Muhammad declared war on the world in the 7th century. That war (Jihad) never stopped, it is permanent and relentless. Jihad is driven by Islamic ideology & supremacy. Western leaders talk about ‘forever wars’ as if peace could by achieved by ‘making deals’ like paying tribute (Jiziya).
They are ignorant of history.
The Barbary States, Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, controlled key routes along the Mediterranean, and for centuries they financed themselves by capturing ships and ransoming crews. European powers typically paid annual tribute to avoid attacks, treating it as a cost of doing business.
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When the United States became independent after the Revolution, it lost the protection of the British Navy and suddenly found its merchant ships exposed. With no real navy of its own, America had little leverage. By the 1790s, U.S. diplomats were negotiating payments, gifts, and even building ships for Barbary rulers just to keep American sailors safe.
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The financial burden was enormous for a young nation still struggling with debt. In 1797, nearly one‑fifth of the entire federal budget went toward tribute, a staggering figure that sparked outrage among politicians and the public. The humiliation was just as painful as the cost: American captains were seized, crews were enslaved, and the U.S. found itself forced to negotiate from weakness.
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This period exposed how vulnerable the country was without a navy capable of protecting its commerce. The debates in Congress became fierce, with leaders arguing that paying pirates was unsustainable and dishonorable for a sovereign nation.
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The breaking point came when the Pasha of Tripoli demanded even higher payments and declared war on the United States in 1801. Instead of giving in, President Thomas Jefferson sent newly built American warships to the Mediterranean, marking the birth of the U.S. Navy as a global force.
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The First Barbary War (1801–1805) and later the Second Barbary War (1815) ended the tribute system and proved that the United States could defend its interests abroad. The Barbary conflict became a defining moment in early American identity, a shift from vulnerability to capability, from paying for peace to enforcing it.
6/23/24 on WPRO with Matt Allen: Per Iran’s JIHAD Constitution, what a real “forever war”-JIHAD-looks like: “You can receive these blows in perpetuity (from Barbary or Iran’s Shiite jihadists), or you can strike back at them as Jefferson did, & as POTUS Trump did Saturday (6/21/25)”
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The Islamic Rep of Iran is a Constitutional JIHAD TERROR STATE, “An Ideological Army,” whose goal is “fulfilling the ideological mission of jihad in Allah’s way; that is, extending the sovereignty of Allah’s law throughout the world,” per Qur’an 8:60 http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/iran-constitution.html
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Thomas Jefferson & John Adams in 1786 explaining the timeless, unprovoked jihad aggression–sanctioned by the Quran & Muhammad’s sacred example– of the Barbary jihadists of North Africa, in their own words https://founders.archives.gov/doc…/Jefferson/01-09-02-0315
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“We took the liberty to make some inquiries concerning the Grounds of their pretentions to make war upon Nations who had done them no Injury, and observed that we considered all mankind as our friends who had done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation.
The (Tripolitan, modern Libya) Ambassador answered us 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 who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.
