AMERICA and HUMAN RIGHTS

Virtual Truth Commission

1791

Non-recogniton of Haiti In 1791 led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haiti's slaves rebelled, winning independence from the French. The U. S. fearing the example to its own slave population, refused to recognize Haiti until 1862, imposing an economic embargo instead, not lifted until 1869. Haiti: a history of foreign intervention

1864

Sherman's March through Georgia.

Some historians trace the formal acceptance of those brutal tenets to the 1860s when the army was facing challenge from a rebellious South and resistance from Native Americans in the West. Out of those crises emerged the modern military concept of "total war" -- which considers attacks on civilians and their economic infrastructure an integral part of a victorious strategy. In 1864, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman cut a swath of destruction through civilian territory in Georgia and the Carolinas. His plan was to destroy the South's will to fight and its ability to sustain a large army in the field. The devastation left plantations in flames and brought widespread Confederate complaints of rape and murder of civilians. Peter Dale Scott, "Two Indonesias, Two Americas"June 9, 1998, The Consortium for Independent Journalism.

Sand Creek Massacre.

On November 29, 1864, Col. John M. Chivington of the Third Colorado Cavalry, Colorado Volunteers, brought his militia to a village of Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians. Their leader, Black Kettle, believed himself under the protection of the regular U. S. Army, and his tepee flew an American and white flags. Chivington, wanting a battle before his men's three month enlistments expired, massacred and mutilated over 100 women and children and the few men who remained in the village after the main band had gone on a hunting party. Chivington was never brought to trail, and while many criticized what he had done, many others praised him to the end.
A scout named John Smith later described the attack at Sand Creek, Colo., on unsuspecting Indians at a peaceful encampment: "They were scalped; their brains knocked out; the men used their knives, ripped open women, clubbed little children, knocked them in the head with their guns, beat their brains out, mutilated their bodies in every sense of the word." [U.S. Cong., Senate, 39 Cong., 2nd Sess., "The Chivington Massacre," Reports of the Committees.] Though Smith's objectivity was challenged at the time, today even defenders of the Sand Creek raid concede that most women and children there were killed and mutilated. [See Lt. Col. William R. Dunn, I Stand by Sand Creek.] Peter Dale Scott, "Two Indonesias, Two Americas"June 9, 1998, The Consortium for Independent Journalism.

"Four years after the Civil War, Sherman became commanding general of the Army and incorporated the Indian pacification strategies -- as well as his own tactics -- into U. S. military doctrine. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, who ahd led Indian wars in the Missouri territory, succeeded Sherman in 1883 and further entrenched those strategies as policy. (See Ward Churchill, A Little Matter of Genocide.) Peter Dale Scott, "Two Indonesias, Two Americas"June 9, 1998, The Consortium for Independent Journalism.

1890-1899

1890 U. S. Mililtary Interventions: SOUTH DAKOTA/1890/Troops/300 Lakota Indians massacred at Wounded Knee ; ARGENTINA/1890/Troops/Buenos Aires interests protected. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1891 U. S. Military Interventions: CHILE/1891/Troops/Marines clash with nationalist rebels. HAITI/1891/Troops/Black workers revolt on U.S.-claimed Navassa Island defeated. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1892 U. S. Military Interventions: IDAHO/1892/Troops/Army suppresses silver miners' strike. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1893 U. S. Military Interventions: HAWAII/1893 (-?)/Naval, troops/Independent kingdom overthrown, annexed. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1894 U. S. Military Interventions: CHICAGO/1894/Troops/Breaking of rail strike, 34 killed. NICARAGUA/1894/Troops/Month-long occupation of Bluefields. CHINA/1894-95/Naval, troops/Marines land in Sino-Japanese War. KOREA/1894-96/Troops/Marines kept in Seoul during war. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1895 U. S. Military interventions: PANAMA/1895/Naval, troops/Marines land in Colombian province. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1896 U. S. Military Interventions: NICARAGUA/1896/Troops/Marines land in port of Corinto. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1898 U. S. Military Interventions: CHINA/1898-1900/Troops/Boxer Rebellion fought by foreign armies. PHILIPPINES/1898-1910(-?)/Naval, troops/Seized from Spain, killed 600,000 Filipinos. CUBA/1898-i902(-?)/Naval, troops/Seized from Spain, U.S. still holds Navy base at Guantanamo. PUERTO RICO/1898(-?)/Naval, troops/Seized from Spain, occupation continues. GUAM/1898(-?)/Naval, troops/Seized from Spain, still use as base. MINNESOTA/1898(-?)/Troops/Army battles Chippewa at Leech Lake. NICARAGUA/1898/Troops/Marines land at port of San Juan del Sur. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1898 -- the Philippines

Philippine massacres "By the end of the 19th Century, the Indian warriors had been vanquished, but the army's winning strategies lived on. When the United States claimed the Philippines as a prize in the Spanish-American War, Filipino insurgents resisted. In 1900, the U. S. Commander, Gen. J. Franklin Bell, consciously modeled his brutal counterinsurgency campaign after the Indian wars and Sherman's "march to the sea."....For those outside the protected areas, there was terror. A supportive news correspondent described one scene in which American soldiers killed "men, women, children ... from lads of 10 and up, an idea prevailing that the Filipino, as such, was little better than a dog. ... Our soldiers have pumped salt water into men to 'make them talk,' have taken prisoner people who held up their hands and peacefully surrendered, and an hour later, without an atom of evidence to show they were even insurrectos, stood them on a bridge and shot them down one by one, to drop into the water below and float down as an example to those who found their bullet-riddled corpses." Defending the tactics, the correspondent noted that "it is not civilized warfare, but we are not dealing with a civilized people. The only thing they know and fear is force, violence, and brutality." [Philadelphia Ledger, Nov. 19, 1900] ...."The entire population outside of the major cities in Batangas was herded into concentration camps," wrote historian Stuart Creighton Miller. "Bell's main target was the wealthier and better-educated classes. ... Adding insult to injury, Bell made these people carry the petrol used to burn their own country homes." [See Miller's "Benevolent Assimilation," published in 1982.] Peter Dale Scott, "Two Indonesias, Two Americas"June 9, 1998, The Consortium for Independent Journalism.

1898 - Cuba -- A perspective from Havana

On April 20, 1898, after the Cuban insurgents has been fighting the Spanish with increasing success for three years, "without recognizing the government of the Republic in Arms, President McKinley approved the infamous Joint Resolution,whose first article proclaimed that the Cuban people was and by right must be free and independent, while the last one declared that the United States had no intention nor desire to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction or dominion over Cuba....the way was now clear for the US, via a military invention and some extremely astute maneuvers, to deprive the Cuban Liberation Army of its authority by failing to recognize it, and to snatch away the sovereignty and independence already within the island's grasp.

Role of the Press...as would become its usual practice, U.S. intervention in the war was preceded by intensive press campaigns which incited jingoism, pandering to the most shameless tales and sensationalism and exacerbated cheap sentimentality. Joseph Pulitzer of The World and William Randolph Hearst from The Journal, the two largest U.S. dailies and forerunners of what was later to be labeled the yellow press, surpassed all their lampoon sales when they carried their rivalry to a paroxysm of inflaming public opinion with scandalous, provocative and imaginary stories designed to win acceptance of U.S.participation in the first of its holy wars beyond its maritime borders. When Hearst's correspondent in Havana asked to be sent back since there was no war to report on, the editor-in-chief of The Journal responded with the epigrammatic jewel: "Please stay there. You facilitate the illustrations, I'll facilitate the war."

The Battleship Maine "On January 24, on the pretext of protecting the life and safety of Mr. Lee, U.S. consul in Havana, and other U.S. citizens in the face of street disturbances provoked by Spanish extremists, the Maine battleship entered the bay of Havana. On February 15, the first U.S.-built modern warship, very conveniently sank in an explosion whose cause remains unclear. This led to the loss of 260 of its crew members and lent a great service to those pressing for intervention. On April 20, McKinley approved the joint resolution passed by the Senate the previous day. Two days later, the U.S. Navy, at that time only surpassed by the English and French fleets and in which the principal war effort of the inexperienced nation resided, initiated an effective blockade along Cuba's northern coast from Havana to Matanzas, also taking in the bay of Cienfuegos. Subsequently, Matanzas was bombarded on April 27, Cardenas on May 11, Santiago de Cuba on May 31 and June 11, the bay of Guantanamo on June 14 and Baracoa on July 15. In May 1898, a squadron penetrated the bay of Cardenas and, on May 8 was involved in a skirmish with Spanish ships. Three days later, in a land operation, U.S. warships bombarded the city, causing unnecessary havoc among the civilian population. Two months later, on June 20, after landing its troops in Oriente, the easternmost province from the capital,the US destroyed the old Spanish naval fleet; defeated the Spanish in San Juan in alliance with the Cuban army; plotted with the defeated troops to negotiate a peace truce which excluded the Cubans; militarily occupied the island which it governed for four years; and imposed a new protectorate status through the Platt Amendment and the Treaty of Reciprocity, in spite of declaring that it had no intention of or desire to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction or dominion in Cuba. In the end, the United States replaced Spain as the colonial power in the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico, and devised a special status for Cuba. Never again would the United States achieve so much with so few resources and efforts in terms of becoming a major world power as in that "splendid little war", as it was described at the time by John Hay, future secretary of state.

Source:Guillermo Jimpnez Soler, "The emergence of the United States as a world power", GRANMA INTERNATIONAL 1998. ELECTRONIC EDITION., Friday, August 7, 1998, Havana, Cuba

1899 U. S. Military Interventions: SAMOA/1899/Troops/Battle over succession to throne. NICARAGUA/1899/Troops/Marines land at port of Bluefields. IDAHO/1899-1901/Troops/Army occupies Coeur d'Alene mining region. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1901

1901 U. S. Military Interventions: OKLAHOMA/1901/Troops/Army battles Creek Indian revolt. PANAMA/1901-03/Naval, troops/Broke off from Colombia, annexed Canal Zone. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

In 1901, anti-imperialists in Congress exposed and denounced Bell's brutal tactics. Nevertheless, Bell's strategies won military acclaim as a refined method of pacification. Peter Dale Scott, "Two Indonesias, Two Americas"June 9, 1998, The Consortium for Independent Journalism.

1902-1914

1903 U. S Military Interventions: HONDURAS/1903/Troops/Marines intervene in revolution. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/1903-04/Troops/U.S. interests protected in Revolution. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1904 U. S. Military Interventions: KOREA/1904-05/Troops/Marines land in Russo-Japanese War. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1906 U. S. Military Interventions: CUBA/1906-09/Troops/Marines land in democratic election. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1907 U. S. Military Interventiosn: NICARAGUA/1907/Troops/"Dollar Diplomacy" protectorate set up. HONDURAS/1907/Troops/Marines land during war with Nicaragua. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1908 U. S. Military Interventions: PANAMA/1908/Troops/Marines intervene in election contest. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1910 U. S. Military Interventions: NICARAGUA/1910/Troops/Marines land in Bluefields and Corinto. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1911 U. S. Military Interventions: HONDURAS/1911/Troops/U.S. interests protected in civil war. CHINA/1911-41/Naval, troops/Continuous occupation with flare- ups. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1912 U. S. Military Interventions: CUBA/1912/Troops/U.S. interests protected in Havana. PANAMA/1912/Troops/Marines land during heated election. HONDURAS/1912/Troops/Marines protect U.S. economic interests. NICARAGUA/1912-33/Troops, bombing/20-year occupation, fought guerrillas. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1913 U. S. Military Interventions: MEXICO/1913/Naval/Americans evacuated during revolution. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

1914 U. S. Military Interventions: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/1914/Naval/Fight with rebels over Santo Domingo. COLORADO/1914/Troops/Breaking of miners' strike by Army. MEXICO/1914-18/Naval, troops/Series of interventions against nationalists. HAITI/1914-34/Troops, bombing/19-year occupation after revolts. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

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