After the events of September 11Th, 2001 it was clear that the U.S. would have to commence fighting with certain radical Muslim groups. The country would need to use every military, diplomatic, and intelligence tool to prevent another attack from ever happening.
What may be surprising to Americans is that this was not the first time the country had faced an outside threat from radical Islam. Between the 16Th and 19Th centuries t is estimated that between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by pirates and sold as slaves. Around the year 1800 during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson and when the country was barley formed the U.S. fought one of its forgotten wars: the Barbary Wars.
In the time period before the year 1800 many American ships were captured by the Islamic Barbary Sates. When Thomas Jefferson attempted diplomatic relations with the State's ambassador he replied “it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Muslim who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”
Realizing diplomacy was futile, Jefferson built the U.S. Navy up and sent them to fight the Barbary pirate ships. The first war lasted from 1800 to 1805 . When the Barbary States continued to attack American ships there was a second war in 1815. Reference to these wars can be found in the Marine Corps Hymn with the line "From the Halls of Montezuma,To the Shores of Tripoli; Interesting how history has repeated itself.
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