Vs. 
Sunday's response by the Navy marked the first time an American president had acted against maritime marauders since Thomas Jefferson ordered Marines to the shores of Tripoli to fight the Barbary pirates.Post- constitution, Thomas Jefferson was the US' French Minister, he opposed the European response to Tripolitan hassling: simply pay them off. By the time he became president about 20 years later, Tripoli ordered 225,000$ and an annual payoff of 25,000.
"To this state of general peace with which we have been blessed, one only exception exists. Tripoli, the least considerable of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself to denounce war, on our failure to comply before a given day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer. I sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean. . . ."Jefferson's navy was armed mostly from their boats, the number of which had been kept small as trying to build up a naval offense against a power like Britain would've been foolhardy. The United States Revenue Cutter Service which had been established 10 years prior, was small and used to protect coastline, not fight naval warfare. Between 1801 and 1805 Jefferson would take down the Barbary threat.
Obama's boys were probably armed with SR-25 Navy Mk 11 Mod 0 Sniper Rifles, vs. the Somali Ak-47s. The incident only took a matter of seconds to quelch, but the pirates are still hassling, as the Ny times writes:
But Somalia's pirate command vowed revenge, raising concerns for 230 other foreign hostages currently being held.
And the most unoriginal quote of the day, they also add:
"[America] is now our No 1 enemy."
