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“… To the shores of Tripoli”

America’s Military Connection to Libya and Tripoli’s Link to the US Marines’ Hymn

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Two Hundred years ago the newly independent U.S.A. won a military victory in Libya that inspired the famous words from Francis Scott Key:

THE MARINES’ HYMN

From the Halls of Montezuma
To the shores of Tripoli
We fight our country’s battles
In the air, on land and sea.

United States relations with what is now Libya have a complex history going back to America’s first decades. Although two other North African states, Morocco and Tunisia, were among the first countries in the world to recognize the USA diplomatically, the new nation soon fought the Barbary Wars in the Mediterranean over attacks on its ships by pirates from Tripoli—the origin of the “shores of Tripoli” reference in the Marines’ Hymn.

Why the Corps were on the shores of Tripoli

President Thomas Jefferson became the first US president to bypass Congress and take the nation to war in 1801. It was the First Barbary War of 1801-1805. It was also a war of many firsts: the first foreign war fought by the US after the American Revolution,  the first time an American soldier shed blood on foreign soil, the first time the US Marines saw battle, and the first time the Stars and Stripes were raised over foreign soil after a military victory. It was also the first attempt by the US to overthrow a foreign ruler and install an American-friendly government – an attempt which ended in compromise, not in victory. The mission was embarrassingly abandoned yet oddly commemorated by the Marines who never actually made it to the shores of Tripoli.

The Barbary Wars


125px-Flag_of_the_Ottoman_Empire_(1453-1844).svgولايت طرابلس غرب =Vilâyet-i Trâblus Gârp = Flag of the Ottoman Empire -Tripoli

The “Barbary” states are actually the North African states of today’s Algeria, Morocco, Libya, and Tunisia that were nominally governed by the Ottoman Empire. The Barbary Wars originated from the Barbary Coast pirates’ attacks on ships and crews along the North Coast of Africa. Since the 13th century, Barbary Coast pirates had attacked European ships in the Mediterranean, freeing crews and cargoes only after receiving ransom payments. For a higher price, the pirate states would agree to abstain from taking ships or hostages in the first place. During the 2nd half of the 18th century and before the Treaty of Paris, which granted America’s independence from Great Britain, American shipping was protected by France. Shortly after independence, more than one-fifth of U.S. trade then was with Mediterranean countries. And without the protection of the British and the French navies (then fighting each other elsewhere), American shipping began to fall prey to the pirates around 1784, sometimes at a cost of 20% of the US budget. The need to protect American shipping was a major factor in drafting a new and stronger US Constitution. James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers of “the rapacious demands of pirates and barbarians,” that should be a good reason for American states to unite into a strong central government.

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USS Philly 1799

Thomas Jefferson preferred “confrontation with Barbary to blackmail.” US naval squadrons began to appear off the North African coasts to demand  liberation of hostages as well as free trade and free passage. In October 1803, Tripoli’s fleet captured the flagship USS Philadelphia intact after the frigate ran aground on a reef while patrolling Tripoli harbor. The ruler of Tripoli,  Yusuf Karamanli, imprisoned the entire 307-man crew of the 36-gun frigate and aimed its cannon at the rest of the U.S. fleet. In February 1804 U.S. Marines stormed the vessel and set fire to Philadelphia.

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The burning frigate Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli, February 16, 1804, by Edward Moran, painted 1897.

In 1805, William Eaton, the former US Consul in Tunis, organized a land attack on Libya. He lead nine Marines and 400 mercenaries on a two-month march of 500 miles from Egypt to Darnah, then Libya’s second-largest city. U.S. Navy ships also  bombarded the town where more than 800 people were killed. Marines then raised the 15-star U.S. flag over Darnah’s harbor fortress. A month later, Karamanli signed a new treaty and released the captain and crew of the Philadelphia (in exchange for $60,000). The American victory in Libya (though not in the city of Tripoli proper) was a historic event which established the US new military prowess. It would be enshrined in the Marine Corps Hymn, written in celebration of William Eaton’s victory of 1805:

Francis Scott Key’s new poem, “When the Warrior Returns,” was about the battle in Darnah, Libya. In it was a phrase that he would use nine years later while watching the British attack Fort McHenry:

And pale beamed the Crescent, its splendor obscured

By the light of the Star Spangled flag of our nation.

Where each radiant star gleamed a meteor of war,

And the turbaned heads bowed to its terrible glare.


handar4Translation into Arabic of the the Marines Hymn:

من قاعات مونتيزوما

إلى شواطئ طرابلس ؛

نحارب معارك بلادنا

والحفاظ على شرفنا النظيف ؛

في الهواء ، في البر والبحر ؛

الأولى للكفاح من أجل الحق والحرية

والحفاظ على شرفنا النظيف ؛

نحن فخورون للفوز بلقب

البحرية الولايات المتحدة

[MORE]——


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Remains of sailors from the USS Intrepid are buried at a cemetery overlooking the harbor in Tripoli. Some may be at a site nearby.


Remains of sailors from the USS Intrepid are buried at a cemetery overlooking the harbor in Tripoli. Some may be at a site nearby. (Courtesy U.S. State Department) A bipartisan group of senators is pressing to repatriate the remains of 13 American sailors who died two centuries ago fighting pirates off the Libyan coast.

The sailors’ remains have been buried near the shores of Tripoli for 207 years after the sailors died in a failed mission against Barbary pirates.

In recent years, a small group of descendants has been seeking to bring them back to the United States. That effort appeared to gain momentum last spring, when the House backed a measure that would force the Defense Department to repatriate the remains. But the measure stalled in the Senate.

This week, a group of key senators wrote to the leaders of the House and Senate armed services committees, urging them to include a repatriation provision in the defense authorization bill that’s in conference committee. Although the cemetery was recently restored, the senators said, it remains in jeopardy because of concerns about U.S.-Libyan diplomacy..

“Today, the future of our relations with Libya is uncertain,” the senators wrote. “For this reason, the restoration and preservation of the American Cemetery and its graves for the Navy’s sailors are … problematic.”

The Navy, however, opposes bringing the remains back to American soil, saying it considers Libya to be the sailors’ “final resting place.” Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, has asked the Navy and other defense officials for more information about their views on the issue. The Navy has said it has concerns about the ability to identify the remains.

In their letter, the senators backing the measure said there was no comparison between the physical state of the cemetery in Tripoli and other overseas locations where U.S. troops are buried, and that, as a result, they supported the effort to “exhume, identify and to repatriate.”

An assessment from the Congressional Budget Office found that repatriating the remains would cost $85,000 to $100,000, according to the letter.

The letter was signed by Sens. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Jim Webb (D-Va.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

Libya’s Uprising / Revolution ثورة ليبيا

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Revolution In Libya

Libya: 17 February, 2011-

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“شبر شبر بيت بيت دار دار زنقا زنقا فرد فرد”

[Early in the uprising, Gaddafi threatened those who opposed him to pursue and fight them ‘inch by inch, house by house, alley by alley [zanga zanga] …  A tautology that’s worked at his own expense in the end.]

 

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Protests in Libya first erupted on February 15 following the arrest of Fathi Terbi, a human rights lawyer who represented the “relatives of more than 1,000 prisoners allegedly massacred by security forces in Tripoli’s Abu Salim jail in 1996,” the BBC reported.  On 17 February 2011 a series of peaceful protests that spread across the country were met with military force by the Muammar Qaddafi regime. The protests escalated into full scale armed clashes between anti- and pro-government forces. The forces opposing Gaddafi established a government based in Benghazi named the National Transitional Council whose stated goal is to overthrow the Gaddafi-led government and hold democratic elections.

On 26 February, 2011 he United Nations Security Council passed a resolution authorizing “all necessary measures” to protect civilians in Libya from pro-Gaddafi forces. Further UN resolutions were passed freezing the assets of Gaddafi and ten members of his inner circle, and restricting their travel. The resolution also referred the actions of the government to the International Criminal Court for investigation, and an arrest warrant for Gaddafi was issued on 27 June.

On August 21 Libyan rebels took control of most of Tripoli, celebrating the victory in Green Square. Gadhafi’s defenders quickly melted away. On August 23, rebels overran the colonel’s Bab al-Aziziya compound through its north gates and stormed inside.

 Libya : New Libya National Anthem ( Revolutionist ) 2011. Subtitle ENG

 

Tunisian Revolution 6 Months Later

Firsthand Account on Some Recent  Developments

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The Tunisian Revolution* is for real! There is a profound change in the country at all levels: Social, regional, institutional, sectarian, etc.  For the first time in anyone’s memory, people can talk, argue, and disagree vehemently. You really can write anything you want. You can also say anything you want and talk to anyone you want. People encounter one another in public meetings or political rallies and discover they have much in common (there are more than 100 mostly new political parties so far and counting–in a country of nearly 10 million residents).

There’s, however, wide-spread chaos and lawlessness throughout the country (and the fine line between chaos and normalcy is impossible to locate!). Yesterday, the main highway to the Cap-Bon region was blocked by tomatoes farmers protesting government imposed tariffs and prices for their produce. The army and police special forces were present there but only to prevent violence … We had to take a detour of a couple of hours through another province and many rural dirt roads to get to our destination. Similar scenes take place daily all over the country, in addition to sit-ins, street marches and demonstrations and strikes …

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Roadblock by tomato farmers in Cap-Bon, northeast Tunisia, on 6 July, 2011 and following days
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The Tunisian political classes were as surprise by their Revolution as anyone else. Many discussions about the constitution, the legal system, the economy, etc. have yet to be held, and will take time. There are no electoral laws, no electoral rolls. As yet there is no legitimate government, only a provisional one, and thus no clear mandate for reform. The longer it takes for real change to occur the greater the chance for disappointment, discontent, disorder and chaos and even counter-revolution. Nobody ever joins an uprising to resume business as usual.

The strange thing about post-revolutionary Tunisia is: Almost everything is still the same. The provisional caretaker government, in charge until elections can be held, includes elder statesmen who have been around for decades. Many of the same figures still run the same ministries as they did under the old regime. The police are less omnipresent but they are still there (actually, they are extremely polite now, something never seen before in Tunisia! I was told many were terrified to be accused of killing or torturing people during and before the revolution).

Tunisians began the Arab Spring. In order to sustain their hard-won democracy, they must deal with resurgent Islamists (diverse groups!), unemployment, a struggling economy and many other challenges.

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*Foreign media regularly call the Tunisian Revolution “The Jasmin Revolution.” No one here calls it that! It’s the “Freedom and Dignity Revolution.”
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Interior Ministry (e.g., Internal security), July 2011

Demo in Front of the Interior Ministry [.52 sec.]

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Government Plaza at Kasba in Tunis

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Graffiti against previous dictator Ben Ali and his wife
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“How beautiful Tunisia is without Ben Ali Baba and the 40 Trabelsi thieves (ref. to the dictator’s ‘familiy’)”

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Interior Ministry, Tunis

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Bourguiba Avenue / Porte de France & French Embassy, Tunis

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On January 22nd the new Tunisian government lifted licensing restrictions on the importation of books, publications and film. Books and publications that were once confiscated by the Border Police are now making their way to bookstores. Extreme censorship on the imported book has strangled intellectuals – both writers and readers – and in the absence of freedom, one cannot talk about creativity. In previous years, the Tunisian International Book Fair earned a poor reputation because of strict censorship imposed on imported works, forcing exhibitors to focus on cookbooks and fiction. In the end, many just didn’t bother to attend the fair. The number of the new publications having obtained receipts reached as of July, 2011, 148 publications, which notably include daily, weekly, bimonthly and monthly publications.

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National Library, Tunis

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National Archives, Tunis

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Al-Kitab Bookstore in downtown Tunis, one of the most famous in the country. All kinds of titles, previously censored under the dictatorship, are now available, mainly  in Arabic and in French.
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Book sale at a rally of a new political party

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Used book seller on a Tunis street
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(Roadblock by tomato farmers in Cap-Bon, northeast Tunisia, on 7, 6 2011 and following days)(Roadblock by tomato farmers in Cap-Bon, northeast Tunisia, on 7, 6 2011 and following days)

“Three Cups of Tea” Spilled?! Swallowed?!

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“Three cups of tea :  one man’s mission to fight terrorism and build nations– one school at a time”

by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

Greg Mortenson was accused of fabricating important parts of Three Cups of Tea, his bestselling 2006 memoir about building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The book describes Greg Mortenson’s transition from an “American mountain-climber to a humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and promoting education for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan.” In 1993 Greg Mortenson “was  mountain-climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan’s Karakoram. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of a Pakistani village, he promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time–Mortenson’s one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools, especially for girls, throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban. In a region where Americans are often feared and hated, he has survived kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and children. But his success speaks for itself–at last count, his Central Asia Institute had built fifty-five schools.” (From publisher Viking Press description).

“It’s a beautiful story, and it’s a lie,” Jon Krakauer told CBS’ Steve Kroft.

Krakauer, an author and adventurer, originally backed the nonprofit Central Asia Institute with $75,000 of his own money before withdrawing his support.

From Viking Press
In regards to the 60 Minutes episode that aired April 17, 2011: “Greg Mortenson’s work as a humanitarian in Afghanistan and Pakistan has provided tens of thousands of children with an education. 60 Minutes is a serious news organization and in the wake of their report, Viking plans to carefully review the materials with the author.”

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Mortenson has admitted to “some omissions and compressions” while largely defending his work. Up until the program had aired, and for the last 15 years, no one in the USA questioned him and no one listened closely to what Pakistanis themselves had to say: the unraveling of the Mortenson story has come as no surprise there.

A few facts about Gilgit-Baltistan: گلگت – بلتستان, formerly known as the Northern Areas (شمالی علاقہ جات, Shumālī Ilāqe Jāt):

  • Gilgit Baltistan is a self governed region in the north of Pakistan. It is governed through a representative Government and an independent judiciary. Gilgit Baltistan is home to one of the most diverse socio-cultural geography in the world. It has been called the Roof of the World, the Wonderland of Asia and the Jewel of Pakistan.
  • The region of Gilgit-Baltistan which Mortenson describes as a wild area of extremist and violent terrorism actually is a peaceful, predominantly Ismaili region whose inhabitants see the Paris-based Aga Khan as their spiritual leader. There is a strong Tibetan Buddhist influence. The Aga Khan Development Network has been building schools in the region.  Pakistani journalist Rina Saeed Khan points out Gilgit-Baltistan has one of the highest literacy rates in Pakistan.


Yemen 2011 Stability Survey

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Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI)

In April 2011, FPRI posted the most extensive survey done to date of Yemen’s population. Conducted by Glevum Associates, a firm run by FPRI Senior Fellow Andrew Garfield, the survey indicated a disquieting level of support for Al Qaeda among Yemen’s populous as well as a profound resistance to US intervention in the country.

In response to the enormous interest in the survey, and rising tensions in the country, FPRI brought together a group of experts to discuss the survey as well as recent developments, including the reported shift in US policy toward a public role in easing Yemen’s President out of office despite his cooperation in fighting Al Qaeda.

Audio

Of Related interest

About the Panelists

Andrew Garfield is a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Reseearch Institute and founder of Glevum Associates, which conducts extensive face-to-face social science research in several countries on behalf of the Department of Defense and other clients. He is former European Director of the Terrorism Research Center, Deputy Director of International Policy Institute (IPI) at King’s College London, and Senior Director of Influence and Insight for the Lincoln Group. Mr. Garfield is also a former senior British military then civilian intelligence officer and former senior policy advisor at the UK Ministry of Defense. While serving in the UK Defense Intelligence Staff he led two major studies that reviewed key aspects of that organization’s approach to post-Cold War intelligence analysis and recommended radical changes to policy and organization that were subsequently implemented in full. After moving into academia with King’s College London, he devised and successfully led three major projects for the U.S. Department of Defense focusing on the terrorist threat; likely adversary asymmetric warfare strategies; and the development of U.S. strategic influence operations and cultural intelligence.

Christopher Swift is an attorney and political scientist specializing in international law and contemporary armed conflict. A fellow at the University of Virginia Law School’s Center for International Security Law, he has travelled to Afghanistan, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union to examine al-Qaeda’s relationships with indigenous Muslim insurgencies. Dr. Swift’s legal practice focuses on complex international disputes, compliance with U.S. foreign trade and investment laws, and various aspects of public and private international law. Prior to joining the University of Virginia, he served in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), where he enforced economic sanctions programs targeting terrorist syndicates, weapons proliferators, and other specially designated entities. Between 2006 and 2007, he served an international law fellow at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, where he examined armed conflict and sectarian violence in Iraq. He was previously affiliated with organizations including Freedom House, where he worked on Russian affairs, and the Center for Strategic & International Studies, where he served as an aide to former national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. A term member of the Council on Foreign Relations,

Dr. Swift is the author of The Fighting Vanguard: Local Insurgencies in the Global Jihad, which addresses the deficiencies in, and the growing need to, distinguish between different strains of Islamic militancy. He holds an A.B. in Government and History from Dartmouth College, a M.St. in International Relations of the University of Cambridge, and a J.D. from Georgetown University. He successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis in Politics & International Studies at the University of Cambridge in October 2010.

Curtis Cobb is a sociologist who does research on attitude formation, change, and effects, on the psychology of political behavior, and on survey research methods. He is a research scientist at Glevum Associates, LLC. Cobb received his B.A. degree in psychology from the University of Southern California, an M.A. from Columbia University, and his PhD in sociology from Stanford University. Prior to graduate school, he was a policy and budget consultant to the California State Senate. He has lectured on survey methodology at universities and for corporations and has served as a survey consultant to such organizations as the National Science Foundation, American Bar Foundation, and Stanford University. He has collaborated on surveys with the Associated Press, Yahoo News, and the Los Angeles Times.