Imperial Amnesia

Coffins of US soldiers returning
from Mexico in 1914

Coffins of US soldiers returning
from Iraq in 2004

The Iraq war and its bloody aftermath is a classic example of not learning from history or worse yet revising history to justify an action. In an article in Foreign Policy, Imperial Amnesia, John B. Judis shows how the Iraq adventure is very much like American adventures in the Philippines, Mexico and Viet Nam.

"The United States invaded a distant country to share the blessings of democracy. But after being welcomed as liberators, U.S. troops encountered a bloody insurrection. Sound familiar? Don’t think Iraq—think the Philippines and Mexico decades ago. U.S. President George W. Bush and his advisors have embarked on a historic mission to change the world. Too bad they ignored the lessons of history."

In October of 2003 Bush gave a speech to the Philippine Congress:

"In that speech, Bush credited the United States for transforming the Philippines into a democracy. “America is proud of its part in the great story of the Filipino people,” said Bush. “Together our soldiers liberated the Philippines from colonial rule.” He drew an analogy between the United States' attempt to create democracy in the Philippines and its effort to create a democratic Middle East through the invasion and occupation of Iraq. “Democracy always has skeptics,” the president said. “Some say the culture of the Middle East will not sustain the institutions of democracy. The same doubts were once expressed about the culture of Asia. These doubts were proven wrong nearly six decades ago, when the Republic of the Philippines became the first democratic nation in Asia.”

As many Philippine commentators remarked afterward, Bush's rendition of Philippine-American history bore little relation to fact. True, the U.S. Navy ousted Spain from the Philippines in the Spanish-American War of 1898. But instead of creating a Philippine democracy, the McKinley administration, its confidence inflated by victory in that “splendid little war,” annexed the country and installed a colonial administrator. The United States then waged a brutal war against the same Philippine independence movement it encouraged to fight against Spain. The war dragged on for 14 years. Before it ended, about 120,000 U.S. troops were deployed, more than 4,000 were killed, and more than 200,000 Filipino civilians and soldiers were killed. Resentment lingered a century later during Bush's visit."

As usual Bush’s speech had little relation to the real history of the U.S. involvement with the Philippines. One striking similarity between the Philippines and Iraq is that in 1899 the upper classes in Manila assured President McKinley that there was no need to worry about nationalist sentiment. In 2003 the neocons were assured by Chalabi and other Iraqi exiles that the U.S. would be welcomed with flowers, neither happened. In reality what passed for Democracy in the Philippines was a few wealthy families with ties to U.S. investors in control.

Sound familiar; it should, the Philippines became the model for U.S. foreign policy and Iraq is simply the next target.

Mexico, Viet Nam and Cuba are additional examples of U.S. foreign policy gone awry. Judis gives many additional examples and mentions that the Christian religious community in the U.S. was active in pushing the Democratization adventures.

Read the entire article, 7 printed pages but well worth time.