Discussion for article #243084
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Article 11 - Treaty of Tripoli
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen, and as the said States never have entered into ny war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
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no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen
The applesauce of the Musselman ain’t bad either…
Great article!
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I didn’t know that Moroccans had settled in South Carolina, but I’ve always felt the SC state flag – with the palmetto tree and rising star – has an Islamic feel to it.
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Great article. Thanks
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Can I “Like” this 100 times?
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Thank god somebody finally brought up that treaty.
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Wow! I knew about the Treaties, but not the first Musselman refugees that settled in Charleston. So, I guess, that had made the Moroccans the first wave of refugees in the U.S. since its independence.
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Those Founding Fathers didn’t know anything about anything, except that we need to have access to anti-tank weapons. < RWNJ >
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How many current GOP members of Congress are aware of this history? Very few I expect considering their current xenophobia.
Edit
Not that Daesh gives a damn.
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It really is amazing to read thos treaty… In so many ways it goes against the so called Christian right’s view of history.
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A monument containing this passage should be erected before every statehouse of these still United States, and before the federal Capitol.
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And a point worth repeating again and again during these quarrelsome times. Too bad Charles Kuralt is no longer around to enter the fact into common American nostalgia.
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Darr,
I doubt you’d use more than one hand in the counting… 
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Are you expecting the current crop of Derps to read…?!
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We’ve never been at war with Islam is a record worth keeping. Eurasia, that’s a whole nother thing altogether.
As ironic as it sounds, what we have is a war on peace.
Another great article Ben, you’re batting 1000 ; )
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It’s not my favorite brand of applesauce, but I certainly have no character of enmity against it.
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This was a thoughtful piece. If you go back to the Emirate of Crete (827-961), you see this model of a pirate Muslim state with land holdings and a stand-alone agricultural base. The Eastern Mediterranean Islamic State in the Levant seems to have similar aspirations. Much of the operational rules, including internal, more resemble a pirate organization. What struck me about this story was that it was the interference with commerce that ultimately justified the American response. Indeed, protecting global commerce was the main justification for the international response to the Somali pirates and the Malaccan Strait pirates.
ISIS in contrast does not screw much with international goods or commodity flows. Rather it seems to play on screwing with the soft infrastructure of modern Western society to gain attention rather than physical loot. They have, of course, appropriated everything in their territory, from oil production to bank contents, they have held people for ransom, they have raped and pillaged, and they have imposed codes of tribute and conduct in their land – all normal pirate behaviors. But this isn’t about protecting the world’s flow of copper or silk. Apple’s Tim Cook this month predicted that coming generations will not even recognize the concepts of cash and coin as stores of value. The modern pirate state may be more about stealing narratives, e.g. Apocalypse precursors or agents, cult mythology, calling out other manufactured belief systems. This new approach must be hellish for insurers, who originally developed their business based on protecting owners from the cost of loss of valuable cargoes. How do you protect against sudden swings in tourism or business travel, changes in public habits, or the net effects of mass migration? And who benefits from the economic chill of public fear?
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Wow - Knowing something about history can be a very good thing -
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What this really conflicts with is the millions of American Christians who are taught in church that this is a Christian Nation. They would be more than happy to fight the New Crusades and invade the Middle East to put all the non-believers to the sword. That is the mentality GOP Presidential candidates play to today.
Obama won’t cause them Muslim Extremists, because he knows it is important to not insult the rest of the Muslim world. Republican candidates don’t care if the use of that term makes it harder to recruit the non-extreme Muslims we need to be the boots on the ground to defeat ISIS. They just care about getting their puny polls up above 4% so they can be on the stage with the Donald, and maybe get a Huckabee-like gig on Fox News next year.
Amazing how so many tiny men and one woman can do so much damage.
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