This morning I woke up early to run along the banks of the Bou Regreg river. I watched fisherman prepping their small blue rowboats as dawn broke over the Port of Salé. This port was frequently used by the famed Barbary pirates, a fearsome group who raided ships and coastal towns in the Mediteranean sea and North Atlantic during the time of the Ottoman Empire. Students: can you find any connection that the Barbary pirates have with the early history of the United States? Can you also find what is unique about our countries relationship with Morocco?