Thank you for the article.

For those of you wondering how long it might take before we can pul out of Iraq, remember that we ‘liberated’ the Philippines at the end of the Spanish American War.

It has been more than 100 years, and we are still there.

We will be in Iraq for a very long time.

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or
that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only
unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American
public.”
[Theodore Roosevelt] 1918

The Muslims of the southern Philippine Islands have been fighting for seperatism since the early 1970’s.

While the U.S. has assisted the official Government seated in Manila since that time, the pretense for U.S. presence after the July 4, 1946 Philippine sovereignty was borne of the Cold War.

In fact, Major bases were dismantled and the property returned to the Filipinos a decade ago when the U.S was asked to leave.

No offense number6 but capping off your post with a quote by Teddy Roosevelt may not have been the best choice for a thread about US aggression in the Philippines.

Mark Twain:

“that Moro crater! There, with six hundred engaged on each side, we lost fifteen men killed outright, and we had thirty-two wounded-counting that nose and that elbow. The enemy numbered six hundred — including women and children — and we abolished them utterly, leaving not even a baby alive to cry for its dead mother. This is incomparably the greatest victory that was ever achieved by the Christian soldiers of the United States.”

Now then, how has it been received? The splendid news appeared with splendid display-heads in every newspaper in this city of four million and thirteen thousand inhabitants, on Friday morning. But there was not a single reference to it in the editorial columns of any one of those newspapers. The news appeared again in all the evening papers of Friday, and again those papers were editorially silent upon our vast achievement. Next day’s additional statistics and particulars appeared in all the morning papers, and still without a line of editorial rejoicing or a mention of the matter in any way. These additions appeared in the evening papers of that same day (Saturday) and again without a word of comment. In the columns devoted to correspondence, in the morning and evening papers of Friday and Saturday, nobody said a word about the “battle.” Ordinarily those columns are teeming with the passions of the citizen; he lets no incident go by, whether it be large or small, without pouring out his praise or blame, his joy or his indignation about the matter in the correspondence column. But, as I have said, during those two days he was as silent as the editors themselves. So far as I can find out, there was only one person among our eighty millions who allowed himself the privilege of a public remark on this great occasion — that was the President of the United States. All day Friday he was as studiously silent as the rest. But on Saturday he recognized that his duty required him to say something, and he took his pen and performed that duty. If I know President Roosevelt — and I am sure I do — this utterance cost him more pain and shame than any other that ever issued from his pen or his mouth. I am far from blaming him. If I had been in his place my official duty would have compelled me to say what he said. It was a convention, an old tradition, and he had to be loyal to it. There was no help for it. This is what he said:

Washington, March 10. Wood, Manila:- I congratulate you and the officers and men of your command upon the brilliant feat of arms wherein you and they so well upheld the honor of the American flag. (Signed) Theodore Roosevelt.

His whole utterance is merely a convention. Not a word of what he said came out of his heart. He knew perfectly well that to pen six hundred helpless and weaponless savages in a hole like rats in a trap and massacre them in detail during a stretch of a day and a half, from a safe position on the heights above, was no brilliant feat of arms – and would not have been a brilliant feat of arms even if Christian America, represented by its salaried soldiers, had shot them down with Bibles and the Golden Rule instead of bullets. He knew perfectly well that our uniformed assassins had not upheld the honor of the American flag, but had done as they have been doing continuously for eight years in the Philippines – that is to say, they had dishonored it.

The next day, Sunday, — which was yesterday — the cable brought us additional news – still more splendid news — still more honor for the flag. The first display-head shouts this information at us in the stentorian capitals: “WOMEN SLAIN MORO SLAUGHTER.”

“Slaughter” is a good word. Certainly there is not a better one in the Unabridged Dictionary for this occasion

The next display line says:

“With Children They Mixed in Mob in Crater, and All Died Together.”

They were mere naked savages, and yet there is a sort of pathos about it when that word children falls under your eye, for it always brings before us our perfectest symbol of innocence and helplessness; and by help of its deathless eloquence color, creed and nationality vanish away and we see only that they are children — merely children. And if they are frightened and crying and in trouble, our pity goes out to them by natural impulse. We see a picture. We see the small forms. We see the terrified faces. We see the tears. We see the small hands clinging in supplication to the mother; but we do not see those children that we are speaking about. We see in their places the little creatures whom we know and love.

The next heading blazes with American and Christian glory like to the sun in the zenith:

“Death List is Now 900.”

I was never so enthusiastically proud of the flag till now!

Rasputin,

It was exactly because of his exploits in the S-A war that I chose Teddy’s quote.

Also, thank you for your comments. They were interesting and enlightening.

Note that the quote was from 1918. It came about because America was still prosecuting citizens under the seditions act, who had protested US involvment in WWI.

Teddy may have just been politically motivated against a democratic Wilson administration, or he may have actually had a change of heart between 1898 and 1918. Either way, Teddy’s opinion changed.

If one Republican can change his mind, I hold out hope that another may also do so some day. I hope it does not take 20 years.

Mark Twain was extremely effective, thanks again.

Hey no sweat, you can read Twain’s full piece here

the pretense for U.S. presence after the July 4, 1946 Philippine sovereignty was borne of the Cold War.

Pretense being the operative word; obviously, what’s important here is a strategic military locus in Asia/South Pacific, as well as access to raw materials and cheap labor. You know, the usual stuff.

It’s kind of hard to use the Cold War as an excuse pre-1900.

No matter, now we have a new excuse, and it looks a lot like the Maine (remember?;)

Also, there is some evidence that “Al-Qaeda” has been involved in the Philippines, believe it or not.

Update on the Philippines: Arroyo survives another coup

Some background on the coup leader from last year, Who’s afraid of Gen. Fortunato Abat?

“A few weeks back, Abat was a signatory to a full-page manifesto published in several newspapers calling for a “No Election (NO-EL)” scenario and the establishment of a new political order to carry out reforms in the country. Perhaps, it is a measure of his influence and clout that some people are so paranoid as to prevent him from commemorating the death of his son in a setting such as a military camp, with everything that this may imply.”

Read the letter below Cesar’s note.