-Caveat Lector-
Bob-
I was considering dropping out of this listserve. But this one posting makes
it worth staying on!! It makes the 18,000 messages worth it!!
This is one damm good piece of information!! This posting deserves a sign
saying READ ME!! It is shocking and sickening, but no surprise any more. The
United States has been stolen right out from under our noses. We each
passing generation, it goes further and further under. When will we see what
is happening?!
Crimes never go unnoticed, do they? The fact that they took the bells, ha!
The sword is now turned inward, they set in motion their downfall.
-----Original Message-----
From: Conspiracy Theory Research List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
Behalf Of Bob Stokes
Sent: Friday, September 03, 1999 11:36 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [CTRL] Give back the church bells
-Caveat Lector-
www.WorldNetDaily.com
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 03 1999
Give back the church bells
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
As long as we're on the subject, let's talk about another U.S. government
attack on a church.
One hundred years ago, during its war on Spain, the U.S. invaded the
Philippines, sprayed bullets far and wide, and put the entire country under
martial law. The result was costly for the U.S. -- it created a habit of
imperialist aggression that is still with us today. And it was also costly
for the Philippines: an entire generation suffered from the violence
associated with a brutal occupation, or the resulting disease and political
turmoil.
Now to the church. In Balangiga, the U.S. Army made slaves of the residents
and turned the place into a work camp. With indefatigable spirit, the local
residents decided not to take it anymore. Church bells of the local Catholic
parish began to ring, signaling a revolt, and 45 U.S. soldiers died. In
response, the American commander gave orders to murder "everyone in sight,"
which they promptly did. The result: as many as 50,000 dead Filipinos, among
whom were women and children.
A bit on the disproportionate side perhaps? Indeed, but like the FBI at
Waco, the U.S. military in the Philippines had only one end in mind: total
victory. Adding insult to massacre, the U.S. Army then stole the church
bells and took them to Warren Air Force base in Cheyenne, Wyo., where they
hang today. But now the parish in the Philippines wants them back, as a
symbol that all this is just ancient history. They even rebuilt the belfry
at the parish in anticipation of the bells' return.
But as we've seen in the Waco case, the U.S. government is notoriously
unwilling to admit error, particularly bloody, egregious error. Hence, so
far, the bells are not forthcoming, despite the attempt on the part of many
groups to intervene and put an end to the parading of religious objects as
war loot. No, instead Congress has passed a resolution forbidding the return
of war booty without its authorization.
In case you think the Filipinos are making an unjust demand, consider the
context. There was no justification for either the U.S. presence in the
Philippines or the violence with which the U.S. carried it out. At stake was
little more than a militarized trade dispute between Spain and the U.S.,
while Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were caught in the
crossfire.
An American officer testified in a letter to the Philadelphia Ledger on Nov.
11, 1901: "Our men have been relentless, have killed to exterminate men,
women, and children, prisoners and captives, active insurgents and suspected
people, from lads of ten up, an idea prevailing that the Filipino was little
better than a dog."
And this gentlemen was writing in defense of the war!
Or consider this letter written before the invasion by another officer:
"There is no use in mincing words.... We exterminated the American Indians,
and I guess most of us are proud of it, or, at least believe that the end
justified the means; and we must have no scruples about exterminating this
other race standing in the way of progress and enlightenment, if it is
necessary."
Neither was this merely the attitude of a few recalcitrant soldiers. Using
religion as his cover, President William McKinley later justified his
behavior in similar terms. As he told a delegation of Methodist clergymen:
"I went down on my knees and prayed to Almighty God for light and guidance
... and one night late it came to me this way.... We could not leave (the
Philippines) to themselves -- they were unfit for self-government -- and
they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain's was.
... There was nothing left for us to do but take them all and educate the
Filipinos, and uplift and Christianize them."
Recall that the Philippines was largely Catholic, which the Protestant
ruling elite in this country did not consider to be a Christian religion.
And what better way to treat these supposed non-Christians than to starve
and kill them? In a similar way, the Branch Davidians were considered to be
a dangerous and uncivilized cult that needed to be either mainstreamed or
exterminated. They resisted and suffered, as so many before them have
suffered.
The costs to the Filipinos, reports Joseph Stromberg in his essay in the
collection, "The Costs of War," were immense. Fully 50,000 died in combat,
and another 220,000 civilians died from gunfire, starvation, and the effects
of concentration camps. The oppression continued for most of the first half
of the century, in which the U.S. continued to enforce its rule over the
country, at the behest of large U.S. corporations doing business there.
Why was the U.S. doing all this? The short answer is that the government
wanted to expand its power and that of its connected interests, regardless
of the costs. Why did the U.S. kill so many? The people resisted. Why did
the Army steal the bells? Arrogance: the same impulse that led the FBI to
plant a U.S. flag on the mass grave where the Branch Davidians once lived.
The U.S. can't give back the lives of the people of the Philippines that it
took in 1898, but it can darn sure give back the church bells that it stole.
And it can darn sure do what it can to make it up to the surviving Branch
Davidians, who suffered under the hands of the same regime 100 years later.
-----------------------------
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., is president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute
in Auburn, Alabama.
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DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
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