Past war offers Afghanistan lessons.

[Goldstein1984]

And it's not Vietnam

The war ignited protests at home. American soldiers battled elusive fighters in remote jungles. The enemy used hit-and-run tactics to drain America’s will.

As President Obama begins to send more of the 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in the new year, some critics are invoking those snapshots from history to argue that the United States can’t afford to get bogged down in another Vietnam.

But those snapshots actually come from another war: The Philippine-American War, which lasted from 1899 to 1902. The war is largely forgotten today, but it was a bloody preview of the type of warfare that the U.S. military faced in Asia and now in Afghanistan, historians say.

“It was the 19th century version of Vietnam,” said Edward Sheehy, a professor of military history at La Salle University in Pennsylvania.

There was, however, one big difference: The U.S. won. How did a far weaker U.S. military prevail in the Philippines and what lessons can Obama apply from that victory to Afghanistan today?

More: http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/07/past-war-offers-afghanistan-lessons-and-its-not-vietnam/

****************

Worth a read.

[ShortnFiery]

1. Not unlike the Soviets in the 80s, we're fighting a 18th Century War with a 14th Century Country.

EPIC FAIL!

Afghanistan: The Soviet Lesson Not Learned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF3eq-8G4UQ&feature=player_embedded

Video Contains testimony from the following historians and leaders:

1) Artyom Borovik, Former Soviet Journalist (1980s);
2) Mathew P. Hoh, Former Senior US Representative, Zambul Province, Afghanistan;
3) Carl Conetta, Co-Director, Project for Defense Alternatives;
4) Ruslan Aushev, Soviet-Afghan War Veteran, LT General, Russian Army (Ret.)
*Served in Afghanistan for five years'
5) Mohammad Osman Tariq, Former Mujahid Commander, Soviet-Afghan War President, National Council
for Peace and Democracy in Afghanistan;
6) Robert Baer, former CIA Operations Officer, Middle East; and
7) Mikhail Gorbachev, Former Soviet Union President.

[Goldstein1984]

4. Thanks for the link!

I can't watch it from work, but will view it at home tonight.

I'm poorly informed where the Philippine-American War is concerned, and the Spanish-American War isn't among my strengths, either.

[ShortnFiery]

6. de nada

;) :hi:

[ShortnFiery]

2. Sincere thanks for this site reference.

:hi:

[kenny blankenship]

3. We relied heavily on extermination campaigns - killing "all able bodied men" in hostile areas

We burned and slaughtered villages wholesale wherever resistance was encountered. I guess the well intentioned CNN blogger mean something else though besides genocide/collective punishment. Surely?

[ShortnFiery]

5. I think that's why Mark Twain was so bitterly against American Intervention in foreign lands.

Many people don't fully realize what a "Warrior for Peace" Mark Twain was:

In the last decade of his life, Mark Twain took advantage of his immense popularity as a humorist to speak out seriously on a number of important political issues. He became, for instance, one of the most powerful critics of the new American imperialism, a doctrine that supported the U.S. takeover of the Philippines and suppression of its independence movement.

"The War Prayer," a short story or prose poem by Mark Twain, is a scathing indictment of war, and particularly of blind patriotic and religious fervor as motivations for war.
The structure of the work is simple, but effective: an unnamed country goes to war, and patriotic citizens attend a church service for soldiers who have been called up. The people call upon their God to grant them victory and protect their troops. Suddenly, an "aged stranger" appears and announces that he is God's messenger.

He explains to them that he is there to speak aloud the second part of their prayer for victory, the part which they have implicitly wished for but have not spoken aloud themselves: the prayer for the suffering and destruction of their enemies. What follows is a grisly depiction of hardships inflicted on war-torn nations by their conquerors.

The story ends on a pessimistic note: the messenger is ignored.

Once again, history repeats itself ... with more senseless killing and dying. :cry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mggu7i0jU4&feature=related