Christians are pounding Muslims pretty hard, have been for decades, all the way back to the first Gulf war. Iraq, Afghanistan, now Syria. Christians should stop whining.
The
First Barbary War (1801–1805), also known as the
Tripolitanian War and the
Barbary Coast War, was the first of two
Barbary Wars between the United States and the four North African states known collectively as the "
Barbary States". Three of these were nominal provinces of the
Ottoman Empire, but in practice autonomous:
Tripoli,
Algiers, and
Tunis. The fourth was the independent
Sultanate of Morocco.
[2] The cause of the war was pirates from the Barbary States seizing American merchant ships and holding the crews for ransom, demanding the U.S. pay tribute to the Barbary rulers. United States President
Thomas Jefferson refused to pay this tribute.
...
Declaration of war and naval blockade[edit]
Immediately prior to Jefferson's inauguration in 1801, Congress passed naval legislation that, among other things, provided for
six frigates that 'shall be officered and manned as the President of the United States may direct.' ... In the event of a declaration of war on the United States by the Barbary powers, these ships were to 'protect our commerce and chastise their insolence—by sinking, burning or destroying their ships and vessels wherever you shall find them.'"
[25] On Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801,
Yusuf Karamanli, the
Pasha (or
Bashaw) of Tripoli, demanded $225,000 from the new administration. (In 1800, federal revenues totaled a little over $10 million). Putting his long-held beliefs into practice, Jefferson refused the demand.
Consequently, on 10 May 1801, the Pasha declared war on the U.S., not through any formal written documents but in the customary Barbary manner of cutting down the flagstaff in front of the
U.S. Consulate.
[26] Algiers and Tunis did not follow their ally in Tripoli.
...
First Barbary War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
