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As
Virginians debate whether it is right or wrong to
invade Iraq,
it is appropriate that we invoke the wisdom of the
highest authority – Thomas Jefferson.
In
the late 1700s, the
Barbary states
along the northern coast of Africa
– Morocco,
Algiers,
Tunis
and
Tripoli
– made a lucrative living by pirating European and
American ships sailing through the
Mediterranean.
If the mercantile nations failed to pay an annual
tribute, the pirates seized their ships and held the
vessels and crew for ransom.
During
the presidency of George Washington, John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson led the tribute treaty
negotiations. Adams
favored paying off the corsairs as an expedient and
inexpensive way to continue American commerce in the
Mediterranean.
But Jefferson
disagreed. Seeing no end to the demands for tribute,
he advocated assembling a league of trading nations
– an 18th century “coalition of the willing,”
so to speak, to quell Barbary piracy by force. Adams
carried the day, however, and the U.S.
paid the tribute.
But
appeasement did not end the extortionate demands.
The pirates continually upped the ante. In 1801, dissatisfied
with American foot-dragging in forking over the tribute, the Pasha of Tripoli canceled his treaty
with the U.S.
and declared war upon American shipping.
Jefferson,
now president, chose to contest the piracy by force.
Acting “unilaterally,” the young
United States
dispatched its forces across the
Atlantic
Ocean.
A series of blockades, bombardments and other
inconclusive engagements ensued. In 1805, William
Eaton led a band of marines, supported by a rag-tag
army of Arab horsemen, cut-throats and soldiers of
fortune, and, marching overland from Egypt,
did manage to capture Derna, a port city within
Tripoli’s
sphere of influence. (This action was immortalized
by the phrase “to the shores of
Tripoli”
in the Marine Corps anthem.)
The
campaign against Tripoli
did not exactly “shock and awe” the Pasha. The
Marines never got near to capturing Tripoli.
But the U.S.
did extract an agreement that ended the tribute and
molestation of American shipping. It was not
considered a military or diplomatic triumph at the
time, but it did accomplish more than the European
superpowers of the day – the English and French
– had managed.
How
would the founding fathers have responded to the
challenge of Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass
destruction? It’s a good bet that Bostonian John Adams
would have counseled inspections and containment,
while the Virginian Thomas Jefferson would have
dispatched the Marines to dispatch the snake in his
nest.
--
March
24, 2003
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