Joseph Wheelan - Jeffersons war: Americas first war on terror 1801-1805

Two centuries ago, the ostensibly pacifist president Thomas Jefferson launched Americas first war on foreign soila war against terror. The enemy was Muslim; the war was waged unconventionally, with commandos, native troops, encrypted intelligence, and foreign bases under short-term alliances. For nearly two hundred years, Barbary pirates had haunted the Mediterranean, enslaving infidels and extorting millions of dollars from European countries in a holy war against Christendom. Newly independent, American ships became a target of piracy. Instead of paying tribute, after his inauguration Jefferson chose to fight. With telling illustrations, Jeffersons War traces the events surrounding his resolute belief that peace with the Barbary States, and the attainment of Europes respect, could be gained only through the medium of war. Jefferson ordered the new U.S. Navy to Tripoli in 1801, starting the Barbary War that ended in 1805. The war proved that ship-for-ship the U.S. Navy was the equal of any navy afloat. William Eatons bold frontal assault on Derna with a fractious army of Arabs, disaffected Tripolitans, European mercenaries, and eight U.S. Marines punctuated the American victory as the marines ran up the Stars and Stripes over the citythe first flag-raising on hostile shores by U.S. troops.