The nation's first Secretary State, Thomas Jefferson, told Congress it must choose "...between war, tribute and ransom." He believed war was the only reasonable choice, and advocated the creation of a navy. Tribute paid to the pirates was "money thrown away," and the only thing they truly understood was gunpowder and shot. Just as Luther 250 years earlier, Jefferson called for a united military alliance among the European powers, along with America, to blockade North Africa and provide for a military solution against the pirates. Europe chose to continue paying tribute.
"Would to Heaven we had a navy to reform those enemies to mankind, or crush them into non-existence," said George Washington in 1786. Said one American envoy, "There is but one language which can be held to these people, and this is terror."
... It was 19th century colonialism that finally put an end to centuries of North African piracy, just as it was the Western nations that finally ended the Slave Trade.
Unfortunately the slave trade, taking of captives for ransom, and terrorism lives on Islamic societies (Read the rest of this most interesting history of the epidemic of pirates in the 1800's).
The pirates in the water's off Africa are not new what's new is the the fact that Western nations have done nothing to rid us of this evil. For America, it appears this is the first time an American ship, carrying aid to Africa by the way, has been hijacked. Now ask yourself, why now? Under Obama's tenure?
"Would to Heaven we had a navy to reform those enemies to mankind, or crush them into non-existence," said George Washington in 1786. Said one American envoy, "There is but one language which can be held to these people, and this is terror."
... It was 19th century colonialism that finally put an end to centuries of North African piracy, just as it was the Western nations that finally ended the Slave Trade.
Unfortunately the slave trade, taking of captives for ransom, and terrorism lives on Islamic societies (Read the rest of this most interesting history of the epidemic of pirates in the 1800's).
The pirates in the water's off Africa are not new what's new is the the fact that Western nations have done nothing to rid us of this evil. For America, it appears this is the first time an American ship, carrying aid to Africa by the way, has been hijacked. Now ask yourself, why now? Under Obama's tenure?
- 'It was believed to be the first US merchant ship hijacked since the North African Barbary Wars in the early 19th century, underlining the anarchy raging off Somalia despite an international naval effort against piracy.' (Read)
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