Keywords

Parallels

Politics

It seems that has taken to likening the democratic prospects of modern Iraq to those of the early 20th century Philippines.” Interesting how the similarities play out:

The Spanish empire ceded the Philippines to U.S. control in 1898 after losing that splendid little war” in the Caribbean. The American military then invaded the Philippines and took over the capital, Manila, in fairly short order. Then, as now, the troubles began. Here’s how Max Boot described the ensuing conflict in his book The Savage Wars of Peace: [T]hough successive U.S. generals proclaimed victory at hand, American soldiers kept dying in ambushes, telegraph lines kept getting cut, and army convoys kept getting attacked.”

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