City Journal Spring 2007: Christopher Hitchens: Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates

City Journal Spring 2007: Christopher Hitchens: Jefferson Versus the Muslim Pirates

The hero of the libertarians confronts Islamic extremism in America's first overseas war on the shores of Tripoli: "But one cannot get around what Jefferson heard when he went with John Adams to wait upon Tripoli's ambassador to London in March 1785. When they inquired by what right the Barbary states preyed upon American shipping, enslaving both crews and passengers, America's two foremost envoys were informed that 'it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.'"