Excerpted American Thinker, Adam Cassandra, "The Leftist-Libertarian Security Policy Problem" March 11:

The leftist-libertarian view of U.S. security policy characterizes the numerous terrorist attacks against America and our allies as a reaction to American foreign policy; embraces the 9/11 Truther movement; thinks the CIA is a terrorist organization; and views George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld as war criminals. Code Pink would approve.

The threat posed by totalitarian Islamist ideology is also significantly downplayed under the leftist-libertarian national security policy. Despite the plethora of Muslim Brotherhood documents obtained from the Holy Land Foundation trial detailing the strategic plan by Islamists to infiltrate and destroy Western Civilization, the leftist-libertarian attitude towards Islamists is simply to leave them alone and they'll leave us alone. Unfortunately, simply ignoring the greatest threat to American liberty has no basis whatsoever in American conservative thought.

Like Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld, Thomas Jefferson would probably be heckled as a war criminal by vociferous Ron Paul supporters were he to speak at CPAC today. There was no formal declaration of war when President Jefferson attacked the Barbary States. There was only a set of joint resolutions authorizing the use of force -- much like with the Bush administration's war in Iraq.

The case of the Barbary pirates is important in assessing a conservative security policy. Despite claims to the contrary, George Washington was no isolationist. Washington's oft-cited Farewell Address is just as often misunderstood as a treatise on isolationism. Washington knew that the United States did not have the military capability or the resources to engage in foreign campaigns at the time, but he wrote:

If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Washington and Jefferson faced the same threat from the Barbary pirates, but Jefferson chose force of arms over tribute. The actions of both Washington and Jefferson in dealing with their Islamist foes are consistent with a conservative foreign policy -- one that is prudent in protecting the just interests of the United States.

The conservative movement should welcome debate within its ranks, but the movement needs to completely reject policies that endanger the United States, our citizens, and our interests... rejection of the leftist-libertarian view of national security policy is only the first step.

Cassandra is Chairman of the Maryland Young Americans for Freedom MDYAF.com.