Holding America Over a Barrel…Again
by Ruth S. King
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In 1786, Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Jefferson’s report to Secretary of State John Jay is chilling, and resonates to this day:
“The ambassador answered us that the right (to kidnap, loot and enslave)was founded on the Laws of the Prophet (Mohammed), that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman (or Muslim) who should be slain in battle was sure to go to paradise.”
The American Consul to Tunis, William Eaton was enraged by the escalating demands of the Barbary States. In June 1799, he wrote the following the following assessment of the character of the local Muslim population to the U.S. Secretary of State:
"Taught by revelation that war with the Christians will guarantee the salvation of their souls, and finding so great secular advantages in the observance of this religious duty [i.e. keeping captured cargoes] their inducements to desperate fighting are very powerful."
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From Eaton’s diary we have the following bitter assessment: "We find it almost impossible to inspire these wild bigots with confidence in us or to persuade them that, being Christians, we can be otherwise than enemies to Musselmen [Muslims]. We have a difficult undertaking." (April 8, 1805)
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Pertinent Links:
1) Holding America Over a Barrel…Again
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