lets cover old ground shall we?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_corsairs
any ship sailing in the south mediterranean or the arabian gulf was subject to attack, and enslavement. plus they would take their show on the road.
Ireland was subject to a similar attack. In June 1631 Murat Reis, with corsairs from Algiers and armed troops of the
Ottoman Empire, stormed ashore at the little harbor village of
Baltimore, County Cork. They
captured almost all the villagers and took them away to a life of slavery in North Africa.[SUP]
[11][/SUP] The prisoners were destined for a variety of fates some lived out their days chained to the oars as galley slaves, while others would spend long years in the scented seclusion of the harem or within the walls of the sultan's palace. Only two of them ever saw
Ireland again.
[
were these paddies offending islam too?
While the United States managed to secure peace treaties, these obliged it to pay tribute for protection from attack. Payments in ransom and tribute to the Barbary states amounted to 20% of United States government annual expenditures in 1800.[SUP]
[20][/SUP] The
First Barbary War in 1801 and the
Second Barbary War in 1815 led to more favorable peace terms ending the payment of tribute. However, Algiers broke the 1805 peace treaty after only two years, and subsequently refused to implement the 1815 treaty until compelled to do so by Britain in 1816
the line in the marine corps hymn To the shores of tripoli" refers specifically to a rescue operation conducted under president thomas jefferson to liberat us passengers and crew held in bondage as slaves by the good mohammedans of algeria and the barbary pirates who served at the sultans pleasure.
were passing ships under a flag that held treaties and jizya type payments to the sultan offending islam too?
shit. learn some history. dar al islam has been at war with every person nation and religion that is not under their flag since mohammed stopped raiding camel caravans and started his new religion.
in more recent history,
suadi arabia and kuwait asked for help curtailing the madness of saddam (who in turn had asked for our help in curtailing the madness of khomenni whatcha gonna do? gotta ride the least shitty horse)
osma bin laden also had us help in curtailing the madness of the soviets.
all these foreign interventions failed to serve US interests, and thus were foolish in hindsight. declaring bin laden (former US asset) to be in the right for his nuttjob declaration of war over the US defending a treaty-sworn ally (kuwait and saudi arabia) against an aggressor is just plain stupid.
i dont care what you think of the US policy, you aint american, you dont get a vote. i also dont care if you oppose america helping it's allies, thats your problem, not mine.
i also dont care if you think the US policies in defense of their allies offends your religion. your religion regularly offends mine, through word and deed, not through some dimly related cunard about foreigners on sacred arabian soil.
when you get off your high horse maybe youll realize that demanding compliance in thought and action is what youre religion is all about, and NOT what america is about.