US War against Islamic Extremists actually 200+ years old

The United States has actually been at war with Islamic Extremists since 1801 - that's over 216 years according to my calculator. It began with the first Barbary War (1801 - 1805) also called the War against Tripoli (in present day Libya) when North African Berbers demanded that the U.S. pay tribute to the Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli based Muslim Sultans. Then U.S. President Thomas Jefferson sent the infant U.S. naval fleet on May 13, 1801 under the command of Commodore Richard Dale as the Pasha of Tripoli, Yusuf Qaramanli, citing late payments of tribute, demanded additional tribute and declared war on the United States. The Famous Naval hero, Stephen Decatur, was assigned to the frigate USS Essex under Captain William Bainbridge. Other ships under Commodore Richard Dale's squadron included the Philadelphia, the President and the Enterprise. 

Prior to 1801, and actually prior to the American colonies winning the war of independence against Great Britian, ships from the United States were protected by the large and feared British Navy. Even then, both Britain and France, found it expedient pay tribute to the Barbary States as it allowed their merchant shipping to operate safely with an increased share of the Mediterranean trade. Barbary leaders chose not to challenge the superior British or French navies. But Thomas Jefferson said no to any extortion, however previous U.S> administration had paid some sort of tribute for protection on shipping. So the war under Jefferson was actually a culmination of 16 years of attacks by the Barbary pirates, led by Dey Muhammad of Algiers who had been capturing U.S. merchant ships since 1785.

During the first Barbary War is war, the ship Philadelphia was blockading Tripoli's harbor when she ran aground on an uncharted reef. Under fire from shore batteries and Tripolitania gunboats, the Captain, William Bainbridge, tried to refloat her by casting off all of her guns and other objects that weighed it down. The ship was eventually captured and the crew taken prisoners and put into slavery. To prevent this powerful war ship from being used by the Barbary pirates the ship was later destroyed by a raiding party led by Stephen Decatur.

The War concluded in 1805 with a treaty after U.S. Marines supported by Naval gunfire successfully defeated Qaramanli’s forces with a combined naval and land assault - hence the line in the Marine Corps Hymn "............to the shores of Tripoli.....). The U.S. treaty with Tripoli included a ransom for American prisoners in Tripoli, but no provisions for tribute. In fact, the nickname "Leatherneck" came from the thick leather collars the Marines wore to protect their exposed necks from the Scimitar wielding Barbary pirates.

The Second Barbary War, also known as the Algerian War, began in 1812. In 1812, the new Dey of Algiers, Hajji Ali, rejected 1795 treaty and declared war on the United States by capturing an American ship with his Algerian corsairs. This was actually a Algerian-British conspiracy as Britain declared war on the U.S. (the War of 1812). After this war ended in 1814, U.S. President James Madison and the U.S. Congress declared war on Algiers on 3 March 1815. The U.S. Navy, now greatly increased in size after the War of 1812, sent an entire squadron, led by Commodore Stephen Decatur, to the Mediterranean.

Upon the show of U.S. naval fire, not to mention several naval bombardments, the new Algiers ruler, Dey Omar, accepted the treaty proposed by Decatur that called for an exchange of U.S. and Algerian prisoners and an end to the practices of tribute and ransom. Having defeated the most powerful of the Barbary States, Decatur sailed to Tunis and Tripoli and obtained similar treaties. In Tripoli, Decatur also secured from Pasha Qaramanli the release of all European captives. The Muslims reneged on the treaty so a second U.S. Naval Squadron combined with Dutch Naval assets bombarded Algiers again submitting the hostiles to the treaty. While the Barbary pirates continued to raid ships from other countries, U.S. flagged vessels remained free from attacks until 1830 when France occupied Algeria ending the pirate threat.