From the Shores of Tripoli to the Tigris

From From the Shores of Tripoli to the Tigris:

In 1785, many Americans urged their government to follow the European practice of bribing the pirates of the Barbary States, but Jefferson believed that paying off pirates would only encourage them. America's first foreign war was fought in the Middle East. After trying and failing to form an international coalition against Barbary, Jefferson sent the U.S. Navy to battle the pirates in 1801. American forces suffered many setbacks before 1805, when the Marines marched to "the shores of Tripoli" and defeated the enemy's army.

America has pursued similar goals in the Middle East for well over 200 years. But Jefferson never ordered his troops to occupy the territory they conquered. Rather than crushing the Barbary States, he used the Marines' victory as a springboard for concluding a negotiated peace. Though U.S. troops will eventually withdraw from Iraq, the persistence of terrorism will necessitate undiminished American vigilance, if not active intervention, in the area.

Click here to read more about Thomas Jefferson versus the Muslim Pirates and America's 300 year old war with Islam.

Do the math

We are constantly told by the spin doctors that there are 2 billion Muslims in the world, and that there are only 10% who are Islamic fundamentalists.

We wanted to see those numbers on paper, so we did the math.

Whoa. 10% of 2 billion is 200 million.

So we thought that was a little high. So we figured - we must be wrong and that only 1% of 2 billion Muslims are Islamic fundamentalists.

So, we did the math again and discovered that 1% of 2 billion is 20 million.

Phew.

We feel so much better now that there are only 20 million people who want to kill Jews and Americans.