[Some days ago I posted a fascinating article about Thomas Jefferson and the Muslims. The question on my mind was whether it could be the truth. Other Americans also asked the same thing.

It appears to me it might well be true. On The History Channel yesterday I saw a documentary about The Battle of Tripoli (modern Libya). The Americans and the Muslims did have a clash in what became known as the Barbary wars. The Muslims used to raid Europe and they engaged in piracy and the Europeans set up a system of paying these Muslim scum a “tribute” (protection money really) in order not to be attacked. (A long time ago I did post an article about how the Muslims used to sail close to European shores where they abducted Europeans into slavery). The Muslims were a big nuisance in the past – just like they are today.

When the young USA started engaging in commerce in the Mediterranean, the Americans of those days and were more idealistic. They were shocked to discover this protection racket. They did not like this organised crime operation run by Muslims in North Africa and so America went to war against them and sorted them out.

So it could be that the assertions about Thomas Jefferson and his views on Muslims may have some truth. I did not have time to watch the full documentary, so I taped it for later viewing but the bit I did see that Thomas Jefferson was indeed quite involved in the matters. Jan]