Lessons from a Successful Counterinsurgency: The Philippines, 1899-1902

Parameters ^ | Spring 2005 | Timothy K. Deady

[Axhandle]

The United States topples an unsavory regime in relatively brief military action, suffering a few hundred fatalities. America then finds itself having to administer a country unaccustomed to democratic self-rule. Caught unawares by an unexpectedly robust insurgency, the United States struggles to develop and implement an effective counterinsurgency strategy. The ongoing US presidential campaign serves as a catalyst to polarize public opinion, as the insurrectionists step up their offensive in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat the incumbent Republican President.

These events—from a century ago—share a number of striking parallels with the events of 2003 and 2004. The Philippine Insurrection of 1899-1902 was America’s first major combat operation of the 20th century. The American policy of rewarding support and punishing opposition in the Philippines, called “attraction and chastisement,” was an effective operational strategy. By eliminating insurgent resistance, the campaign successfully set the conditions necessary for achieving the desired end-state.

[Rudder]

Shooting terrorists and burying their bodies with pig parts helped, too.

[Terpfen]

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/pershing.htm

Claim: General John J. Pershing effectively discouraged Muslim terrorists in the Philippines by killing them and burying their bodies with pigs.

Status: Undetermined.

[Rudder]

I didn't know this was in dispute, having read it in many different sources, including one that was allegedly "official military." Still, it sounds like a good method.

[2banana]

MacArthur declared martial law and implemented General Order 100, a Civil War-era directive on the law of war that, among other tough provisions, subjected combatants not in uniform, and their supporters, to execution. This program forced civilians to take sides and served to increasingly isolate guerillas from popular support. After more than a year on the move, Aguinaldo was captured in March 1901.

The war’s final year witnessed increased atrocities on both sides. In southern Luzon, Brigadier General J. Franklin Bell set up “concentration camps” for the region’s 300,000 civilians. Modeled on Indian reservations, the camps isolated the guerillas from their supporters. Bell then sent his troops to hunt down the region’s insurgents and destroy their supply caches. On the island of Samar, a bolo (machete) attack killed 48 of the 74 American soldiers in the garrison at Balangiga in August 1901. A punitive expedition on Samar was conducted so brutally that the island’s commander, Brigadier General Jacob Smith, was subsequently convicted at court-martial. Nonetheless, the increasingly fragmented resistance continued to wither.

Mmmmmmmmm...

[mrsmith]

Thanks, this is a discussion I've been wanting to read since the war began.

[elhombrelibre]

This is a long but very interesting article.

[Axhandle]

Regardless, I do not think that would have any significant effect on the insurgency. I do not think that the insurgency is full of particularly religious people, rather it is just a bunch of people who hate us and fear that the influence of western culture will spread into their countries - Syria, particularly.

[expatguy]

Have you noticed that some people tend to think of Snopes as the final arbitrator on things such as this?

Im more comfortable with Snope determining something to be True or False based on facts - But "undetermined"

Who makes this determination? Snopes?

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[Terpfen]

I don't think of Snopes as the final arbiter, but they at least present a pretty good case for the "undetermined" status of the idea of Pershing and the pigs.