By Dan H.B.
A courageous but sometimes reviled President saw the Muslim cutthroats for what they were: evil murderers inspired by their particular interpretations of ambiguous passages in the Koran, which they believed instructed them to dominate all infidels and either convert them or kill them. If some of the Islamic extremists were killed in the process, that was okay, because Paradise awaited those who died in holy battle. The President was tolerant of all religions, but he recognized that this group was different and posed a lethal threat to the United States. He was unlike his predecessors, who had followed a policy of appeasement for fear of enraging the enemy and thereby making them stronger. Despite extreme criticism from Congress and even from the beloved former President, this President ordered the US Marine Corps to defend America in battle overseas. The President was confident that he was morally right, and he hoped that history would judge him correctly.
The marines went into battle on the Islamic terrorists’ home grounds in the Middle East and fought many bloody battles in Tripoli, Morocco, and Algiers. That is why the Marine Corps hymn refers to the “shores of Tipoli.” It is also how they became known as Leathernecks, because they wore leather collars in an attempt to thwart the beheading by scimitars that often awated them.
By now you realize that I am not talking about George Bush. It was Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, champion of liberty and religious tolerance. He alone had the courage to stand up against the Islamic pirates who had been preying upon US ships, taking prisoners, and demanding ransoms. In fact, the US government had already paid the Muslim murderers over a million dollars in bribes and ransom money over the years in a futile attempt to buy them off.
In 1801, just after Jefferson took office, he received a ransom note from the Muslim pirates demanding immediate payment of $225,000, plus $25,000 per year every year to keep them from attacking our ships, which they would do anyway. The war of the Barbary Coast was successful, and history has judged Jefferson correctly. Jefferson was right, and his critics were wrong. Will history repeat itself?
(Thanks to Brad Thor for teaching me about this period in our history.)