Islam: Sic Semper Extortioniis

By Tom Brewton (02/10/06) Militant Islam has a long pedigree, and 9/11 is not the first time that it has sunk its fangs into the United States. Walter Stahr, in his biography of John Jay, says of the early days of the United States under the Articles of Confederation, when Mr. Jay was Secretary for Foreign Affairs, that perhaps the most difficult foreign policy problem of that time was the Barbary pirates.

Islamic states of Algiers, Morocco, Tripoli, and Tunis were strategically positioned along the north African Barbary coast, bordering a main trade route in the Mediterranean Sea. Our vigorous and successful military actions to end their piracy account for the Marine Hymn's "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli."

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