American Minute with Bill Federer
The Barbary Pirate Coast
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"The first nation to recognize my country was
Morocco,"
stated President Obama in Cairo, Egypt, June 4, 2009.
Morocco
began recognizing American colonists in 1625.
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Governor William Bradford
described the incident in the
History of the Plymouth Settlement.
In 1625, the Pilgrims sent two ships back to England carrying dried fish and 800 lbs of beaver skins to trade for much needed supplies.
What happened next?
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Bradford
related the fate of one ship:
"They ... were well within the England channel, almost in sight of
Plymouth.
But ... there she was unhapply taken by
a Turkish man-of-war
and
carried off to Morocco
where the
captain and crew were made slaves ...
Now by the
ship taken by the Turks
... all trade was dead."
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Muslim pirates of Morocco raided European coasts
and carried away over
a million to the North African slave markets.
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An estimated
180 millions Africans were captured
and sold into
Muslim slavery.
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In 1627, Algerian Muslim pirates, led by
Murat Reis the Younger,
raided Iceland,
and carried
400 into slavery.
One captured girl, who had been made
a slave concubine in Algeria,
was rescued back by King Christian IV of Denmark.
On June 20, 1631, the entire village of
Baltimore, Ireland, "The Stolen Village,"
was captured by Muslim pirates. Only two ever escaped to return.
Thomas Osborne Davis wrote in his poem,
"The Sack of Baltimore"
(1895):
"The yell of 'Allah!' breaks above the shriek and roar;
O'blessed God! the Algerine is lord of Baltimore."
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Des Ekin wrote in
The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates
(2008):
"Here was not a single Christian who was not weeping and who was not full of sadness at the sight of so many honest
maidens
and so many good
women
abandoned to the brutality of these barbarians."
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Kidnapped Englishman
Francis Knight
wrote:
"I arrived in
Algiers,
that city
fatal to all Christians
and the butchery of mankind."
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Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail
had
500 wives,
mostly captured from Europe, and forced
25,000 white slaves
to build his enormous palace at Meknes.
He killed an African slave
just to try out
a new hatchet.
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The
Catholic Order "Trinitarians" or "Mathurins,"
collected alms to ransom slaves.
One of those ransomed from North Africa was
Miguel de Cervantes,
author of
Don Quixote de La Mancha
(1605).
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When
America
became independent, it was
no longer covered by the British extortion tribute payments
to the Muslim pirates.
Morocco
"recognized" the United States in 1785 by
capturing two American ships
and
holding the sailors for ransom.
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Thomas Jefferson
worked to free them, writing to John Jay, 1787:
"There is
an order of priests
called the
Mathurins
, the object of whose institution is to
beg alms for the redemption of captives.
They keep members always in
Barbary,
searching out the
captives
of their country, and redeem, I believe, on better terms than any other body, public or private.
It occurred to me, that their agency might be obtained for the
redemption of our prisoners at Algiers."
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In 1786,
Thomas Jefferson
wrote to William Carmichael regarding
Tripoli's demand for extortion tribute payment,
1786:
"Mr. Adams and I had conferences with a
Tripoline ambassador,
named
Abdrahaman.
He asked us thirty thousand guineas for a peace with his court."
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When
Jefferson
asked the
Muslim Ambassador
what the new country of America had done to offend them, he reported to John Jay, March 28, 1786:
"The ambassador answered us that it was founded on the laws of the prophet, it was
written in their Qur'an,
that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and
duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave;
and that every
mussulman (Muslim) who was slain
in this warfare was sure to
go to paradise.
He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share,
and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy's ship, every sailor held
a dagger in each hand
and
a third in his mouth;
which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once."
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Jefferson
read the
Qur'an,
not out of admiration or devotion, but to understand why
Muslims
were
attacking Americans
unprovoked.
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The word
Islam
means
submission to Allah,
and a
Muslim
is
one who has submitted to Allah.
Islam
is a
religion of peace,
it is just the Islamic
definition
of
"peace"
is
different.
To someone raised in Western Civilization, "peace" is achieved when different groups get along.
In
Islam, "peace"
is when
everyone is submitted to Allah.
Essentially, to a
fundamental Muslim, "world peace" means "world Islam."
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This is similar to what
Lincoln
stated at the Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, Maryland, April 18, 1864:
"We all declare for liberty; but in
using the same word
we
do not
all
mean the same thing."
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A
moderate Muslim
believes the
world will submit to Allah later,
maybe in the distant future or at the end of the world, and since it is so far off, they are not preoccupied with it and are non-violent.
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A
fundamentalist or "Islamist" Muslim
believes the
world is supposed to submit to Allah now,
and they are excited to help make it happen.
This is referred to as becoming radicalized.
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The dilemma for
Western Civilization
is, the
more
it shows itself
welcoming and tolerant,
the more a percentage of moderate Muslims begin to rethink that maybe the
world
is actually
submitting
to Allah
now
rather than
later.
They gradually gravitate from the
"future" non-violent mindset
into the
radicalized "now" mindset.
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In other words, the
nicer
the West is, the
more
violent fundamental Islamists become.
This reflects an Islamist attitude, that when your enemy is strong, retreat; when your enemy is weak, attack.
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Fear
in the heart of the enemy is a
sign
Allah wants you to
attack
them.
Psychologist Nicolai Sennels
explained
(Hapeles Orthodox Jewish Newspaper,
July 5, 2016):
"Muslims instinctively see our lack of reaction as fear, its an invitation to attack."
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Another word which has a different definition is the word
"innocent."
In Islam, it is
wrong to kill the innocent,
but the definition of
innocent
is
a faithful follower of the way of Allah.
Those who reject fundamental Islam
are not faithful followers, therefore
they are not innocent:
- "Allah loveth not those who reject Faith" (Sura 3:32);
- "Be ruthless to the infidels" (Sura 48:29);
- "Make war on the infidels (Sura 9:123; 66:9);
- "Fight those who believe not in Allah" (Sura 9:29);
- "Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them" (Sura 2:191).
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Saying
it is wrong to kill the innocent
is code for saying
it is wrong to kill faithful Muslims.
Fundamental Muslims
accuse
moderate Muslims
of being
unfaithful
-- of backsliding from the way of Allah, having left following the example of Mohammed and the Rightly Guided Caliphs.
It is therefore justified to
kill moderate Muslims along with non-Muslims.
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Lawrence of Arabia
wrote in
Seven Pillars of Wisdom,
1922:
"Wahhabis,
followers of a
fanatical Moslem heresy,
had imposed their
strict rules
... Everything was
forcibly pious
or
forcibly puritanical."
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Ronald Reagan
wrote in his autobiography, An American Life (Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 409):
"Radical fundamentalist sects ...
have
institutionalized murder
and
terrorism
in the name of God, promising followers instant entry into paradise if they die for their faith or kill an enemy who challenges it.
Twice in recent years,
America has lost loyal allies
in the Middle East, the
Shah
of Iran and
Anwar Sadat, at the hands of these fanatics ..."
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Reagan
added:
"I don't think you can overstate the importance that the
rise of Islamic fundamentalism
will have to the rest of the world in the century ahead --
especially if, as seems possible, its most
fanatical elements
get their hands on
nuclear and chemical weapons
and the means to deliver them against their enemies."
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On August 8, 1974,
Richard Nixon
warned of the Middle East:
"... that the
cradle of civilization
will not become its
grave."
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In 1793,
Muslim Barbary pirates
captured and plundered the U.S. cargo ship
Polly,
imprisoning the crew.
The pirate captain justified his brutal treatment of the Americans:
"... for your history and superstition in believing in a man who was crucified by the Jews and disregarding the true doctrine of God's last and greatest prophet, Mohammed."
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In 1795,
Muslim Barbary Pirates
of Algiers captured 115 American sailors.
The United States was forced to pay nearly a million dollars in ransom.
At one point,
nearly 20 percent of the U.S. Federal budget
was used to make
extortion tribute payments to the Muslim pirates.
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A
Treaty of Tripoli
in 1798 failed.
Christopher Hitchens
wrote in his article
"Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates":
"Of course, those secularists like myself who like to cite this
treaty
must concede that its conciliatory language was part of America's attempt
to come to terms with Barbary demands."
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Immediately after
Jefferson
became
President
in 1801,
Barbary pirates demanded $225,000, plus an annual tribute of $25,000.
When
Jefferson
refused, the
Pasha (Lord) of Tripoli
declared war -- the
first war the U.S. was in after becoming a nation.
Jefferson
sent U.S. frigates to the Mediterranean to protect American shipping.
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In his First Annual Message, December 8, 1801,
Jefferson
stated:
"Tripoli,
the least considerable of the
Barbary States,
had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had
permitted itself to (declare) war
on our failure to comply before a given day.
The style of the demand admitted but one answer.
I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean,
with assurances to that power of our sincere desire to remain in peace, but with orders to protect our commerce against the threatened attack ...
The
Bey
(lord) had already declared war. His cruisers were out. Two had arrived at Gibraltar. Our commerce in the Mediterranean was blockaded and that of the Atlantic in peril ..."
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Jefferson
continued:
"The arrival of our squadron dispelled the danger.
One of the Tripolitan cruisers having fallen in with and engaged the small schooner
Enterprise,
commanded by
Lieutenant Sterret,
which had gone as a tender to our larger vessels, was captured, after a heavy slaughter of her men, without the loss of a single one on our part.
The
bravery
exhibited by our citizens on that element will, I trust, be a testimony to the world."
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On December 29, 1803, the new 36-gun
USS Philadelphia
ran aground
on Morocco's shallow coast.
Muslims surrounded and captured
Captain William Bainbridge
and his 307 man crew for 18 months.
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To prevent this ship from being used by Muslim pirates,
Lieut. Stephen Decatur,
in what was described as the
"most bold and daring act of the age,"
sailed his ship,
Intrepid,
on FEBRUARY 16, 1804, into the Muslim pirate harbor.
He climbed about the captured
USS Philadelphia
and set if ablaze, then fled out of the harbor.
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Jefferson
sent the
Navy
and
Marines
to capture T
ripoli,
led by
Commodores Edward Preble, John Rogers
and
Captain William Eaton.
The
Pasha
was force to make peace on U.S. terms.
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Frederick Leiner wrote in
The End of the Barbary Terror-America's 1815 War Against the Pirates of North Africa
(Oxford University Press):
"Commodore Stephen Decatur
and diplomat
William Shaler
withdrew to consult in private ... The
Algerians
were believed to be masters of duplicity, willing to
make agreements
and
break them as they found convenient."
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The annotated
John Quincy Adams-A Bibliography,
compiled by Lynn H. Parsons (Westport, CT, 1993, p. 41, entry #194), contains
"Unsigned essays dealing with the Russo-Turkish War and on Greece,"
published in
The American Annual Register for 1827-28-29
(NY: 1830):
"Our gallant
Commodore Stephen Decatur
had chastised the
pirate of Algiers
... The
Dey (Omar Bashaw)
... disdained to conceal his intentions;
'My power,' said he, 'has been wrested from my hands; draw ye the treaty at your pleasure, and I will sign it; but beware of the moment,
when I shall recover my power,
for with that moment,
your treaty shall be waste paper.'"
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The First Barbary War,
1801-1805, was America's first war after the Revolution.
The Second Barbary War,
1815, gave rise to the Marine Anthem:
"From the halls of Montezuma to
the shores of Tripoli."
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The curved
Marine sword
is from the confiscated
Muslim scimitars,
called
"mamluke" swords.
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Marines were called
"leathernecks"
for the wide leather straps worn around their necks to prevent being beheaded.
Sura 47:4 states: "When you meet the infidel in the battlefield, strike off their heads."
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Francis Scott Key,
nine years before he wrote the
Star-Spangled Banner,
wrote a song to the same tune to commemorate the victory over the
Muslim Barbary Pirates.
He titled his song,
"When the Warrior Returns from the Battle Afar,"
published in
Boston's Independent Chronicle,
Dec. 30, 1805:
In conflict resistless each toil they endur'd
Till their foes shrunk dismay'd from the war's desolation:
And
pale beamed the Crescent,
its splendor obscur'd
By the light of the
Star-Spangled Flag
of our nation.
Where each flaming star gleamed a meteor of war,
And the
turban'd head bowed
to the terrible glare.
Then mixt with the olive
the laurel shall wave
And form a bright wreath for the
brow of the brave.
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[email protected]
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