Most of the adults in this country went to public schools. They think the Crusades were orchestrated by the pope to open trade routes to the east and to convert the heathens to Christianity. Along the way the crusaders killed tens of thousands of innocents.
Most of them know nothing of the abductions (they think Abduction from the Seraglio is pure fantasy), nothing of the piracy, nothing of “The Shores of Tripoli” and nothing of President Jefferson’s understanding of the threat of Islam.
I have tried to relay the true story of Jefferson’s copy of the koran to people I work with, and my family. Virtually every one of them did not know it. I implored them to research the story themselves.
During the Muslim conquest of Turkey, as villages were conquered, Christian women were raped in front of their husbands, often multiple times. This was in compliance with Islamic rules of war that declared the marriages of non-believers dissolved. It was also intended to impart a sense of helplessness and shame on the husbands and demonstrate in no uncertain terms they had been conquered.
“Old Ironsides” was used in that war anyone who wants to see it and go on a guided tour can visit it in Boston.