The War on Terror

When I first got interested in the Constitution Party, I was concerned with how they viewed the War on Terror. Chuck Baldwin, the CP candidate for president, had written an essay entitled, If I Were President, in which he states support for H.R. 3076, the September 11 Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001. Mr. Baldwin says, “This is the constitutional way to deal with rogue terrorist organizations. This is the way President Thomas Jefferson responded to the Barbary pirates.”

Curious about the subject, I got the book The Pirate Coast from my local library. I had been taught about the Barbary Pirates in school – for about 10 seconds – and didn’t know too much about it. By reading this amazing book, not only have I learned more about this interesting time in our history, but this book also helped me solidify my beliefs about the War.

Our First War on Terror

The Pirate Coast introduced me to a long-forgotten patriot named William Eaton. He was the US Consul General in Tunis (present-day Libya). In those days, the US and European powers were being tormented by…surprise, surprise…Islamic extremists. Muslim kingdoms were scattered across northern Africa and their pirates would capture ships that were trading in the area. The crews were kept as slaves and either sold back to their home countries or sold into slavery in Africa and the Middle East. In order to prevent these abuses, the major nations of the world – the US included – would pay tributes to these criminals. General Eaton, outraged, had said, "Can any man believe that this elevated brute (the king of Algiers) has seven kings of Europe, two republics, and a continent tributary to him, when his whole naval force is not equal to two line of battle ships? It is so."

In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with the Tripolitan ambassador to England and asked him why the Pirates act the way they do. It was explained, "That it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Qur'an, 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 [Muslim] who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise."

Sadly, these terrorists were dealt with in a manner fit for today's Europe - let's give them what they want and they'll leave us alone. Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. This is not propaganda, this is historical fact. This book showed me that even in those days, weakness empowered these terrorists to act even more aggressively.

Sometimes they would attack towns across the sea, pillaging villages and taking prisoners. The women would be sold into the sex trade and some women were selected to be raped by the entire crew during the trip back to northern Africa. The men would be held for ransom or sold into slavery. In a much-ignored fact, white slavery was very fashionable in the Middle East and northern Africa.

The actions of the US government in dealing with the Pirates proved an eternal truth - if you let politicians fight the war, you will lose. It happened here, it happened in Vietnam, and it was starting to happen in Iraq until the surge. Government during war is just as ineffective as government during peacetime. Sending a war ship to blockade the port city of Tripoli, our ship ran aground and our forces surrendered without a fight. The Muslims laughed at us because if we had waited until high tide - ten hours later - our ship would have slipped off the reef and we would have been safe. Instead, over 300 US sailors were forced into slavery. Our officers were kept in isolation, but our enlisted men were starved, beaten, tortured, and a couple died while in captivity. Of course, if you converted to Islam you were let go, so five cowardly men betrayed their Nation and their God by converting to Islam - and they, too, took turns beating our prisoners.

Our Nation was only about 30 years old. We had just narrowly avoided a major war with France and now the Pirates were harassing us and Tripoli became the first nation to ever declare war on the United States. Not wanting another war, Jefferson elected to authorize the planning and funding of a covert operation to promote "regime change" in north Africa. In 1804, we sent General Eaton with eight US Marines and several Navy warships to the coast of North Africa to deal with Yussef, the king of Tripoli - the kingdom that had our prisoners. This king took the throne by killing his older brother, shooting his mom, and forcing his other brother into exile. His exiled brother, Hamet, swore to America that if he was helped back onto the throne that he would swear to never demand tribute or ransom again. It was Eaton's job to locate Hamet and return him to the throne of Tripoli. The problem is that while Eaton was doing this, Jefferson was also sending diplomats to negotiate a peace treaty with Tripoli, even if peace required the continuing payment of tributes!

Navy forces were able to sneak onto the captured US warship and set fire to it, causing its munitions to explode, which rendered the ship destroyed and unusable by the terrorists. Meanwhile, Eaton was trying to locate Hamet. Eaton had to deal with paying spies and narrowly escaping capture by roaming tribes and mercenaries. At one point, he finally located Hamet in Egypt and was captured on his way to him. The man that captured Eaton was worried that Hamet would lead the people in a revolution, since (surprise, surprise) this ruler was ruthless and bloodthirsty, cutting the heads off of people who could not afford to pay their taxes. He was happy to get rid of Hamet and allowed Eaton to join up with Hamet and his men.

Back in Tripoli, the commanders of the operation were considering calling off Eaton's contribution to the plan. The idea was launched that would send sailors into the harbor with a ship that was filled with explosives. The ship would have a 15-minute fuse, it would be lit, and the men would escape in time for the ship to detonate, destroying all other ships near it. It must have been a 15-second fuse instead, because it exploded with our troops still with it. The bodies of our military washed ashore and our officers, watching from the rooftop of their prison, asked if they could bury the bodies. The King of Tripoli refused, allowing the bodies to lie on the beach for three days. They were eventually buried, but not until after wild dogs had enjoyed chewing on their bones.

It was decided to allow Eaton to continue his mission. Several hundred European mercenaries and about a thousand Muslim followers of Hamet made their way through 600-miles of desert until they reached the city of Derne. This was the second-largest city in Tripoli. The trip was supposed to take about two weeks, but the trip was constantly delayed by the Muslims we were trying to help. Constantly holding out for more money or more food, the Muslims kept refusing to travel any further and even sometimes would leave and head back to Egypt. And every single time, it was Eaton's strength that brought them back and forced them to cooperate. He would look them in the eyes and tell them to go to hell. It worked, because by not caving into their demands, they would return to the mission each time. Eaton was able to hold the fragile alliance together until they reached Derne.

On their way to the city, they collected more allies that were encouraged by our mission. Not wanting to live under a madman any longer, they joined with us to fight. We attacked Derne and captured it. This was the first time our flag was raised over foreign soil. Eaton, shot through the wrist, survived the attack. To everyone's surprise, they were treated like heroes throughout the city. When Tripolitan troops counter-attacked, even the citizens of the city grabbed their guns and helped fight off the attack.

Meanwhile, the shame of America was about to begin. We sent a man to Tripoli to negotiate peace; Tobias Lear. Mr. Lear is the 1800's equivalent of Jimmy Carter. By this time, the king's harbor was filled with almost a dozen warships and he was scared. It turns out, he was so scared that there would be a kingdom-wide revolt that he was prepared to sell everything he had - even his clothes - in order to secure peace with America. He must have been pretty shocked when Mr. Lear caved in on almost every demand. No matter what was asked of him, without a negotiation, Mr. Lear agreed to it. He was under the impression that he'd be a hero for getting our prisoners out of slavery and bringing peace to the region.

Meanwhile, Eaton was still waiting for orders to bring his army to Tripoli - these orders never came. Instead, he received orders that a peace deal had been struck and that he was to abandon the city of Derne - a city still surrounded by a large enemy army. He wrote to his commander, "You would weep, Sir, were you on the spot, to witness the unbounded confidence placed in the American character here, and to reflect that this confidence must shortly sink into contempt and immoral hatred; you would feel that this confidence at any price should be carried through the Barbary regencies...But if no further aids come to our assistance and we are compelled to leave the place under its actual circumstances, humanity itself must weep: The whole city of Derne, together with numerous families of Arabs who attached themselves to Hamet Bashaw and who resisted Yussef's troops...must be abandoned to their fate - havoc & slaughter will be the inevitable consequence - not a soul of them can escape the savage vengeance of the enemy. And I most devoutly pray Heaven that the blood of innocence may not stain the footsteps of us who have aimed only to fight the enemies of our Country."

Rightfully so, Eaton felt this betrayal of the locals as "degrading to our national honor." We had already promised Hamet twice to return him to the throne and on our third promise, we broke our word yet again. Eaton had spies in the area that reported how weak and unwanted Yussef was. One spy said Yussef was so unpopular in his own city of Tripoli that he would barely have 200 loyal soldiers if the Americans attacked. Another Arab leader defected to join the rebel force with his 150 men, only asking for the guarantee that we would not abandon them to Yussef, "who would devour his family and lands."

Meanwhile, Yussef asked his army outside of Derne to hold off from attacking as long as they could for once there was peace with the Americans, he planned on using his army to "dispose of his enemies." After weeks of waiting, and Eaton refusing to abandon Derne, the enemy attacked. By the end of the day, our combined forces were able to defeat the enemy in battle. All of this was for nothing, as a peace treaty was signed in Tripoli, releasing the prisoners at a cost (yes, we paid Tripoli to release the prisoners). The moment our blockade ended, Yussef sent out four pirate ships to try to replenish his empty treasury.

The treaty was a joke, as Lear never put into the treaty that Tripoli was to stop enslaving our citizens or that we were never to pay tribute again. Lear, apparently with the National Checkbook, paid $60,000 in tribute and we gave diamond jewelry, cloths and watches (about $6,000 worth) to all the Arab leaders that were signing the treaty. To put that into perspective, in the early 1800s you could get a mansion in Manhattan for around $5,000.

After all the superficial 21-gun salutes between Tripoli and our ships, we reembursed Tripoli $402 for the gunpowder they used! And it was noted that $402 would actually buy ten times the amount of gunpowder that was actually used. We returned 89 Tripolitan prisoners to Yussef along with 41 slaves we had captured from a pirate ship (these slaves would later earn Yussef around $20,000 on the slave market). We paid Tripoli's Arabic translator $1,555 for his services. We moronically paid almost $3,000 for each prisoner that was released! Lear even gave $150 in tips to the servants and slaves that attended to him during his visit with the terrorists! An additional $75 was paid out to the sevants of another diplomat that helped. Sailing away from Tripoli, this embarrassement to America wrote to his wife, "I have finished all our affairs much to my satisfaction and to the honor of our Country." Oh, really?

After Congress became aware of how insane our treaty was, and that it did not stop the pirates from interfering with trade, they uncovered the fact that between 1805 and 1809, Lear had spent $500,000 of taxpayer money in tributes of cash, gold, and diamonds.

Betrayal

As our diplomats left Tripoli, they could see seven Tripolitan warships that were being prepared to carry troops to Derne to punish the supporters of Hamet. The rebel forces indeed withdrew from Derne in the middle of the night, getting onto a navy ship docked at its harbor. As the rebel forces abandoned Derne, the people of the city spotted the retreat and began screaming for them to return. Through a telescope, Eaton could see the people trying to escape the town as they prepared for their massacre.

Hamet's family had been held hostage by Yussef for ten years and part of the peace treaty was the release of Hamet's family. Yussef was worried that once Hamet had gotten his family back that he'd mount another attack, so as a final insult and betrayal, we put into the treaty that Hamet's family didn't have to be released for another four years. The interesting thing is this was a secret pact that was agreed upon and it didn't come to light until several years later during a Congressional investigation into our worthless peace treaty.

The Later Years

We allowed Hamet to live a life of exile, with the US government paying him barely anything to survive. In a letter to Congress, Hamet wrote, “In the depth of my miseries, my only consolation has been the reliance I placed on the powerful support of a republic so distinguished throughout the world for that justice which protects and sustains whoever confides himself to her patronage.” Eaton begged Congress to help him more, but by this point war was being threatened between the US and England, so no one cared about Tripoli anymore. Like always, many Americans have very short memories.

Eaton became a raging alcoholic and gambler, depressed by his role in the war. He tried cleaning up his life on several occasions, even being elected to the Massachusetts Legislature.

At one point, Aaron Burr approached Eaton with an opportunity to become Burr's third-in-command in a revolt that would capture the Louisiana Purchase and then expand to the Spanish land of the west. Feeling more patriotism than anger with the government, Eaton told President Jefferson about the plot. Although dismissing it at first, Jefferson eventually had Burr arrested once reports came in that he was training soldiers out west. Eaton was a witness at Burr's trial, but the Supreme Court dismissed the case as they believed the main evidence was only hearsay. Seeing the decision as politically motivated, an angry Eaton declared that we needed to end our loyalty to political parties and start thinking first about the needs of the United States.

Several years later, he did not win reelection in MA and once again fell into alcoholism. He lost most of his possessions due to his gambling debts. One of his sons died in a duel in 1808. By 1809, Eaton wrote to a colleague, "Every sigh of Hamet Bashaw sinks deeply on my soul, and he breathes nothing but sighs!" On June 1, 1811, William Eaton died at the age of forty-seven. He is currently buried in Brimfield Cemetery.

Fixing Our Mistakes

After the War of 1812, the United States realized that we gained nothing through our war with Tripoli. Do you know what we did? To finally stop pirate attacks on our ships, we sent the navy again to north Africa and we stopped the Muslims. Stephen Decatur, Jr. - the man that had snuck into Tripoli's harbor and burned our captured ship - led the attack on the pirates. We captured the Algerian flagship, along with 406 of their sailors. They agreed America would never pay tributes again and there would be no American slaves again. Algiers also paid us $10,000 for their past wrongdoings. Decatur then sailed to Tunis where we demanded - and were paid - $46,000 to compensate for an American ship that was looted the year previous. Then, we sailed to Tripoli. We demanded that Yussef pay $30,000 for violating our peace treaty. Yussef refused and threatened to declare war. We refused to be threatened and Yussef paid us $25,000 and freed ten Christian slaves in order to keep the peace. By this time, tribute payments from the US ended, while Europe continued to pay until the 1830s. We should have done it right the first time.

Yussef continued to reign for another 27 years after we left Tripoli. Thankfully, he was betrayed by one of his sons and died as an old man, dressed in rags, wandering through empty parts of his royal palace.

My Opinion

Let me be perfectly clear. I don't want us dealing with the Middle East. I don't want us dependant on foreign oil no matter where it's from. I don't want "wars for oil." I don't want us to nation-build. But we are there - Afghanistan and Iraq. We are there. There's no changing the past. Regardless if you believe Bush lied, regardless if you think the war is "worth it", regardless if you support it or not - we are there and we must finish the job before coming home. To do anything else would be to repeat our "National disgrace." You don't start a war in someone else's country, and then when everybody is armed and angry, say that you changed your mind and take everybody home. To do so would be immoral.

I also do not purport to be a typical representative of the Constitution Party's thoughts on the War on Terror. I know I probably stray from the Party in regards to this subject. I can only speak for myself, and after long soul-searching, have confidently arrived at these conclusions:

We must finish the job in Afghanistan and Iraq before we can remove our troops. All conflicts post-Iraq must follow Constitutional guidelines always. The president should employ all Constitutional and moral options at his disposal, including a letter of marque & reprisal. Reprisal should include all non-military methods as well, including economic sanctions. It is not the job of the US military to nation-build. All overseas bases should eventually close and our troops returned to the United States.

I'm not saying I'm right - I'm just saying that after deep contemplation and research, this is what I believe.

Finish the job!

Throughout this book, you can see - through the reality of history - that we are repeating our mistakes. It is obvious that some cultures only respect strength, so we need to defeat our enemies before leaving the region. With Iran calling Israel a rotting corpse and promising that the Satanic powers of the United States will end soon, we cannot show weakness. Whether we like it or not, this is the mess we're in right now. And the worst thing we can do for ourselves is to say, "Never mind," and run from the region.

We cannot afford to fight an unending war against an abstract enemy like "terror", but I also believe Islamic fascism is real. And as long as you have governments that believe the entire world needs to have honor killings, gang rapes as punishment, beheadings, and torture it is hard to stand by and watch the genocide. As long as there are governments that feel it is their religious duty to bring about Armageddon, we need to be prepared, even if we don't like it.

Editorial writers are now warning Obama and the Democrats that they need to shift focus away from the War because we are winning it. We are winning. Check out the stats. With US soldier deaths the lowest they have ever been since the start of the Iraq War and with the Taliban on the verge of collapse in Afghanistan, we need to seal the deal.

We cannot create more William Eatons. We cannot create more Hamet Bashaws. And until we get off of foreign oil and learn to mind our own business, we cannot leave this War unfinished.

I just wish we could learn from history for once.