Gulf War Beta version

A totalitarian dictator of a Muslim nation kills hundreds of thousands while spending his nation's resources building a palace of mind-boggling size.
European powers toady to a Muslim tyrant who projects his power in provocative ways, preferring to pay him off and do business rather than take action against him - even though they have enough military power to do so.
The American president authorizes a mission to install a friendly government in a hostile Muslim country.
Sleazy French agents undermine the mission and warn the dictator.
An American diplomat whose marriage keeps him well connected scorns the idea that a government friendly to America can be established – or a military mission can succeed – then sets about to cause appeasement and containment.
Marines are left hanging without support in unfriendly territory after a spectacular military success.
Americans take the lead in stopping nation-sponsored terrorism in the Middle East, while the Europeans maintain a safe distance, becoming involved only in mop-up operations and peace negotiations.
If you suppose this scenario was taken from recent headlines, think again. Some are the main elements of a nearly 300-year old story, others from America's first shooting war during the Thomas Jefferson administration.

• Jefferson became president in 1801 he refused to accede to Tripoli's demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000.

• May of 1801, the Corsairs of Tripoli became restless and declared war on the United States,

• The Americans cruised the Mediterranean, evacuating American merchantmen and winning several engagements with the Corsairs.

• The American show of force quickly awed Tunis and Algiers into breaking their alliance with Tripoli.

• Sweden declared war on the Tripolitans

• The combined fleet of Swedish and American, and infrequently Danish, ships was unwilling to bombard the city until early 1802

• President Jefferson ordered that the war be pursued with greater vigor.

• Sweden made peace that year

• Early 1803, an accidental explosion aboard an American ship killed nineteen men.

• May of that year, a large squadron of American warships was assembled and proceeded to Tripoli to destroy the Corsairs' fleet entirely Large guns protected the anchored fleet, but marines landed close to the walls of the city to set fire to many of the docked ships as they were pelted with stones from the town’s inhabitants.

• October of that year, a large U.S. man-of-war, Philadelphia, gave chase to a Corsair ship trying to break the blockade, but was lured into an uncharted reef. The ship was paralyzed and overtaken and put into the service of the pirates.

• February, eight marines sailed a small merchant vessel alongside the anchored Philadelphia, killed twenty Corsairs, and destroyed the warship without any loss of life of their own side.

• The aggressive action of Commodore Edward Preble (1803-4) forced Morocco out of the fight and his five bombardments of Tripoli restored some order to the Mediterranean.

• 1804, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies declared war on Tripoli, lending a number of small, maneuverable gunboats that were thought to be helpful in subduing the pirates.

• August 3, the American-led force began an all-out attack, sailing into the harbor and bombarding the city at direct range The Americans aboard the smaller gunboats decided to counter the pirates' standard technique and approached the enemy ships fast, boarding them and engaging in hand to hand combat. After destroying much of the town's fortifications, several gunboats, and a large mosque, the squadron withdrew.

• A small force of marines was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, to locate the original hereditary ruler of Tripoli, with the intent of restoring him to the throne.

finding him, they raised a mercenary army of Arabs and Greeks

began a several hundred-mile march towards Tripoli from the land.

• After a difficult march across the Libyan Desert and a bloody victory in the outlying town of Derne, the marines were informed by messenger that the war was over.

• The humiliating loss of the frigate Philadelphia and the capture of her captain and crew in Tripoli in 1803, criticism from his political opponents, and even opposition within his own cabinet did not deter Jefferson from his chosen course during four years of war.

• In fact, it was not until the second war with Algiers, in 1815, that naval victories by Commodores William Bainbridge and Stephen Decatur led to treaties ending all tribute payments by the United States. European nations continued annual payments until the 1830s.

http://hnn.us/articles/287.html

http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/17128.html

http://www.hnn.us/roundup/comments/26846.html