Tuesday, November 25, 2014

A Very Old War

For homework, I told students to research a 1786 conversation Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had in London with a representative of the Barbary Pirates named Ambassador Adja. Most students found it. Jefferson and Adams asked Adja why his government was so hostile to America which had done nothing to provoke them. His answer was reported by Thomas Jefferson and my students thusly:

that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet [Mohammed], that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman [Muslim jihadi] who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.

Sound familiar? It matches statements we’re hearing from ISIS today. My intent was for students to find out for themselves that Islamic terrorism isn’t new. The United States has been dealing with it since our country was founded. War with ISIS is just the latest chapter of a 1400-year-old war of Islam against western civilization. And yes, I’m teaching American History again, as I reported in my column published September 2nd. 
Evidently Adja didn’t mention the 72 black-eyed virgins with whom the slain Muslims believe they would be provided for their eternal pleasure in Paradise. When Jefferson became president in 1801, he stopped paying tribute to the Barbary Pirates and dispatched the Marines “to the shores of Tripoli” as the Marine anthem lyric goes. Marines are called “Leathernecks” because of the stiff leather collars they wore for protection against beheading by Arab scimitars. Under the command of Maine’s Commodore Preble the United States took the fight to the pirates. Southern Maine Community College in South Portland is on the site of the former Fort Preble, named for the Commodore.
Muslim Siege of Vienna

Their homework assignment for this week is to find out what happened on September 11, 1683 in Vienna. They’re good students, and they’ll come back next week knowing that a Muslim army of 300,000 gave up its siege of that fortified western city and retreated in defeat. The late Christopher Hitchens was the first modern westerner to point out the significance of that September 11th date only three weeks after the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. “[The siege of Vienna] can rightly, if tritely, be called a hinge-event in human history,” wrote Hitchens in The Guardian. “The Ottoman empire never recovered from the defeat; from then on it was more likely that Christian or western powers would dominate the Muslim world than the other way around.”

And so it was — especially after Ottoman defeat in World War I — western powers did indeed dominate, until oil was discovered under much of the Muslim world in huge quantities. The independent Muslim nation-states we know today became very, very wealthy. Money is power, and several have renewed Mohammed’s goal to take over the world and make it Muslim. Some, like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, try to do it covertly. Others, like Iran, do it openly.
ISIS killing unbelievers
I refuse to post pictures of their many beheadings

Although Turkey’s Kamal Ataturk abolished the last caliphate -- which was based in Turkey -- in 1924 and separated church and state there. ISIS - the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - has taken up the Muslim mantle of leadership and re-established it after the caliphate’s only known hiatus in its 1400-year war on the west. ISIS is obeying the Quran which instructs them in verse (8:12): “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.”
The renewed caliphate has beheaded three Americans so far this year. Our leaders, including Presidents Bush and Obama, keep insisting that Islam is a “Religion of Peace.” Trouble is, we’re not seeing much evidence to support their claims. When I go over this week’s homework with my students, I’ll ask them if they agree.

13 comments:

JAMES BINGHAM said...

How about mentioning the Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, the reconquista of Spain, the River Wars?

satanyahu said...


Teacher? If by teacher you mean relaying mainstream media lies and obvious propaganda well yes, I guess you are "teaching". But this non sense has nothing to do with reality. Your cheerleading a fascist totalitarian regime that lusts for endless war in the Middle East. You couldn't be further from the truth and Christian values. Maybe let those kids think for themselves. Why indoctrinate them with more lies and bs? Come on....time to put on the big boy pants in America and tackle the hard truths. Ever mention science, the laws of physics and 9/11 to them? Nah? Easier to play the hate Muslims game I guess...
------------
Is “Islamic State” really “Jewish State” ?
ISIL claims to be a Muslim liberation movement – yet it never attacks Israel or its supporters. Instead, its fighters are treated in Israeli hospitals and visited, complete with accolades, by the likes of Netanyahu.
Why would Jewish State (JS) support Islamic State – and vice-versa?

JS is occupying and ethnically cleansing Muslim holy land. JS launched a global war on Islam with the 9/11 coup d’état. JS is obviously the prime enemy of Muslims. In fact, the struggle to liberate Palestine from the JS extremists should be the top item on every Muslim’s political agenda – the one thing that brings all Muslims, everywhere, together. (Alongside all fair-minded people from all faiths and outlooks.)

Yet IS’s top priority is fighting the Axis of Resistance of Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria – the most capable and competent Islamic resistance movement against JS. And they’re destabilizing Iraq in service to the Oded Yinon plan to smash that country into pieces.

What kind of “Islamic resistance movement” is this?

It’s either a false flag group or a bunch of idiots…or some combination thereof.

----------veteranstoday.com

Tom McLaughlin said...

Yes James. All those are relevant as well, but I'm an op-ed columnist with limited space.

Satanyahu: What meds are you supposed to be taking?

Anonymous said...

Excellent to find the you cannot let go of improving critical thinking of our youth!In Israel at the moment.When friends said.."It is so dangerous there"..I could only laugh. I feel safer here than at home. Bebe knows the enemy! Thanks for a GREAT article! Laurie







Mick said...

Isis is a CIA/ Mossad creation. The so called be headings are obvious fakes.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out why this fake group has been created...

In fact, there is only one country benefitting from all this fear mongering and outright lying. And it ain't the usa...
Until we oust ALL dual citizens in our congress and in our media we will see more of the same lies.

By the way, how do you explain dual citizens in congress to the kiddies? How are you not a traitor?

Yolo said...

Mick, I wonder if our foreign policy would be different had we dual citizens from Iran, or Iraq or Palestine in our congress? Hmm... I also wonder how the teacher explains dual citizens to the students. I bet there is some creative justification and outright lying regarding that....Hmmm..wonder what john Adams would say to that? James Madison? Etc.
I am quite sure they would be enraged, for obvious reasons, and want every traitor supporting the idea jailed.

How are we supposed to take a supposed history scholar seriously when they brag about flaunting our laws and constitution to the tune of endless wars based on lies? ....pathetic really

Tom McLaughlin said...

If a grandparent is an Irish citizen, an American descendant can be one too. Many are. It's not an unusual situation.

Even Minnesota citizens who fight for ISIS in Syria are allowed back into the country. The FBI assures us they're monitored. Like they monitored the Tsarnaev brothers in Massachusetts.

Troy said...

Correct. Holding dual citizenship is not unusual in the usa. But I don't think that was the point in the previous posts. The question was about dual citzens in congress, in our govt, especially ones making foreign policy decisions. Which is simply wrong. And was illegal and unheard of, obviously, until the the Supreme Court decided otherwise in the 1967 case of Afroyim v. Rusk.

Miguel said...

Don't know if he's simply playing dumb or trying to ignore the fact we have citizens of another country making foreign policy decisions as well as domestic ones.
Either way proves a serious lack of integrity and knowledge.... Par for the course though...

Troy said...

For the record you don't care/don't know that passport holders of another country have infiltrated our govt.
I say this based on your previous answer and your silence since. Or you lack the fortitude to admit what you really think about this issue.
History teacher? Really?
Patriot? Really?

Nazrul Islam Sumon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nazrul Islam Sumon said...

Here is no place for isis in Islam. If we learn the Quran
we find that Islam is a religion of peace. Don't mix isis with the peaceful Muslims. You may ask question http://dkir.com/

Anonymous said...

Satanyahu... what mosque have you been brainwashed in?