Just registered to update my blog from my cell phone. This could be dangerous.

Like the US? Thank a pirate!

From a Washington Post Review of Michael B. Oren's Power, Faith, and Fantasy : "In the perilous early years of the republic, the Muslim Barbary powers preyed on American shipping and captured, tortured and enslaved hundreds of innocent men and women. When John Adams and Thomas Jefferson implored the pasha of Tripoli to stop, Oren recounts, the pasha's emissary insisted that the Koran made it the "right and duty" of Muslims "to make war upon" whichever infidels "they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners." George Washington raged, "Would to Heaven we had a navy to reform those enemies to mankind, or crush them into non-existence." And Congress did create a navy in the 1790s primarily to crush the Barbary powers and protect American traders and missionaries. President Jefferson -- so often mislabeled as an idealist, pacifist and isolationist -- eagerly launched the war and ordered the permanent stationing of U.S. naval forces thousands of miles from the nation's shores. "

I doubt that many Americans are even aware of the role pirates played in the formation of the United States. When our founding fathers declared independence from Britain, our ships lost the protection of the British navy. Unable to just pay the ransoms (the European way) the United States was at the mercy of the pirates. Thus one of the reasons the states united was to pool their resources and build a navy.

It's interesting that for the last couple of years we're hearing the same thing happening. Pirates operating off the coast of Africa are operating at will and the UN has done nothing about it. In fact, the policy is to pay the ransoms. Finally, the United States Navy Seals heroically rescued an American hostage yesterday. I think most Americans are thrilled to see us using our power, so hard to protect in our defeatist political climate, to defend the our rights of our ships and our people in international waters. My prayer is that our new President acts decisively and doesn't wait for the UN or Europe to dictate our response.