March 17, 2012
News of the massacre by an American soldier of 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, made me reflect on the 14 wars and colonial conflicts I’ve covered. Horrible but not surprising.
It illustrates what I call the Iron Laws of Colonial Warfare:
*Pick a good pretext to invade a country that you covet. France invaded Algeria in 1830 after its ruler supposedly flicked the French ambassador with a fly whisk. During the 19th century colonial era, Britain and France provoked incidents, then claimed their invasions were to bring the light of Christianity and western civilization to Africa and Asia. There was the notorious Gulf of Tonkin incident that sparked the Vietnam War. During the Bush era, spreading democracy was the claim.
Today’s pretext du jour is humanitarian rescue missions. Oil-rich Libya was a prime example. Britain, the US and France stirred up a revolt in Benghazi, then intervened militarily.
*Divide et Imperia (divide and conquer) as the Romans said. Pick a disgruntled or rebellious minority, favor them against the majority, making them your allies in colonial rule. Good examples: Tajiks and Uzbeks in Afghanistan who first backed the Soviets, then Americans, against majority Pashtun. Tamils in Sri Lanka, favored by the British Empire; or Christian Ambonese in Indonesia used by the Dutch to enforce their brutal rule.
*Build a native mercenary army. Imperial Britain used Gurkhas and sepoys in India; the French used Senagalese troops in North Africa; the US employed tens of thousands of mercenaries in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Britain’s Indian Raj was made possible by scores of cooperative princes. The Soviets ruled Eastern Europe through local communists and their security forces.
*Denounce all those opposing foreign rule as: religious fanatics; terrorists; savages; bandits (favorite Soviet term). Western media dutifully denounced independence leaders as “mad mullahs;” “arch-
terrorists;”, “Hitler on the Nile (Nasser)” or today’s favorite, “Hitler in Tehran.”
*The longer your occupation army remains, the more it will first despise, then hate the local population, regarding them as savage and sub-humans.
Collective punishments of civilians by angry, frustrated, fearful foreign troops will become the norm. Atrocities will increase. Think of Vietnam’s Mai-Lai massacre, the infamous Amritsar massacre in India, India’s repression in rebellious Kashmir, Japan’s savagery
in China, the US marines at Falluja, or Russians in Chechnya.
*Colonial occupations increasingly rely on brutality and intimidation, then torture and secret executions. France’s Army was deeply corrupted by its crimes in Algeria and lost its honor. The United States is repeating this terrible precedent in Afghanistan. Italy used concentration camps and poison gas to subdue Libya in the 1930’s. The USSR killed 1.5 million Afghans. All colonial wars are dirty.
*Colonial troops find themselves surrounded by a hostile civilian population, under attack from all sides, betrayed even by their nominal native allies. They become increasingly brutalized, vindictive and prone to drug use and rape. Surprise attacks, booby traps, mines and other explosive devices cause widespread fear and depression.
Russia now suffers a lethal heroin epidemic from its 10-year occupation of Afghanistan. The use of torture in Iraq and Afghanistan is spreading back to US law enforcement. Many former soldiers who served in these third world neo-colonial wars return home to join police forces and government agencies.
A sense of betrayal dominates. The Soviet’s supposed local Communist Afghan allies often kept secret links with the mujahidin resistance and warned them of impending Red Army operations. Today, many members of the US-installed Afghan government
secretly cooperate with Taliban and its allies.
*Foreign occupation and garrisons inevitably spread corruption, prostitution, junk culture, and venereal disease. The foreign troops increasingly keep to fortified bases, sallying out to take reprisals and show the flag. The notion that 20-year old soldiers from the bottom of western society can win hearts and minds of Afghan tribesmen is one of the most ludicrous myths of our times.
*Occupying armies quickly transform themselves into colonial forces: lightly armed, mobile police units. When a real war comes, they are not ready to fight a modern opponent. In 1914, Britain’s imperial forces were slaughtered in the trenches of Flanders. The US
has reconfigured its army for colonial warfare. But its next war may be with China or North Korea.
copyright Eric S. Margolis 2012
http://antikrieg.com/aktuell/2012_03_17_alle.htm
This post is in: International Politics, Uncategorized
Not posting my comments! No surprises!!
Ben Johnson
Falluja, the city of mosques, both Sunni and Shia. Mix with diehard Baathist Party minority disgruntled ex-civil servants and a non-musllim occupying force and the outcome seems a forgone conclusion.
Ad Iudicium
Final tweaking complete, comments will now appear.
Administrator.
Mr. Margolis
You have aptly re-inforced the most recent history of conquest.
It seems that some past conquerors had a different approach to occupying armies. Temujin (Ghengis Khan) had his mogol army absorb or kill all those he conquered: “Join us or die”. The early Islamic espansion, allowed a certain level of autonomy to other religions that believed in the One God; specificaly Judaism and Christianity. These “Dhimmi” upon paying the Jizya were allowed to worship independently and conduct business. They were afforded protection by the rulling Islamic Caliph through his regional governor.
It seems that todays conquerors cannot be so inclined. Under the looking glass of world opinion they cannot be so ruthless, or forceful in religious conversion.
So occupiers will look with distain upon the locals and eventually despise them. Trying to limit the interactions between the military and locals is not foolproof. Mistakes will happen as will premeditated actions; from both sides. So it is in our modern world.
Ad Iudicium
PS: Eric-How is the New book coming along? Do you have a title?
Cum expectatione ego expectare
Unfortunately, the Americans, like the Russians, are not interested in the lessons of history. Hence, their failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the Americans finally withdraw from Afgjanistan, the Taliban will retake the Afghan government very quickly and probably take up al-Qaida’s terrorist activities. The US really struck a big hornet’s nest in this part of the world.
Steve_M.
EGO! The US Neocons probably said “the Soviets couldn’t conquer Afghanistan, but we can turn the country into a democracy and bring these backward people into the 21st century. Just watch us!
Ad Iudicium
and from the Winnipeg Free Press his earlier statement to an interviewer, “Plunged into battle in Iraq, he told an interviewer for a base newspaper in 2009 that he and his comrades proved “the real difference between being an American as opposed to being a bad guy.””
Congratulations on the new website design, Eric…very nice indeed.
Regarding the current situation in Afghanistan, one cannot help but be struck by a curious mix of bemusement and foreboding. On the one hand, all the signs are there that the ‘mission’, such as it was, is rapidly folding in upon itself, desperately seeking some kind of rationale to anchor itself to in an attempt to justify the obscene costs in life and expense. ‘Declare victory and leave’ will be the final political act for the US and Britain.
The bemusement comes from the western ‘establishment’ press that maintains an eerie silence regarding the obvious parallels with the Soviet experience.
If a people don’t want to be colonized, they won’t be…you can bomb them, abuse them, radicalize them and subjugate them…and of course attempt to bribe them…but the moment they have a chance to turn on you, the occupier, they will.
The Achilles Heel of every empire or colonizing power is the Illusion of Control.