Historian: Iraq, Afghan Wars Parallel Philippine Invasion

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In case anybody thinks the current mess is something new, or even that the stooge in the White House and his minions are something new.

BALTIMORE, April 12 (AScribe Newswire) -- It was Mark Twain who said, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Few today remember that the celebrated author was also a vocal critic of a U.S. war of empire a century ago: the invasion of the Philippines.

Historian Paul Kramer, in his new book "The Blood of Government: Race, Empire, the United States and the Philippines" (University of North Carolina Press), details the long-forgotten history of the Philippine-American war and the 40-year occupation that followed. He argues that the Philippine adventure in many ways "rhymes" with the current U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among the "eerier similarities," said Kramer, professor of history at The Johns Hopkins University:

- A conventional invasion and speedy victory followed by an unexpected, protracted non-conventional insurgency.

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