When Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, Muslim pirates from North Africa’s Barbary Coast routinely captured American merchant ships and held the sailors as slaves, demanding ransom payments far beyond what the new country could afford.
Westmoreland County Historical Society For fifteen years, America had tried to work with the four Muslim powers (Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco) driving the piracy, but negotiation proved impossible. Realizing it was time to stand up to the intimidation, Jefferson decided to move beyond diplomacy. He sent the U.S. Navy and Marines to blockade Tripoli—launching the Barbary Wars and beginning America’s journey toward future superpower status.
In fact, Marines sing about it every in the first verse of their hymn. “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we fight our country’s battles in the air, on land, and sea.”
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this entire video. I seem to remember laughing at that silly woman trying to take issue with Hitchens. He could eat Godzilla for lunch.
Not even considering the fact that America didn’t even exist until about 1,200 years after islam started and had been wreaking havoc on the Earth.
It is good that Hitchens said this; however, he is also anti Israel and I think he is a self hater in the accepted meaning of the word. The Islamic pirates probably believed the Koran, but even the so-called pallis know their movement is a phony.
Presumably only virulent left wingers are sufficiently voluntarily brain dead (based on their chosen left wing nihilist ideology) to say that ‘Islamic fundamentalism is the result of American democracy’. The errors in IFITROAD are myriad and not limited to but include 1 – Fortunately, we are a republic and not a democracy 2 – Islamic fundamentalism is the direct result of the thoroughly evil belief system known as Islam which was created hundreds of years before America even existed 3 – Evil such as Islamic fundamentalism only exists because of the voluntary choices of individual human beings to embrace it, not because of any other influences except perhaps the left who also embrace it. One could argue that since both the left and followers of Islam (FOI) hate and fear freedom and individual rights (FAIR) and seek to destroy FAIR wherever they find them, which is why the left and FOI are allies, ‘blood brothers and sisters’, the mere existence of a free country such as America (or Israel) ‘leads to’ Islamic fundamentalism but that is akin to the error of saying, to borrow a phrase, that wet pavements cause rain.
This an excellent book to read.
White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa’s One Million European Slaves Paperback – 9 May 2005
by Giles Milton (Author)
This is the forgotten story of the million white Europeans, snatched from their homes and taken in chains to the great slave markets of North Africa to be sold to the highest bidder. Ignored by their own governments, and forced to endure the harshest of conditions, very few lived to tell the tale.
Using the firsthand testimony of a Cornish cabin boy named Thomas Pellow, Giles Milton vividly reconstructs a disturbing, little known chapter of history. Pellow was bought by the tyrannical sultan of Morocco who was constructing an imperial pleasure palace of enormous scale and grandeur, built entirely by Christian slave labour. As his personal slave, he would witness first-hand the barbaric splendour of the imperial court, as well as experience the daily terror of a cruel regime.
Gripping, immaculately researched, and brilliantly realised, WHITE GOLD reveals an explosive chapter of popular history, told with all the pace and verve of one of our finest historians.
The Left never mentions that.
I grew up in NJ and we did cover the Ottoman’s piracy a bit but there are others that we simply didn’t cover.
I assume the emphasis is on the transatlantic African slave trade mostly because we actually have the descendants of that here.
Muslims were worse but they generally didn’t allow kids for the slaves.
I knew virtually nothing about Islam until after 9/11. In fact, a Muslim family moved into the house next door to ours when I was a kid on Long Island, and no one ever referred to them as Muslims, only Arabs. And nasty ones at that.
Great comment. I read the book long ago. Milton mentions that Cervantes (who wrote Don Quichotte) was a prisoner and his freedom was bought back after a long time.
Just to add, Milton tells about the French who went to fight against the Ottomans who were snatching the French population along the coast and considering the fact that Ottomans were pirates who were settled in North African harbours, this is how the French created Algeria. To stop the Ottomans attacking trade (american) boats and snatching french population living in the south of France.
One platoon of marines defeated the vizier of Tripoli. One tiny platoon. The vizier surrendered his sword, nice and fancy. That is why, to this day, the USMC’s officer’s sword is the Mameluke sword.
In the Treaty of Tripoli, the term “mohammedan” is used to describe those that were defeated, yes “mohammedan”.
Using that term to describe the descendants of the cross-breeding of monkeys with pigs … the lowest of ALL creatures (moslems) will get you permanently banned from youtube. Ask me how I know …..
I hate YouTube. Rumble isn’t all that better. They banned me, too.
LMAO! YouTube would ban you for your moniker! Linkedin would explode. I was “glitched” for the third time a couple of weeks ago. I miss all of my Jewish and Israeli friends there. I’ve been threatened numerous times by YouTube. I get right back in their little bearded faces.
I like that term. I call them “Mohammedans “ all the time…,,
“Islamic fundamentalism is not created by American democracy.” If that were the case, as the jihadists and their dim-witted Leftist enablers claim, how do they account for the millions murdered by Muslims prior the establishing of our country @250 years ago? They are either totally ignorant of history or they do know and are lying. Pick one.
I pick the second one.