News-junkie that I am, I ran across this modern-day piracy story and it reminded me of something.
A persistant argument of "the left" is that a war on terrorism can not be won. There will always be terrorists and you can not eradicate it as a tactic. And to some extent, there is truth to this. But we are not trying to eradicate the tactic of terrorists, we are attempting to destroy as a cohesive force those who adhere to a particular politico-religious ideology that uses terrorism as a tactic.
There was a time when state-sponsered piracy threatened the world's shipping lanes and the security of citizens that travelled the seas. To quote a review of the book "Jefferson's War: America's First War on Terror 1801-1805" by Joseph Wheelan:
Two centuries ago, the ostensibly pacifist president Thomas Jefferson launched America’s first war on foreign soil—a war against terror. The enemy was Muslim; the war was waged unconventionally, with commandos, native troops, encrypted intelligence, and foreign bases under short-term alliances.
For nearly two hundred years, Barbary pirates had haunted the Mediterranean, enslaving infidels and extorting millions of dollars from European countries in a holy war against Christendom. Newly independent, American ships became a target of piracy. Instead of paying tribute, after his inauguration Jefferson chose to fight. With telling illustrations, Jefferson’s War traces the events surrounding his resolute belief that peace with the Barbary States, and the attainment of Europe’s respect, could be gained only through the "medium of war." Jefferson ordered the new U.S. Navy to Tripoli in 1801, starting the Barbary War that ended in 1805. The war proved that ship-for-ship the U.S. Navy was the equal of any navy afloat. William Eaton’s bold frontal assault on Derna with a fractious army of Arabs, disaffected Tripolitans, European mercenaries, and eight U.S. Marines punctuated the American victory as the marines ran up the Stars and Stripes over the city—the first flag-raising on hostile shores by U.S. troops.
The origin of the line "From the Halls of Montezuma To the shores of Tripoli" which starts the hymn of the US Marines Corps refers to the battles they fought with the Barbary Pirates.
After four naval assaults against Tripoli failed to gain the release of the hijacked navy frigate Philidelphia, a US Army captain named William Eaton marched a small force of Marines on a 500-mile journey across the Libian desert to assault and capture the city of Derna. This success led to the release of the prisoners and a treaty in 1805.
It would take a while longer before the Piracy ended, but this was the beginning of the end for the North African pirates.
Today, there is still piracy going on. Piracy will never be eradicated.
However, the co-ordinated, state-sponsored, religously motivated piracy that threatened the Western world during Jefferson's time was ended through the heroic efforts, and deaths, of the US military.
In service to the world.
