The Wily Filipino

The Real Model.

There's nothing very new in Bush's speech to the Philippine Congress -- the usual civilization versus chaos rhetoric, the long partnership between our two countries, and so on. It's already become wearying to have to point out inaccuracies and other irksome bits left out for the purposes of creating a smooth historical narrative. But I'll point out a simple one, at least:

America is proud of its part in the great story of the Filipino people. Together our soldiers liberated the Philippines from colonial rule. Together we rescued the islands from invasion and occupation. The names of Bataan, Corregidor, Leyte, Luzon evoke the memories of shared struggle and shared loss and shared victory.

I assume that by "colonial rule" Bush was referring to Spain, and by "invasion and occupation" he meant Japan -- in which case he completely elides 50 years or so of... colonial rule, no? Some liberation.

But the best part, really, is the implication that the Philippines could somehow be the model for Iraq -- forget all this MacArthur in postwar Japan business, here's the genuine model:

Democracy always has skeptics. Some say the culture of the Middle East will not sustain the institutions of democracy. The same doubts were once expressed about the culture of Asia. These doubts were proven wrong nearly six decades ago, when the Republic of the Philippines became the first democratic nation in Asia.

Bush achieves two remarkable things in the passage above: 1. he glosses over the fact that the U.S. was in the Philippines for 46 years or so (and those reservists in Iraq complain about their extended tours!), and 2. he more or less admits what many people already know -- that the invasion of Iraq was about pure, naked, imperial ambition.

Sometimes President Smirk gets it right.

Posted by the wily filipino at October 22, 2003 09:03 PM