The rules of engagement called for putting the pirates who surrendered after battle to land and their ships torched or sunk. Some accounts say that the restrained practice of putting sailors of the defeated pirate navy ashore had the unintended result of building the reputation of the US Navy. The stories sailors tell grow in the retelling and Barbary sailors became wary of ships flying the US flag.

Bottom line: the incident of Barbary pirates established the precident of LIMITED presidential authority to use military force to protect US interests. It does NOT illustrate the authority of the president to conduct war on an unlimited basis w/out Congressional authorization.

Leatherneck: Now accepted by Webster as a synonym for Marine, the term “Leatherneck” was derived from a leather stock once worn around the neck by both American and British Marines–and soldiers also. Beginning in 1798, “one stock of black leather and clasp” was issued to each U. S. Marine annually.
This stiff leather collar, fastened by two buckles at the back, measured nearly three and a half inches high, and it prevented the neck movement necessary for sighting along a barrel. It supposedly improved military bearing, by forcing the chin high, although General George F. Elliott, recalling its use after the Civil War, said it made the wearers appear “like geese looking for rain.”

>Leatherneck: In 1776, the Naval Committee of the Second Continental Congress prescribed new uniform regulations. Marine uniforms were to consist of green coats with buff white facings, buff breeches and black gaiters. Also mandated was a leather stock to be worn by officers and enlisted men alike. This leather collar served to protect the neck against cutlass slashes and to hold the head erect in proper military bearing. Sailors serving aboard ship with Marines came to call them “leathernecks.”

Leatherneck: Since the days of the Barbary pirates, United States Marines have called themselves “leathernecks.” Legend and lore have it that the term leatherneck was derived from leather neckbands worn in the late 1700s to protect Marines from the slash of the cutlass. Another more likely reason is that the high stocks were worn for discipline to keep the Marines’ heads high and straight. Neither explanation has ever been verified. Whatever the reason, the name leatherneck stuck and the distinctive dress blue uniform blouse still bears a high stock collar to remind Marines of the leatherneck legacy.

“In 1786, Thomas Jefferson, then the ambassador to France, and John Adams, then the ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the ambassador to Britain from Tripoli. The Americans asked Adja why his government was hostile to American ships, even though there had been no provocation. The ambassador’s response was reported to the Continental Congress:

That it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman [Muslim] who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.[2]

I tracked this to Wikepedia. According to this congressman, we better defeat these Muslims now - after all, they’ve been out to get us for 300 years.

In this chapter, toward the middle of it he takes a set of people who scored LOW in authoritarianism, and puts them in charge of running the world, via a simulation. After a few hours of simulation, and despite a few crises and problems, the world wasn’t in that bad of shape. In fact, those familiar with the simulation, said it was one of the best runs ever.

Next, he took a set of people who scored HIGH in authoritarianism, and gave them the same task: running the world. In short order, they completely destroyed the planet, killing off everyone. The game had a feature where it could be rolled back a couple years before the holocaust, to “try again”, and while the authoritarians managed to avoid total catastrophe this time, the result still was not pretty.

The whole series is an easy read and worthwhile, and this simulation so confirms what so many of us have been intuiting, saying, and fighting for. Stunted people such as these authoritarians shouldn’t be put in charge of anything of consequence.

Have I missed something here? Doesn’t this mean that Bush is replacing his own? So did he make terrible choices in the first place or did his picks not tow the proverbial line? These men/women had the audacity to do their jobs which is exactly why they lost their jobs. Too bad-so sad and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

On the other hand - Bush, etal. just want to take advantage of every little thing they snuck into the Patriot Act before they leave office. It makes one wonder - what else is hidden in that emergency legislation that we don’t know about?

I just hope there’s something Pat Leahy can do about these cluster-bomb replacements, now that he’s Judiciary chair.