren’t ‘high enough’. Jefferson sent four ships to first offer a ransom payment for the Washington and her crew. When this was rejected, Jefferson declared war (without Congress mind you) and sent a majority of our fleet, following the USS Constitution, to North Africa. Only after Jefferson had taken action did Congress make a declaration supporting the action and approving federal funding (as well as severing treaties w/ the Barbary States.)

Now, lets put this in perspective considering that Paul called 9/11 an act of ‘air piracy’ and the Barbary Pirates were used as a terrorist-type tool of the Ottoman Empire to expand their Islamic Empire.

What was said about ‘those who fail to learn from history’?