To the shores of Tripoli

The recent hijackings of merchant ships in the west Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and the Gulf of Aden by pirates based in Somalia has become a major international crisis for President Obama. This is another new problem for our President, but it is not something our country hasn’t faced before. The actions we took then effectively stopped pirate attacks against American merchant ships for almost 200 years.

That part of the world is about as far from our homeland as is geographically possible, and yet a great deal of commerce flows through those waters that directly affect the American economy.

The international aspect is shown by the hijacking of the ship Maersk Alabama, a container ship owned by Denmark-based A. P. Moller-Maersk Group and operated from Norfolk, Virginia, by United States-based Maersk Line Limited. The crew was made up of mostly American sailors and the captain, Richard Phillips, also an American, was from Underhill, Vermont. The ship was bound for Kenya to deliver food, medical supplies and other humanitarian material for eastern African nations, including Somalia.

A close look at a map of that area shows that the oil rich countries of Yemen and Saudi Arabia lay just across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia. Their oil tankers pass through these straits hourly, but ships using this major artery fly flags of all nations, are of all types, and are manned by sailors from every part of the world. So far, only a few affected countries have taken any decisive action, primarily France and the United States.

Operation Atlanta, a campaign by the European Union to stop the piracy, has been announced. The EU will provide joint naval patrols with ships from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands – replacing NATO patrols.

Surprisingly, President Obama has been relatively silent on his plans to fight piracy or to provide patrols in the area. On the other hand, it was on his order that Navy SEALS shot and killed three of the pirates holding Captain Phillips.

The far right wing of the Republican Party has taken the position that President Obama is afraid to deal with the pirates and by giving a polite bow to the Saudi King, has essentially given the them the “green light” to continue with their criminal acts.

This is not the first time in our history that our President has had to deal with pirates based in an African Muslim nation. The First Barbary War (1801–1805), was the first of two wars fought between the United States of America (briefly joined by a small Swedish fleet) and the North African states known collectively as the Barbary States. These included the Sultanate of Morocco, and the three Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli.

Pirates based in those countries were enjoying the protection of the local political leaders. They harassed ships from all nations passing along the northwestern African coast and within the Mediterranean Sea. Piracy was the main external force that was damaging the economies of several European countries.

Just as shipping companies and nations have been doing recently with the Somali pirates, Britain and France chose to use a combination of military might, diplomacy, and the payment of ransoms to keep their ships more or less safe from attack.

In 1783, the newly freed colonies of America became solely responsible for the safety of their own commerce and citizens. Without a naval force capable of protecting our ships in the Mediterranean, like Britain and France the U.S. government was forced to make pragmatic, but ultimately self-destructive choices.

In 1784, Congress allocated money for payment of tribute to the Barbary pirates and instructed our British and French ambassadors (John Adams and Thomas Jefferson) to try to negotiate peace treaties with the Barbary nations. The price demanded for these treaties by the Muslim rulers far exceeded the amount that Congress had made available.

In 1786, Jefferson and Adams tried to negotiate with Tripoli’s envoy to London. When they asked him why his country was allowing the pirates to make war upon nations who had done them no injury, the ambassador replied:

“It is written the Koran that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave. Every Muslim who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise.” The envoy stated that any man who was first to board a vessel would receive a slave over and above his share, and that when the pirates jumped onto the deck of an enemy ship, they each held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth. The ship’s crew would become so afraid that they would surrender at once.

Jefferson argued to Congress that paying tribute would encourage even more attacks. John Adams agreed with Jefferson, but he believed that circumstances forced the United States to continue to pay tribute until a fully equipped navy could be built. At the same time, the nation was deep in debt and there was little or no money to pay for tributes to the Muslim pirates or to build enough ships to fight them.

Finally in 1801, newly elected President Thomas Jefferson sent a group of frigates to defend American interests in the Mediterranean. Congress never voted on a formal declaration of war, but they did authorize the President to instruct the commanders of the armed vessels of the United States to seize all ships and goods of the Pasha of Tripoli “and also to cause to be done all such other acts of precaution or hostility as the state of war will justify.”

Under the command of Commodore Edward Preble, the USS Argus, USS Chesapeake, USS Constellation, USS Constitution, USS Enterprise, USS Intrepid, USS Philadelphia and USS Syren all saw service during the war. By 1803 the United States Navy had blockaded all of the Barbary ports and were regularly attacking the pirate fleets.

In October 1803, Tripoli’s pirates were able to capture USS Philadelphia intact within Tripoli harbor. The ship, its captain, William Bainbridge, and all officers and crew were taken ashore and held as hostages. The pirates turned the Philadelphia against the Americans and anchored it in the harbor to be used as a gun battery.

The rescue mission to save Captain Phillips was led by the USS Bainbridge, a Navy guided missile destroyer. The Navy SEALS fired from its deck to kill three of the hijackers. She is the fifth ship to carry that name, and the 46th destroyer of a planned 62-ship class. The USS Bainbridge is named in honor of Commodore William Bainbridge, the captain of the ill-fated USS Philadelphia in the Tripoli War. Later, as commander of the frigate USS Constitution, he and his crew distinguished themselves in the War of 1812.

The turning point in the war came in 1805 during the Battle of Derna. General William Eaton and US Marine First Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon led a mixed force of eight United States Marines and an international force of 500 Greek, Arab and Berber mercenaries. They marched across the desert from Alexandria, Egypt to assault and to capture the Tripolitan city of Derna. This was the first time in history that the United States flag was raised in victory on foreign soil. This action was memorialized in a line from the Marines’ Hymn — “the shores of Tripoli.”

Wearied of the blockade and raids, and now under threat of a continued advance on the main city, Tripoli’s ruler ,Yussif Karamanli, signed a peace treaty on June 10, 1805.

The Tripoli Monument, the oldest military monument in the U.S. located at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, honors the heroes of the First Barbary War.

President Obama is facing the issue much like his historic predecessor, Thomas Jefferson. It is clear that piracy on the high seas can not be allowed to continue – any more than air piracy. This presents an opportunity for our president to take the lead and form an effective international naval police force led by our Navy and its Marines.

Several suggestions have been made by military and commercial shipping experts. One excellent idea is to create a shipping lane from the Gulf of Aden to the southern end of Kenya that is heavily patrolled by an international flotilla of small navy ships and helicopters that are supported by aircraft carriers and jets from Britain, France and the United States. Merchant ships would have to stay within the corridor moving in both directions. Any small vessels or ships not registered to be within the corridor would be subject to boarding, inspection and seizure by the international coalition. Anyone found committing acts of piracy would be captured, charged and placed on trial in one of the coalition nations.

Another good idea is to effectively seal the borders of Somalia both physically and electronically. All international banking transactions would be filtered and any accounts owned by pirates or their sponsors would be seized. If there is no money to be made or paid, then the reason for pirates to exist would disappear.

Some critics will argue that this international blockade of Somalian commerce is illegal and violates the right of the sovereignty of the Somalian government. But just like the situation that existed in 1801, the Somali pirates are like the Barbary pirates, paying off the rulers of the local governments for protection. Somalia has no effective government, no national military, and no public services. It is essentially a “no man’s land” run by war lords and well armed bandits.

At the same time we must remember the lessons learned the last time we put our military into Somalia. We sent in far too few Marines and soldiers who were totally unprepared and under-equipped. Their primary backup support was from a small United Nations military police force that had orders not to fire their weapons. The Marines faced thousands of freelance soldiers armed with AK-47s and rocket launchers. We do not want to find ourselves in another “Blackhawk Down” situation. No, never again.

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, a Republican icon, blasted the President because Obama ordered the pirates to be killed — and the pirates were “only teenagers.” In the days and hours before the rescue, other right-wing critics painted the Somali pirate stalemate as a metaphor for the weakness of the Obama administration’s national security policy. Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich blamed the pirate attacks on a lack of “will” by the White House, which seeks a “magical solution” that “doesn’t involve risk and doesn’t involve making hard decisions.” Another Republican blogger wrote that the Somali pirates have been encouraged by Obama’s “touchy feely” military posture.

President Obama needs to look back at the situation that President Jefferson faced and how he handled it. He also needs to look at the mistakes made by the Clinton Administration’s handling of Somalia in the 1990s. See if there are lessons to be learned and new approaches that can be taken. We know that the pirates do not read or understand our history, and our president should use their lack of knowledge against them. Cut off the head of the snake and the body will die…

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