Page "Islamic terrorism" Paragraph 9

An alternative argument is that anti-American terrorism predated the rise of the United States as a global power and is justified by the Quran.

This is exemplified by the events leading to the First Barbary War.

Muslim pirates of Algiers, Morocco, Tunis, and Tripoli Barbary Coast had attacked, enslaved and held American merchant sailors for ransom, soon after the establishment of the United States of America in 1776 ( see First Barbary War ).

These terrorist-type attacks predated any U. S. involvement in the Islamic world and occurred before the US had been involved in any overseas military action.

In 1786, future U. S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with Tripoli ’ s envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman in an attempt to negotiate an end to the piracy.

Adams and Jefferson summarized their meeting in a letter dated March 28, 1786 to John Jay, the United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs: