Over and over again
I thought to compensate the lack of posts recently (sorry, I've been extremely busy) with something rather long. Here's my take on the glaring similarities of the Spanish-American war and our current situation in Iraq:
In 1894 the Wilson-Gorman Tariff was passed by Congress, placing restrictions on sugar imports to the United States, and thus, causing a decline in Cuba’s economy. Nationalist grew increasingly angry and revolted against the ruling Spanish regime. In an attempt to control the situation at hand, General “Butcher” Weyler was sent to Cuba. Within a year, Weyler was sent back to Spain after placing Cuban rebellions in unsanitary concentration camps. American businessmen had invested interest in the situation, as much profit was to be made from relations to Cuba. Their worries were amplified when the general public began to echo the anti-Spanish sentiments that William Randolph Hearst spread throughout his newspaper empire. Still, President Cleveland was hesitant to go to war with Spain.
The Cuban revolt grew to a roar that would not be tamed as Cleveland’s term ended and William McKinley took office. In 1898, McKinley sent the USS Maine warship to Cuban water to patrol the activity occurring there. The ship was placed there to rescue Americans who were potentially endangered by the conflict in Cuba. On February 15, 1898, the USS Maine exploded, leaving people even to this day to debate just how the ship blew up. Naturally, Hearst, Congress and the American public took this tragedy as a catalyst to go to war with Spain, even as there was not conclusive evidence that Cuba was responsible for the explosion.
Two months after the explosion, McKinley sent the United States to war with Spain and passed the now-laughable Teller Amendment, which stated that Cuba would be granted its independence after the war had ended. Just as the war was ending, the United States forced the Platt Amendment upon the Cubans constitution, placing an American military base in Guantanamo and contradicting that which was promised to the Cubans in the Teller Amendment.
The detriment we placed upon Cuba and everything in the aforementioned summary of the Spanish-American war is absolutely frightening in just how close history is in repeating itself with the current situation we have been involved with in Iraq. After the al-Qaeda network attacked us, we briefly went to war with Afghanistan, and have since spent a significant amount of time in Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with the attacks on September 11, 2001. Just like William Randolph Hearst's days of either making things up or exploiting situations, the media has done quiet a knockup job in the last few years. In the same manner as anti-imperialist were angered at the hypocrisy during the Spanish-American war, there is a growing number of people who are angered by the oil profiting in Iraq. Similar to the Platt Amendment, we are promising liberation while actively destructing parts of the country.
Sounds like history repeating itself to me.
In 1894 the Wilson-Gorman Tariff was passed by Congress, placing restrictions on sugar imports to the United States, and thus, causing a decline in Cuba’s economy. Nationalist grew increasingly angry and revolted against the ruling Spanish regime. In an attempt to control the situation at hand, General “Butcher” Weyler was sent to Cuba. Within a year, Weyler was sent back to Spain after placing Cuban rebellions in unsanitary concentration camps. American businessmen had invested interest in the situation, as much profit was to be made from relations to Cuba. Their worries were amplified when the general public began to echo the anti-Spanish sentiments that William Randolph Hearst spread throughout his newspaper empire. Still, President Cleveland was hesitant to go to war with Spain.
The Cuban revolt grew to a roar that would not be tamed as Cleveland’s term ended and William McKinley took office. In 1898, McKinley sent the USS Maine warship to Cuban water to patrol the activity occurring there. The ship was placed there to rescue Americans who were potentially endangered by the conflict in Cuba. On February 15, 1898, the USS Maine exploded, leaving people even to this day to debate just how the ship blew up. Naturally, Hearst, Congress and the American public took this tragedy as a catalyst to go to war with Spain, even as there was not conclusive evidence that Cuba was responsible for the explosion.
Two months after the explosion, McKinley sent the United States to war with Spain and passed the now-laughable Teller Amendment, which stated that Cuba would be granted its independence after the war had ended. Just as the war was ending, the United States forced the Platt Amendment upon the Cubans constitution, placing an American military base in Guantanamo and contradicting that which was promised to the Cubans in the Teller Amendment.
The detriment we placed upon Cuba and everything in the aforementioned summary of the Spanish-American war is absolutely frightening in just how close history is in repeating itself with the current situation we have been involved with in Iraq. After the al-Qaeda network attacked us, we briefly went to war with Afghanistan, and have since spent a significant amount of time in Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with the attacks on September 11, 2001. Just like William Randolph Hearst's days of either making things up or exploiting situations, the media has done quiet a knockup job in the last few years. In the same manner as anti-imperialist were angered at the hypocrisy during the Spanish-American war, there is a growing number of people who are angered by the oil profiting in Iraq. Similar to the Platt Amendment, we are promising liberation while actively destructing parts of the country.
Sounds like history repeating itself to me.
posted by Jared at 3:14 AM
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