Between 1801-1815, the newly formed United States of America fought the Barbary Wars against Muslim slavers based in Tripoli, Tunis, and Algeria. From the 16th to the 19th century, the slavers captured an estimated one to 1.25 MILLION white Europeans (Robert Davis, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean). The Muslim pirates had seized American merchant ships and enslaved the crews for ransom. Most of the men were pressed into hard labor and kept “in extremely poor conditions that exposed them to vermin and disease.” The Muslim Barbary states also demanded tribute from the American government in exchange for not attacking its ships. This piracy began immediately after America gained its independence from Britain in 1784. Two years later, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two of America’s founding fathers, were sent to London to negotiate with Tripoli’s ambassador, Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja. When asked why the Muslims attacked nations that “had done them no injury,” Adja replied, “It was written in their Koran, 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 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” (Thomas Jefferson Papers, Series 1 1651-1827, Library of Congress). Note that the Barbary pirates cited the Koran as their authority for attacking and enslaving anyone who is not submitted to Allah. In 1795, America paid $1 million for the release of 115 sailors, an amount that was one-sixth of the U.S. budget. The pirates demanded an annual payment of the same amount. When Thomas Jefferson was elected America’s second president in 1801, he and his fellow citizens were of no mind to accept bullying and blackmail. The U.S. Navy was built to protect America against Muslim pirates. One of the most memorable acts of the Barbary War was in 1805 when a force of eight U.S. Marines and 400 Greek and Arab mercenaries, led by U.S. Navy Lieutenant William Eaton, traveled across 600 miles of desert from Alexandria, Egypt, to capture the city of Derne (or Derna) on the shores of Tripoli. This is memorialized in the U.S. Marine Hymn. By 1816, the Barbary states were forced to cease attacking American and British ships, and the deed was accomplished by force of arms. (Friday Church News Notes, October 2, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) Comments are closed.
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