Obama is a liar, but Islam was the motivation for President Madison to change course and authorize the expansion of the US Navy. We needed a strong navy to stop Muslims from making slaves of our sailors and stealing our ships with their cargos.
Actually, it was Jefferson and continued by Madison. The Muslim pirates of the Barbary Coast demanded and were granted between 20% and 50% of the revenues to the US Treasury at the time as ransom for the freedom of American trade ships to pass into the Mediterranean. It, therefore at a point, made practical financial sense to take them out.
The saga of the Barbary Coast pirates is an interesting piece in the history of the United States, The debate centered on whether it was more practical and expedient to just pay them their ransom demands or go to war with them.
Americans were very pacifistic then although they had fought relentlessly against the British. As the Barbary Coast pirates received payment from the US government, they became EMBOLDENED and demanded more, and more was given until it was clear that paying them only caused an increase in their outrageous demands.
Doesn’t that sound like today?