Yasser Arafat to Bill Clinton:
" Democratic Credits are no good....cccccc cash!
Why are you waving your hands around....think you are some kind of Jedi!"
Posted on 10/08/2003 1:30:52 PM PDT by diamondjoe
Arnold took over governorship of California and kicked Gray Davis out of Sacremento.
My condolences.
Well, he certainly isn't walking up over the hill with Abraham. He was Jewish, ya know.
CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!
Yasser Arafat to Bill Clinton:
" Democratic Credits are no good....cccccc cash!
Why are you waving your hands around....think you are some kind of Jedi!"
This one isn't. And neither was *Hell Raising Jake's* *Moro Massacre,* per #177, above.
Bush and the Bells of Balangiga IN CHEYENNE, Wyoming, a pair of brass church bells can be found kept at Warren Air Force Base. Not too many people in the United States or in our own country know about these bells. But they are very much a part of Philippine history, having been taken from the town of Balangiga in Samar after an event which took place exactly 102 years ago today.To appreciate the significance of the Balangiga bells, it is necessary to go back to the beginning of the 20th century as America was carrying out President William McKinley's policy of "benevolent assimilation" over the Philippine Islands which had been ceded by Spain as part of the Treaty of Paris, thus ending the Spanish-American War.
Even with the capture of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino resistance to American occupation continued in many parts of the country. In fact, guerrilla activities increased forcing the United States to bring in reinforcements and raising its troop level to some 70,000 soldiers. Compare this with the 140,000 US troops in Iraq, now facing guerrilla warfare.
The island of Samar, third-largest in the Philippines, was one of the hotbeds of guerrilla action and in a bid to establish greater control over the island, Major General Adna Chaffee, Army commander of the Division of the Philippines, called for the establishment of more garrisons in the province. And so on Aug. 11, 1901, 74 officers and men of Company "C," Ninth US Infantry, disembarked from the US Army transport "Liscombe," in the harbor of Balangiga, a small town in the southern end of Samar.
The company commander was Captain Thomas W. Connell, a tall West Pointer in his late 20s who served in Cuba and in China during the Boxer Rebellion. He spoke Spanish and was "most unusual as a military man of that era because he opposed the prevalent Army opinion that bayonet rule was the only answer in governing the Philippines." He believed in McKinley's "benevolent assimilation" policy and in the mission of civilizing and Christianizing the native.
The second-in-command was 1st Lieutenant Bumpus who, on seeing the natives in Balangiga, is reported to have laughed and said, "Boys, we're in Googoo land for sure now!" The soldiers were regular Army, since the volunteer groups who first came to the Islands in 1899 had already been sent home. Most of the young men were farm boys who had run away from home for travel or adventure. Others were immigrants who spoke broken English.
The party was met by a delegation of town officials who offered the Americans the use of the municipal building as well as two rooms of the Church convent.
Several weeks after the arrival of the Americans, a secret meeting was held at the house of the town mayor. It was decided that a surprise attack would be carried out on a Sunday morning at around breakfast time. Some 500 men, divided in seven groups, would compose the attacking forces. One-third of them would be in women's clothes, posing as churchgoers.
On Sunday morning, Sept. 28, 1901, just as the troops were having breakfast, Police Chief Pedro Sanchez walked over to one of the US billets, grabbed a sentry's rifle and at the same time yelled out the signal for the attack to begin.
Immediately, the church bells started to ring continuously, while conch shells whistled loudly from the surrounding hills. The Church doors burst open, releasing a frightening mob of angry, screaming natives, brandishing sharp bolos and other improvised weapons such as, picks and shovels. It was combat at close quarters; bolos against Krag rifles. In the attack on the convent, the American officers were hacked to death on their beds. Lt. Bumpus was struck on the bridge of his nose so that the lower part of his face was chopped off. Capt. Connell who was saying his prayers, was hit in the back and stabbed many times all over his body.
An hour later, the town plaza was a bloody mess with cracked skulls and human entrails all over the place. Of the 74 men of Company "C," 36 would survive the massacre. Of these, 30 were wounded, most of them seriously. Ten would later die from their wounds, leaving only 26 of the original group.
Reprisal was swift in coming. First on the scene was Company "G," also of the Ninth Infantry. The force entered Balangiga, firing away with Gatling machine guns and light cannon. Twenty natives, captured at the edge of the town, were brought to the plaza and executed. The bodies were then doused with kerosene and set afire. All houses still standing were torched to the ground.
Less than a month after the Balangiga massacre, a separate command -- the Sixth Separate Brigade -- was formed to handle the Samar "problem." The Brigade was headed by Brigadier General Jacob Smith. Under Smith was a Marine Battalion led by Major L. W. Waller, which was tasked to clean up the southern portion of Samar. In issuing orders to Waller, General Smith declared, "I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn the better you will please me." His handwritten instructions were, "the interior of Samar must be made a howling wilderness." Waller later acquired the reputation as the "Butcher of Samar," and that ultimately cost him the post of Marine Corps Commandant.
* * *
Among the gifts that President Bush may have with him on his coming visit to the Philippines, none will be better appreciated than the Bells of Balangiga.
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