Philippine War Quotes
General Otis, the commander of American troops in the Philippines regarded this proclamation as tantamount to a declaration of war and prepared his forces for such.
There was an interesting parallel to the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. When American troops would explain their mission to locals, many were actually fearful of terms like democracy, freedom, education, development and modernity. Religious and cultural forces had made these concepts fearful and undesirable and while there were many who saw these as desirable, there were also many who perceived these as undesirable and even evil. The American military faced the same problem a century ago.
There already was a revolutionary effort of Filipinos to obtain independence from Spain when the U. S. defeated the Spanish in the Spanish American War. The revolutionaries then split. Most trusted the United States and looked to America to help them set up an independent government. Others wanted all foreign forces out. They continued their insurrection against the Americans which produced atrocities on both sides. Finally the insurrection was defeated, and the Philippines have been independent ever since. This quotation was the policy justification that President McKinley used to justify the American involvement in the Philippines after the defeat of Spain.
The Colonel defined people capable of bearing arms as males and females over 20 years of age. Many were slaughtered. Fortunately, most of his officers and men did not follow this order but enough did to make it one of the most disgraceful events in American military history. Smith was court marshaled and found guilty but his punishment was to be cashiered from the army. There were many atrocities committed by the minorities of both sides in this brutal war. Military and Congressional Investigations caused the army manual to be revised military policies reformed.
The general was expressing a principle that is believed to this day by many policy makers, military people and civilians: Once a war has begun, one must not stop it until victory has been attained. It is unacceptable to negotiate an end to hostilities unless the enemy has been badly beaten on the battlefield. There is this view that “honor” would be lost and that enemies and even allies will not respect you and think the nation is weak and fearful. So there would always be extensive pressure to keep on fighting and not negotiate until there is a military dominant position.
Funston was by modern standards a “war criminal” and “Smith” and “Waller” were two particularly brutal senior officers why had committed even worse war crimes. See {615370}. There was an investigation but the army decided to cover up the crimes lest the extent would become propaganda tools for the enemy. The irony is that Funston had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery earlier in the war. There was an active peace movement at the time (led by Mark Twain among others) and the reaction of the “hawks” to the “doves” was worse than even the Vietnam War.
The United States was deeply involved with the Philippine War where some Americans were court martialed for torture and atrocities against the Filipinos.
American officers were court martialed for the torture and other atrocities. Waterboarding was then called the “water cure” and has always been illegal. After 9-11, the U.S. allowed the torture and referred to it as “enhanced interrogation.”
The Philippine-American War was terribly brutal. In response to insurgent atrocities against American soldiers, some of the Americans also adopted brutal tactics including torture and mutilation. Washington had heard stories of this improper behavior in the part of some American troops and instructed the senior officers to investigate and discipline the men if the reports were true. Unfortunately some of the senior officers covered up the illegal and criminal behavior of some Americans. This quotation was taken from a New York Times report on a representative of the Red Cross who went to the Philippines at the invitation of the insurgents. He generally found serious atrocities by some of the soldiers on both sides but by no means all of the combatants. General Otis, the U. S. Commander tried to keep Blake out, and had him detained away from the battle areas for some weeks where he was “educated” about the enemy atrocities. Finally Blake got to the field and reached the insurgent commander who had invited him. His report generally praised the American troops, but spared no details when there were guilty of atrocities.
