The great thing about history is that it often provides a blue print for previous courses of action which have been successful. I have heard many times during my life that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. What I haven’t heard is the corollary, which is just as true. Those who do not learn from history and do not follow a course of action which has proved successful, are very probably doomed to failure. It may interest everyone to know that Islamic terrorists performing acts of piracy on the high seas is nothing new. It was the very first crisis faced by our nation in 1789. It was resolved in 1801, immediately after Thomas Jefferson became President.
For a couple of centuries prior to America becoming a nation, Islamic extremists read their Quran and discovered that Allah wanted them to convert, kill, or enslave every non Muslim on Earth. There is a possible temporary respite for the rest of us, it is called a Jizya. The Jizya is a temporary solution which allows a non Muslim to pay a Ransom to the Muslim in charge so that he can turn his conquesting attention elsewhere. It basically allows you to barter to be the last one conquered. The Islamic extremists living in the Barbary Coast were exacting the Jizya from every European nation sailing anywhere their ships could reach. Most countries were willing to pay this. As the first President of the United States, George Washington dispatched his Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson to England to meet with the Ambassador from the Barbary Coast. When asked what gave these pirates the right to infringe upon the American ships this abridgement of our right to sail freely upon the high seas, Jefferson was told that the Quran gave them that right. Jefferson purchased a Quran and read it on the voyage home. Upon his arrival home, he wrote a very impassioned letter to George Washington and Chief Justice John Jay. This letter made it quite clear that these people would not be able to be dealt with diplomatically, (insightful realization from the chief U.S. diplomat,) and in his opinion, the Jizya should not be paid, and we should fight the Muslims. President Washington decided to pay the Jizya, which at first seemed reasonable, because our nation was brand new, and it had been working for the nations of Europe for centuries. this went on for 12 years, with one caveat. The Barbary Pirates saw fit to increase the Jizya. Without warning, when the tax increased, more hostages would be taken and news of the increased ransom would be sent to the non Muslim world. In January of 1801, Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated the third President of the United States of America. Immediately after his inauguration, the Marine Corps and Navy were born. An invasion of the Barbary Coast was ordered by Jefferson within a week of his assuming the Presidency. The war, America’s first lasted several years, but it also ended terrorist acts against the western world until 1904 when Islamic extremists killed the U.S. ambassador to Morocco and held his family for ransom. President Ted Roosevelt answered again with decisive military force, and it again was a long time before we heard from the Islamic extremists.
Read more about this history here.
Two years ago, in the first months of his Presidency I gave Obama kudos, (one of three times to date,) for allowing a Navy Seal Team to take decisive action against Somali Pirates. He managed to not get in the way of a good decision. What I fault him for is his complete lack of follow up. Since that time, over 660 Americans have been taken hostage, a Jizya demanded, and 4 Americans killed by Islamic extremists operating from Somalia. Our President’s answer? No one in our Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, or Department of State are allowed to notice the obvious connection of Islamic terrorism to Islam. Our President’s current foreign policy consists of an odd blend of appeasement of aggressive and openly hostile enemies coupled with an array of insults and diplomatic betrayal of our allies. About the Jizya, Barak Obama has paid over $10 Million. Is this what he meant by being smarter with our foreign policy. He has eschewed the very successful lesson taught to us by one of our founding fathers. Which is apropos, since he holds our Constitution in contempt, as evidenced by his being the only U.S. President to be slapped with an contempt order. Whatever his reasons for choosing this asinine course, which history has shown will only beget more kidnappings and piracy, is not important to me. what is important to me is that at our earliest possible opportunity we correct the mistake made in November of 2008 by electing a President who is clearly not up to the task of being President. (Personally, I believe him to not be up to any productive task.) The question is, how much more of this will Americans suffer until January of 2013.
On a side note, and because this part of our history needs to be told. Much is made about the Quran purchased by Thomas Jefferson. To bad our political correctness will not allow for most of it to be truthful. Congressman Keith Ellison (D) Minnesota used it to be sworn into office. Both President Bush and President Obama used it for Dinners commemorating Muslim Holidays in the White House. It has been heralded as symbol of Jefferson’s admiration for the Muslim people and of their contributions to the world blah blah blah. The fact is that Thomas Jefferson read the Quran so that he could learn about his enemy in a war he realized he would have to fight, (which happened 12 years after he suggested it.) James Madison, Jefferson’s Secretary of State, wrote a foreword in that very Quran after he read it. In that forward Madison wrote that Islam would be the gravest threat to the sovereignty of the United States in the future. Prophetic words indeed.
Crossposted at Musings of a Mad Conservative.
UPDATE: Correction, the Jizya is $10 Million per ship. We have paid upwards of $600 Million so far.
Hat tip Van Riper. (Go Acacia)
UPDATE II: Our refusal to listen to what they themselves say will be our undoing.
My favorite quote occurs at 7:43. “Life and property of the Kuffar have no sanctity.” Realize, as Jefferson did 210 years ago, there is no negotiation or diplomatic solution possible with people who feel they are bound by their Deity to destroy you.
Hat Tip Philip_Daniel for the UPDATE.
