Let me lay out a few thoughts with regard to the current conflict in the Red Sea.
The Quasi War
The very first test of the new United States was just a decade after the ratification of the Constitution. France was at war with England, as it seems they have been more often than not. When the Republic of France went to war with Great Britain and the European coalition in 1792, the United States declared its neutrality, and the French didn’t like the fact that the new nation was neutral.
This was made worse from the French point of view when the US signed the Jay treaty with Britain, opening trade between the new nation and the British colonies in the Carribbean. As a matter of policy, France began permitting privateering against US shipping. This sparked the formation of a new US Navy to take on French privateers in a conflict called the Quasi War. In the beginning, merchant ships were converted to Naval service while the US built its first six frigates. The conflict ended in 1800. This is an important conflict because it was waged by President George Washington until he retired in 1799 and Congress never declared war.
Jizya
It should be well known to my readers that non-Muslims living in areas controlled by Muslim rule are referred to as dhimmi. The term dhimmi means “one whose responsibility has been taken” and refers to those who must be ruled over by those of the Muslim faith. Muslims believe that dhimmi must convert to Islam, serve Muslims as laborers or in their military, or pay tribute referred to as jizya.
This was the premise behind the Barbary pirates. The Barbary states were a collection of Muslim nations on the north coast of Africa: Morocco was an independent kingdom, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli owed a loose allegiance to the Ottoman Empire. The naval forces of the Barbary states were capturing US ships and holding the crews for ransom, some for more than a decade. They were doing this because they were Muslim and were demanding the US pay jizya in exchange for their ships being protected from the Barbary states themselves.
As we have posted above, and in previous posts, the practice of state-supported piracy and ransoming of captives was not wholly unusual at the time. International law said that pirates could be executed on sight. Granting a letter of marque made a pirate a legitimate member of a nation’s policy and not a pirate. This is where the Constitutional clause allowing letters of Marque came from.
Since the US was busy fighting off the French privateers at the time, they decided that it was cheaper to pay the jizya to the Barbary states than it was to fight them as well as the French. That’s what they did until 1801, when the Pasha of Tripoli, Yusuf Qaramanli, citing late payments of tribute, demanded additional tribute and declared war on the United States. The US chose to stop paying the jizya and instead sent their new Navy. The Marines still sing about the resulting military action to this day. The US negotiated a halt to the raids in 1817, but they continued raiding shipping of other nations until the French finally invaded Algiers and leveled the place.
Continued Problems
What we are seeing in the Red Sea is a continuation of the Muslim desire to force everyone to either convert or pay tribute. That is why piracy is a problem in the Red Sea and in the Gulf of Aden. The Muslims in Yemen and Iran have decided that people either pay tribute or serve them in their desires. Those morons wouldn’t be able to do anything if it weren’t for the Iranians supplying them weapons. Note that European nations’ shipping is being left alone. I wonder what that is…
The US has long taken the position that the open ocean is free for navigation. We can either try to fight another forever war of insurgency against Yemen, or we can cut their weapons off at the source- tell Iran to stop supplying missiles to terrorists or else. No need to engage in a long war- tell them to stop selling weapons to them. If the weapons continue to flow, then take out the Iranian navy. If they want to continue after that, we can bomb the missile factories. If we don’t want to do it, all we have to do is tell Israel that we will no longer hold them back from doing it themselves.
11 Comments
Steve the Engineer · March 20, 2025 at 5:58 am
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1258147777 – it’s on my bookshelf. Anyone who wants to read a more in-depth history of The Barbary Pirates, this is a good place to start.
Michael · March 20, 2025 at 6:30 am
First thank you for posting my mea culpa about Straits of Hormuz error (controlled by Iran) and the Hothi’s access to the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Not all bloggers are honorable about that, so thanks.
Looking at the bigger map control of those 2 routes is indeed pretty harsh on shipping. I was researching the shipping traffic going through the Suez Canal aka Hothi “Threatened stuff”.
In your history lesson the Barbery Pirates were getting income from all shipping via Jizya or direct piracy.
All nations involved paid Jizya or sent naval forces to end this threat. US Marine Hymn and such. Interesting it was France that ended the threat.
I looked it up yes, Jizya is indeed being paid in the Red Sea. So, it is a freedom of the sea Barbary Pirate issue.
But I’d like to contrast and compare a bit here. The Issue isn’t really the Hothi’s is it?
It’s Drones. As shown in war battered Ukraine that domestic production of drones continues. A shade of the Bombed to the Stone Age Germany still producing war machines until the ball bearing factories were finally gone. How many YEARS of bombing here?
It’s also Terrorism, in a society that almost worships “an eye for an eye” every time you kill off someone his family creates more angry terrorists. As Steady Steve stated about nerve gas in a prior posting here a complete wipe out is needed. But that doesn’t get the ones elsewhere with a sword to grind (so to speak).
The Barbery Pirates couldn’t reach American civilians.
SNIP 3.5 million Arab Americans
There are nearly 3.5 million Arab Americans in the United States. Arab immigrants began coming to the U.S. in sizable numbers during the 1880s, and today, Arab Americans are found in every state. However, more than two-thirds of them live in just ten states: California, Michigan, New York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
What % of them having an urge to do hidden Jihad in defense of their pride is needed to make life in America VERY INTERESTING?
How many angry leftist Americans will help, aid and abet them to “Fight Fascist Trump”?
A house divided scenario I see inside America today. A WAR against an outside enemy has brough us together before but the internal Jacobians see Trump as the Enemy.
Will Drones be used INSIDE America against us? Makes stopping them with fences and armed guards a little like Ukraine situation.
How many drones are needed to drop thermite on American Airpower? I think it’s been discussed elsewhere by some special forces’ blogger around here? Power grids? Water Purification Plants? You know the stuff the Fed PAID FOR AntiFa NEVER Touched, while Fighting Trump.
That and after the Afghanistan FAILURE, the loss of Ukraine despite Minsk 1 and 2 fakeouts to rebuild the Ukrainian Army what 3 times with NATO training and weapons to get meat grinded into the current trash?
Do we HAVE the Support Ships, resupply, SEALIFT and such to SUPPORT a real Finish the Job attack against the source of the Hothi’s sophisticated drones IRAN?
HMS Defiant says NO as does plenty of other naval blogs.
SNIP The Navy currently operates eight Avenger-class minesweepers – four in Japan, and four in Bahrain, patrolling the Persian Gulf. Cramped and constantly in need of maintenance, they are among the oldest ships in the fleet, running navigation systems off of Windows 2000.
Maybe we need to say nice doggy, back out and let Israel FIGHT their OWN Wars.
Divemedic · March 20, 2025 at 7:02 am
Let me address your long rambling comment that doesn’t seem to really have a point. As a result of your lack of a coherent theme, my reply will have to ramble a bit:
France ended the Barbary threat, but you will see that once the US Marines were done with them, they didn’t fuck with US ships again. They went on and messed with the ships of others.
Thanks for admitting that you were wrong and the Houthi’s ARE collecting payment.
These discussions always come down to someone claiming that Muslims hate us because of “da Jews.” They don’t need Israel to hate us- as I demonstrated with this morning’s post- the Muslims have always gone after anyone who doesn’t capitulate to their demands to convert, become slaves, or die.
As for Iran- we don’t need to put troops on the ground in order to force them to stop sending missiles to the Houthis. All you have to do is level the missile factories.
Michael · March 20, 2025 at 10:18 am
So potential terrorist responses in our country will not happen when we “level their missile factories “.
I ramble. Makes my points foolish?
Do you read Forward Observer?
A current report may affect your hospital.
Divemedic · March 21, 2025 at 6:46 am
So Iran won’t sponsor terrorist attacks unless we mess with them? Is that why they haven’t done so?
Michael · March 21, 2025 at 7:19 am
Well, let’s see. How many Iranian attacks against American Citizens to date?
Snip to remove off topic rambling about Israel.
BTW as a maybe rambling aside you might want to look here about US Nacy issues with massed Missile attacks and see why our Carrier groups under Biden withdrew.
https://sonar21.com/the-limitations-of-the-us-naval-air-defense-system-will-force-the-us-to-withdraw-from-the-red-sea/
I could post how few SM-3 missiles we’ve produced in the past 4 years compared to the massive expenditures of them in defense of Israel vs Iran Iron Dome Games. But that would be rambling.
Divemedic · March 21, 2025 at 7:47 am
Hating on Israel is outside of this discussion. I snipped that out so I could post the rest of your comment.
Yes, massed missile attacks are a problem for any missile defense system. It’s been a well known tactic for defeating Aegis since, well, since before Tom Clancy wrote Red Storm Rising.
If you ever played the video game Harpoon, you have done it yourself.
Joe Biden’s autopen being a fool doesn’t change anything. Remember that he withdrew from Afghanistan and let the cave dwellers there have billions in abandoned weapons. I wouldn’t base by view on foreign relations on anything Biden thought, since we all know that he wasn’t the one in charge.
Tom235 · March 20, 2025 at 7:01 am
The reason to “carry a big stick” is to whack someone with it if speaking softly doesn’t work (too bad we’ve let much of our big stick turn to kindling).
Mark · March 20, 2025 at 8:53 am
1. islam is a death cult, not a religion. Religions do not force people to convert ot die or pay jizya to stay alive.
B moslems have been waging war against civilization for 1400 years. that threat should be eliminated.
thirdly, you cant negotiate with them. Israel has been trying and failing at that since 1948.
SoCoRuss · March 20, 2025 at 12:01 pm
Just shows it way past time to pull back and just deal with our hemisphere. People on the Africa continent having been killing each other since time began and will continue to do so until the planet explodes. Fuck them let them do what they gotta do.
Also let the Zionist Israeli’s/Jews and the Arabs settle their difference however that works out, another none of our business moment. Our constant backup of Israel no matter what or who they murder due to a imaginary deity telling them the continent is all theirs is lunacy and just encourages these messes.
If we need the oil and gas then build a wall and protect the wells as to the rest of the continent, fuck it.
lynn · March 20, 2025 at 3:24 pm
So when do we nuke the Houthis and the Iranians ? We could use Clean Nukes.
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