The Herald’s cartoon (Feb. 9) was pretty badly wrong and misleading in saying that Thomas Jefferson “defended Muslims” and “kept a copy of the Quran.” During Jefferson’s time, Muslims were attacking U.S. and European shipping in the Mediterranean. An estimated 1.25 million Europeans were captured and either ransomed or held as slaves by the Muslims. Since U.S. ships were being attacked, Jefferson, who was ambassador to France for a while, asked the Muslim ambassador from Tripoli why the Muslims were doing that. The ambassador, Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, replied that it was a tenet of Islam to attack and plunder all non-Muslims. Jefferson bought a Quran and had it translated so that he could see what sort of bizarre religion was Islam. That’s why he had a Quran.

Did he “defend Muslims”? No, he sent the U.S. Marine Corps to defeat them and that’s why “the shores of Tripoli” are mentioned in the Marine Corps hymn. Our Founding Fathers thought Islam was a disgusting corruption of a religion and there are a number of quotes from them that show that.

As for President George Bush trying to prevent violence against Muslims after the attack by Muslims on 9/11, that was a necessary gesture.

Barack Obama became a Muslim when he was 5 or 6 years old and he was “steeped in Islam” when he met Jeremiah Wright, in Obama’s late twenties. Of course, he defends Muslims. He certainly doesn’t defend Christians. The “Black Liberation Theology” that Wright taught uses Jesus’ name but is in no way considered to be actual Christianity.

Mike Sigman

Durango