“We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth…For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it might cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.” –Patrick Henry, Virginia Convention, 23 March, 1775
“The completeness of the victory is established by this fact: that of the six hundred Moros (Muslims living in the southern Philippines at the beginning of the 20th century) not one was left alive. The brilliancy of the victory is established by this other fact, to wit: that of our six hundred heroes only fifteen lost their lives. General Leonard Wood was present and looking on. His order had been, ‘Kill or capture those savages.’ Apparently our little army considered that the ‘or’ left them authorized to kill or capture according to taste, and that their taste had remained what it has been for eight years – the taste of Christian butchers. . . .The enemy numbered six hundred – including women and children – and we abolished them utterly, leaving not even a baby alive to cry for its dead mother. This is incomparably the greatest victory that was ever achieved by the Christian soldiers of the United States.” – Mark Twain on the conduct of American soldiers in the Bud Dajo Massacre, March 5-8, 1906 (Philippine-American War), a war that has was conducted similarly to the Vietnam War 60 years later (a la the My Lai Massacre).
US Soldiers posing with the dead bodies of their victims (Bud Dajo Massacre, 1906)
“War is just a racket…I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster…I
— source duluthreader.com | Gary G. Kohls | Nov. 30, 2017