Does Anything Change?
I found these insulting political cartoons at History News Network in an article entitled "The Philippine-American War as Race War" written by a chap named Paul A. Kramer.
It is a wonderful article written about the Philippine-American War, a forgotten war fought from 1899 to 1902 (Until 1913 if you include the Moro rebellion).
The article appears to be a snapshot from his book about Philippine-American colonial history.
Just in case you were wondering, here are some Philippine-American War statistics:
- 4,324 American soldiers dead
(1,000 to 1,500 of which were from actual combat; the remainder died of disease) - 2,818 American soldiers wounded
- 20,000 Filipino combatants estimated killed (16,000 actually counted)
- 510,000 Filipino civilian deaths
(Taking into account those killed by war, malnutrition and a cholera epidemic that raged during the war)
"There is the case of the Philippines. I have tried hard, and yet I cannot for the life of me comprehend how we got into that mess. Perhaps we could not have avoided it - perhaps it was inevitable that we should come to be fighting the natives of those islands - but I cannot understand it, and have never been able to get at the bottom of the origin of our antagonism to the natives. I thought we should act as their protector - not try to get them under our heel. We were to relieve them from Spanish tyranny to enable them to set up a government of their own, and we were to stand by and see that it got a fair trial. It was not to be a government according to our ideas, but a government that represented the feeling of the majority of the Filipinos, a government according to Filipino ideas. That would have been a worthy mission for the United States. But now - why, we have got into a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater. I'm sure I wish I could see what we were getting out of it, and all it means to us as a nation."
-Mark Twain
2 Comments:
Wow, that quote from Twain is amazing in that just about every word could apply to the current quagmire. Truly we are in a lose-lose situation. There is no good path forward, and only looking at the path that has gotten here provides any clear answers. And then, it's just in regards to who to blame.
Anyway, thanks for a bit of history. Very interesting. I only wish our leaders were as familiar with our past mistakes.
You'd think that would be true, but do you want to know the kicker?
According to this article published in October 2003 (Yes, somebody beat me to this punch by 4 years) Bush 'pointed to the Philippines as a model for Iraqi "liberation."' (Author did not cite where or when this statement was made)
History (according to Sting) will teach us nothing.
But on the bright side, the Department of Homeland Security sent us a much-awaited letter today, of all days. My lovely wife is taking her oath and becoming a citizen next month!
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