“ Jefferson let the pasha know, in no uncertain terms, what he could do with his demand. The pasha responded by chopping down the flagpole in front of the U.S. Consulate and declaring war on the United States. Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers immediately followed suit.
“Jefferson had been against America raising a naval force for anything beyond coastal defense, but having watched his nation be cowed by Islamic thuggery for long enough, he decided that it was finally time to meet force with force.
“He dispatched a squadron of frigates to the Mediterranean to teach the Muslim nations of the Barbary Coast a lesson they would never forget. Congress authorized Jefferson to empower U.S. ships to seize all vessels and goods of the pasha of Tripoli and also to ‘cause to be done all other acts of precaution or hostility as the state of war would justify.’
“When Algiers and Tunis -who were both accustomed to American cowardice and acquiescence-saw that the newly independent United States had both the will and the might to strike back, they quickly abandoned their allegiance to Tripoli.
“Nevertheless, the war with Tripoli raged for four more years and flared up once more in 1815. The bravery of the United States Marine Corps in these wars led to the line ‘to the shores of Tripoli’ in the Marine hymn and they would ever after be known as ‘leathernecks’ for the leather collars of their uniforms that prevented their heads from being chopped off by Muslim scimitars when boarding their ships.
“Islam, and what its Barbary followers justified doing in the name of their prophet and their god, disturbed Jefferson quite deeply. America had a tradition of religious tolerance, in fact Jefferson himself had coauthored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, but fundamentalist Islam was like no other religion the world had ever seen. A religion based upon supremacism whose holy book not only condoned but mandated violence against unbelievers was unacceptable to him.
“As I mentioned, one of Jefferson’s greatest fears was that someday this brand of Islam would return and pose an even greater threat the United States.”
“He was definitely ahead of his time on that one,” remarked Tracy.
“Long before leaving for France,” Nichols continued, “ Jefferson had committed himself to learning everything he could about the tenets of Islam and also about how its radical, warlike doctrine could be defeated without another shot ever being fired.”
“Which is why he owned a copy of the Koran,” added Harvath.
“Perhaps,” said Nichols. “But it has also been suggested that Jefferson’s copy of the Koran may have been purchased in 1765 while he was studying law at the College of William amp; Mary. It’s possible he was studying it as a legal text or for comparative religion purposes. We don’t know for sure.”
“Is that the same Koran a Muslim congressman used for his swearing-in ceremony a couple of years ago?” asked Tracy.
“Yes, it was. You see, Jefferson wasn’t anti-Islam. He was anti-Islamist. There’s a distinction. He didn’t give a damn whether his neighbor claimed there were twenty gods or no God, as long as the man neither picked his pocket nor broke his leg. Fundamentalist Islam, though, picks pockets
“But the underlying problem with fundamentalist Islam is that it is both political
“I wonder how that would go over in Washington,” said Harvath.
“Probably not very well,” replied Nichols. “Coupled with the mandate that violence be wreaked upon all unbelievers until they capitulate to Islam’s yoke, fundamentalist Islam is anathema to everything Jefferson stood for. That’s what makes his discovery even more exciting.”
“Then you believe he found something?” asked Harvath.
Ever so slowly, Anthony Nichols nodded.
CHAPTER 17
METROPOLITAN POLICE HEADQUARTERS
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Andrew Salam was sick and tired of talking. Ozbek could see it in his face the minute he walked into the D.C. Metro interrogation room. The man had been repeatedly grilled since being arrested. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot. He looked tired, he looked angry, and he looked hungry. What he didn’t look like, though, was a killer.
He appeared to be of Pakistani descent, with dark skin, dark hair, and brown eyes. He was around five-foot- six, five-foot-seven, max. He had a thin scar that ran through his left eyebrow.
“Have you had anything to eat today?” asked Ozbek.
Salam shook his head. “Only some stale coffee.”
Ozbek waved Rasmussen over. “Tell us what you want and my partner will go get it for you.”
“Seriously?” asked Salam, his eyes brightening a bit.
Ozbek nodded. He learned a long time ago that the most productive way to start an interrogation was to build rapport by trying to give the prisoner something he wanted.
Once Rasmussen had left to get the food, Ozbek asked Salam how he had been recruited.
The man took a moment before replying. It was obvious that he was having trouble coming to terms with the fact that he had been duped. Finally, he replied, “It seemed so real to me. Just like out of a movie. Three years ago I was on my way to my internship at the Near Eastern section of the Library of Congress when this guy approached me, flashed his FBI credentials, and asked if I could be free for lunch.”
“And you said yes.”
Salam nodded.
“Then what happened?” asked Ozbek.
“We met later that day. I ate and he talked.”
“What was his name?”
“Sean Riley,” the man replied.
“So what did you and Sean Riley talk about?” asked Ozbek.
“Like I said, he did most of the talking. But the subject was the growing threat America faced from both Islamic extremist ideology and legal ‘Islamism.’”
“Meaning political Islam,” clarified Ozbek.
“Right,” replied Salam. “Riley described an active campaign by Muslim extremists to destroy Western civilization from within-quietly, peacefully; even legally. He explained how they were working to destabilize America and ultimately replace the U.S. Constitution with Islamic sharia law.”
“And that bothers you?”
“Of course it does. It should bother every American. And it’s already happening. They have brought about women-only classes and swimming times at taxpayer-funded universities and public pools. Christians, Jews, and Hindus have been banned from serving on juries where Muslim defendants are being judged. Piggy banks and Porky Pig tissue dispensers have been banned from workplaces because they offend Islamist sensibilities. Ice cream has been discontinued at certain Burger Kings because the picture on the wrapper looks like the Arabic script for Allah. Public schools have been pulling pork from their menus. Women have been beaten, strangled, and killed by their husbands, brothers, or fathers for ‘dishonoring’ their families. It’s death by a thousand cuts, or sharia inch-by-inch as some refer to it, and most Americans have no idea this battle is being waged every day across America.
“By not fighting back, by allowing groups in particular like FAIR to obfuscate what is really happening, and not insisting that the Islamists adapt to our culture, the United States is cutting its own throat with a politically correct
