In spite of all this, many Filipinos wanted independence. America thus had an interest in blocking Philippine independence, and since the independence movement was fighting for just that, in suppressing that movement by force. Although the use of force was regrettable and the use of torture wrong, Kagan argues, the American occupation of the islands brought many benefits to the Filipinos and was on the whole justified.
It set the stage for one of the worst US failures of WW II – Bataan
https://mises.org/wire/imperialist-nonsense-us-takeover-philippines
Robert Kagan is a well-known neoconservative historian who believes that America ought to exercise a “benevolent hegemony” over the rest of the world. In his just-published book, The Ghost at the Feast: America and the Collapse of World Order, 1900–1941 (Knopf, 2023), he presents an odd argument for America’s takeover of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War.
When United States armed forces arrived in the islands, many Filipinos hoped for American support in setting up an independent state. The American forces instead suppressed the independence movement and tortured and killed a great many people in the course of fighting a long guerilla war. The US government then established a protectorate over the Philippines, which was not granted independence until after World War II. Kagan doesn’t defend the atrocities, but he argues that American policy was on the whole justified. In this week’s article, I’ll examine his argument.
In essence, Kagan’s argument is this: because of the brutal Spanish colonial policy in Cuba, America was justified in freeing Cuba from Spanish rule. Since the Spanish wouldn’t give up control of Cuba voluntarily, America was required go to war with Spain. This in turn required that America strike at the Spanish Pacific fleet, which was stationed at Manila. Once the fleet was destroyed, the Philippines were open to a takeover by stronger imperialist powers, such as Germany. Such a takeover would have been contrary to America’s interests, and the Philippine people were incapable of resisting colonization by a European imperialist power.
In spite of all this, many Filipinos wanted independence. America thus had an interest in blocking Philippine independence, and since the independence movement was fighting for just that, in suppressing that movement by force. Although the use of force was regrettable and the use of torture wrong, Kagan argues, the American occupation of the islands brought many benefits to the Filipinos and was on the whole justified. In my view, each step of this argument is mistaken.
First, it is without doubt true that Spain’s attempt to maintain control of Cuba led to a great loss of life, but it does not follow that America was justified in going to war with Spain to free Cuba. Spanish control of Cuba posed no threat to American independence, and from a Rothbardian perspective, there was inadequate cause for war. (See Murray Rothbard’s article “Just War.”)
Many people accept war for “humanitarian” reasons, contrary to Rothbard, but the argument for American colonization of the Philippines does not meet that standard either. Kagan writes that the destruction of the Spanish fleet would have opened the Philippines to German control and that this was not in America’s interests:
The only great power eager for some or all of the Philippines was Germany, but this was not an attractive option. . . . To Americans, it seemed that Germany had its eyes on “every beachhead in Latin America and every atoll in the South Pacific.” These concerns only grew when, just after [Admiral George] Dewey’s victory, a potent German naval force arrived in the waters of Manila Bay, commanded by the same officer who had taken [the Chinese port of] Kiaochow. . . . Even in the unlikely event a stable government could be established, . . . . [i]t would only be a matter of time before either Germany intervened or the competing powers began struggling for control. (pp. 46–47)
Suppose Germany had colonized the Philippines and that Germany would have been much harder to dislodge than Spain had been. Why would this have been against America’s interests? Kagan offers no evidence that Germany posed a military threat to America, and he offers no other characterization of “interests” by which we can assess the claim that Germany threatened American interests.
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