For hundreds of years, the greatest naval powers in the world paid tribute to the Pirates of the Barbary Coast - by the way, the pirates were "Radical Islam believers". It was, and to sum Islam still is, the correct treatment of "non-believers" - kidnap, enslave or ransom. The one way to "free yourself" was to revert to Islam.

Recently, Mrs. Clinton mistakenly stated that Morocco and the US "stood together" to end the scourge of piracy - this is not true, she is wrong.

The Sultan of Morocco commanded pirates, took hostages and demanded tribute from Great Britain, France and all the rest.

When the US broke away from Great Britain, she no longer was protected by the tribute paid by England, and soon after the revolutionary war, the "pirates" started capturing US trade ships and demanding ransom.

The US tried to work with the pirates, signing a few treaties. These treatise of course did not hold and William Bainbridge, an officer who was sent to pay tribute to the dey of Algiers in 1800, was later captured during the war along with his ship, the Philidelphia.

It was in the bay of Tripoli that under the command of Stephen Decatur US Marines recaptured the Philadelphia and sank the vessel - keeping it from being used by the pirates. Hence part of the first line in the Marine Battle Hymn, "...from the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli..."

It took the small American navy to once and for all rid the entire world of this type of piracy and paying tribute.

What is rarely known is that the United States of America successfully negotiated the end of ALL TRIBUTE - unilaterally, this small, upstart country and her newbie navy destroyed the practice of demanding tribute for the entire world.

It did not take a Village; it did not take a "United Nations"; it required men like Thomas Jefferson and Stephen Decatur men of action, men of the sword, Americans.


It is unfortunate that our current president does not see fit to mention or comment on the taking of a US ship and the rescue of a brave American.

Almost as tragic is the apparent ignorance of our Secretary of State.

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