Gitmo - Come for the Beaches, Stay for the Waterboarding!

[laxfan25]

Under the truism that "those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it", there was an interesting article in last week's New Yorker on a controversial topic from over 100 years ago - the use of the "water cure" during the US takeover of the Philippines.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/25/080225fa_fact_kramer

It's interesting to see the parallels to the debates today, and it was every bit as hot a topic, or more so, than it is today. Good reading.

[Jac Coyne]

Impeach McKinley! And his nefarious vice president Garret Hobart!

[KnoxVegas]

Just another item on the list of spooky similarities between the Spanish-American War and the war that has been over in Iraq since May 2003.

[laxfan25]

Impeach McKinley! And his nefarious vice president Garret Hobart!

Nah, just shoot the bastard.
Reading up a little on McKinley, it's interesting also how Cuba is a big part of the story - especially the brutal government with concentration camps that we were looking to reform. Especially ironic is that the Republican president was really looking to keep us out of war and the Democrats were lobbying for it. The great cycle of life...
I like the quote about "a splendid little war" - I think that was Rumsfeld's plan for Iraq. And so ends today's history lesson.

From the handy Wikipedia;

During this time there were some overseas conflicts, mainly with Spain. The U.S. had interests in Cuba, the Philippines, Hawaii and China. McKinley did not want to fully annex Cuba, just control it. In the Philippines, he wanted a base there to deal with China that would give the U.S. a voice in Asian affairs. Stories began to emerge of horrible atrocities committed in Cuba and of Spain's use of concentration camps and brutal military force to quash the Cubans' rebellion. Spain began to show it was no longer in control as rebellions within the rebellion broke out. The Spanish repeatedly promised new reforms, then repeatedly postponed them. American public opinion against Spain became heated, and created a demand for war coming mostly from Democrats and the sensationalist yellow journalism of William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. McKinley and the business community opposed the growing public demand for war, aided by House Speaker Reed.

As a matter of protection for U.S. interests around Havana, a new warship, the U.S.S. Maine, was dispatched to Havana harbor. On February 15, 1898, it mysteriously exploded and sank, causing the deaths of 260 men. (In 1950, the Navy ruled that "the Maine had been sunk by a faulty boiler" and not by attack as was assumed at the time). Public opinion heated up and a greater demand for war ensued. McKinley turned the matter over to Congress, which voted for war, and gave Spain an ultimatum for an armistice and a permanent peace. Although the Army was poorly prepared, militia and national guard units rushed to the colors, most notably Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders." The naval war in Cuba and the Philippines was a success, the easiest and most profitable war in U.S. history, and after 113 days, Spain agreed to peace terms at the Treaty of Paris in July. Secretary of state John Hay called it a "splendid little war." The United States gained ownership of Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, and temporary control over Cuba. McKinley had said, "we need Hawaii just as much as we did California," and Hawaii was annexed (see above). McKinley had begun by wanting only a naval base in the Philippines at Manila; in the end, he decided to take all of the Philippines.