history repeating itself:
The great western power was determined to retain control over oil-rich Iraq, and it used its vastly superior air power to subdue the forces of the Iraqi leader Hussein. Soon after its initial victory, it installed an interim government in the Middle Eastern country. But resistance to the occupation continued to grow. As the determined invader saw its casualty count pass 2000, and as the massive funding required to support the effort had surpassed total spending on social programs back home, public opinion began to turn against the war. The western power sought to reduce its costs while maintaining its rule, in part by offering reconstruction services to Iraq, which had the effect of charging the devastated country for its own subjugation. But as the occupation dragged on, Iraq's resentment grew stronger and the
war became ever more difficult to end. This happened in the early 1920s. The western power was Great Britain. Hussein was Sharif Hussein bin Ali, the self-proclaimed leader of the Islamic nation.
(...) "We come as administering angels, not as despots," proclaimed one senator. The American soldiers entered the country and a bloody period of fighting began, in which several thousand Americans and tens of thousands of enemy soldiers and civilians were killed over 3-1/2 years. Military leaders censored the press to shelter the public back home from the horrible images. Insurgents continued to strike, and although at one point a general declared that the rebellion was "almost entirely suppressed," intermittent battles persisted and a search for the enemy leaders intensified. It was decided that captured guerrillas would be treated not as soldiers, but as "criminals" who were not entitled to prisoner of war status. This happened 100 years before the War in Iraq. The country was The Philippines. The war was the Philippine-American War, immediately following the Spanish-American War. The President was McKinley. The Senator was Knute Nelson of Minnesota. The General was Arthur MacArthur. Over 4,300 American soldiers were killed. Some estimates put civilian deaths at over 250,000.