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2006-01-30 Fifth Column

Academic sez we should negotiate with Binny

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Posted by Dan Darling 2006-01-30 03:26|| || Front Page|| [7 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Two hundred years ago, Thomas Jefferson bargained with the Barbary pirates (the Muslim terrorists of their day) while at the same time the Navy and Marines put military pressure on them.

Hold it.
First, Jefferson negotiated only because he really had no other choice. His SecTreas, Albert Gallatin had tried to actually disband the USN on the grounds that since we had won the naval war with France, we didn't need a Navy now, did we? Congress, BTW, supported Gallatin - it was only some last minute shenanigans by the outgoing Adams administration that saved the Navy and Marines at all.
Second, Congress was adamantly against any kind of serious military action against the Pirates - the handful of raids and attacks that did happen took place only after thoroughly embarassing incidents like the loss of the frigate Philadelphia (imagine the reaction if a modern missile cruiser was captured by the Iranians).
Third, the 'pressure' wasn't much - there was a leaky 'blockade' of the Pirate ports, with a handful of attacks and raids, most notably the one immortalized in the Marine Hymn's 'to the shores of Tripoli.' But NONE of those attacks had any real effect because they were never followed up - or if they were, they were followed up by desperate offers of negotiation.
In short, negotiation and military action only put the Pirates off long enough for them to replace their losses and try again. It wasn't until after the War of 1812 that a USN task force went in and sank on sight any Barbary corsair, guilty or not, that the Pirates finally quit. Readers should draw their own conclusions.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2006-01-30 07:41|| 2006-01-30 07:41|| Front Page Top

#2 Who wrote this? Neville Chamberlan? This guy hopes for 'Peace in our Time!'. Does he really think that Bin Laden would honor any agreement once he is able to regroup and re-arm?

And I wouldn't cal Murtha a 'respected congressman'.

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I was only about 14 at the time) but Nixons 'Overture to China' during the Vietnam war didn't help the victims of the re-education camps very much did it? Or those who chose to risk the open-sea in a open-boat over living in the workers paradise?

BTW: Thanks for the info Mike.

Posted by CrazyFool 2006-01-30 09:03|| 2006-01-30 09:03|| Front Page Top

#3 John Arquilla is professor of defense analysis at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.

That's the scariest part of this post. When did they start hiring airhead Kumbaya idiots?

Posted by tu3031 2006-01-30 09:14|| 2006-01-30 09:14|| Front Page Top

#4 The moral imperative that should drive us is a sincere desire to end the long suffering of the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rubbish! Been tried many times before, never seems to werk.

Posted by Besoeker 2006-01-30 09:19|| 2006-01-30 09:19|| Front Page Top

#5 The moral imperative that should drive us is a sincere desire to end the long suffering of the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

This made no sense at all. As a result, I didn't even bother to finish the reading the rest.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2006-01-30 14:02|| 2006-01-30 14:02|| Front Page Top

#6 The people of Aghanistan, to judge by recent opinon polls, are no longer suffering.

Posted by Perfesser 2006-01-30 15:19|| 2006-01-30 15:19|| Front Page Top

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