The First Battle Against Terrorism

For most people the 'war on terror' began on 9/11, for some it was the first World Trade Center bombing, or the bombing of American marines in beirut by Hezbollah back in the early 80s. The origins of the war on terror actually began right after the US gained its independence from Britain in 1783. The Barbary Pirates based out of Tripoli, and other locations along the North African coast raised havoc against sailors that came across them. Although they terrorized Europeans, they really went after American ships. The European powers paid tribute to the pirates in order for their ships not to be attacked. In 1786 Thomas Jefferson, the American Ambassador to France, and John Adams the American Ambassador to Britain, met with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the Tripolitan ambassador to Britain in London. Jefferson and Adams tried to negotiate a peace with Tripoli in order to protect American shipping. They asked why they have become major targets of the pirates. Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja responded

that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged 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 Musselman [Muslim] who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.

During that time the US did not go after the pirates and continued to pay tribute to them. Jefferson argued that by not going after them the pirate attacks will not cease and they will continued to be exploited. Once Jefferson became President, in 1801 he sent naval forces to confront them. In 1806 the US made peace with Tripoli but it took another war in 1816 with British and Dutch help that ended the Pirate threat against the US. The Barbary Pirates continued to attack French ships until 1830 when the French decided to conquer Algiers.

The conflict over the Barbary states is an early example of Islamic terrorism and the Western response to it. The important lesson from this conflict was that paying ransom was only going to increase the kidnappings and pirate attacks not end it. The US halfheartedly took the lead in trying to stop the threat but it wasn't until Britain and other Europeans realized enough was enough and then the Pirates became a marginal threat.