Movie Review: Struggle for the West – I Will Fight No More Forever

I Wrote this paper in March 2003 for a US History Survey covering the Civil War to the Twentieth Century

This was a really good movie. I learned a lot about the Native Americans this term and it was one of those things that I didn’t expect to enjoy so much about the class. I thought I would be mostly interested in the Civil War but the Indians and their plight in history has become to me a very interesting part of the our American History story.

The Miners, Cattlemen and Settlers in the Oregon Territory had never had problems with the Nez Perce Indian tribe. But the U.S. Government sided with the greed of the white mans claims to the Nez Perce’s Willowa Valley. General Oliver Howard came to the Oregon Country with orders to remove the Nez Perce by treaty or by force.

Chief Joseph leader of the Nez Perce decided to move the tribe to a reservation. But before they could move a few upset and distressed Nez Perce killed white men who had committed atrocities against their families. Chief Joseph sent out a truce delegation but Howard’s soldiers attacked them. This is what provoked Chief Joseph’s famous fighting retreat. In an attempt to get sanctuary in Sitting Bulls Camps in Canada they fought off the Veteran Civil War Generals who pursued. Finally one day from Sitting Bulls Camp and asylum the soldiers caught up with the Nez Perce and a huge battle commenced. Finally Chief Joseph surrendered.

From there the Nez Perce were sent to a Malaria Stricken fort in Kansas then on to Oklahoma. Chief Joseph had surrendered his gun but he didn’t stop fighting for his land. He went and spoke to Congress and eventually he and a few other Nez Perce were allowed to return back to Washington. But Settlers threatened to kill Chief Joseph if he returned to his beloved Willowa Valley. So again the Nez Perce where ushered away from there land and on to a reservation.

The Apache who resided in the South Western United States were furious defenders of there land against Spanish and Mexican attacks, but were always accommodating to the American Settles who traveled through their territory towards California. In 1861 an army officer accused the Apache, Cochise of kidnapping a local child. Cochise was infuriated that he was called a liar. A fight erupted but Cochise escaped while others were slaughtered. For the next 9 years Cochise fought a Guerrilla war against the U.S. Army. Finally General Howard was dispatched to sue for peace. Cochise agreed to his terms and hostilities ceased until his death in1876. Then the Apache were forced on to the San Carlos reservation, a desolate rattlesnake infested land described as a way the gods didn’t like to make the land.

This spawned a group of strong new Apache leaders. These new leaders were dedicated to freedom at all costs. These leaders would resist the whites and they told their followers that if they came with them that they would be living free but it would be a short life. One of these leaders was Geronomo. 8000 Mexican and American troops hunted Geronomo but couldn’t catch him. Finally on Sept. 3, 1886, pressured by the suffering of his followers Geronomo surrendered to the Army. His followers and even some from the San Carlos reservation were taken to Indian jails in Florida. Even though the treaty promised that the Apache would soon be returned to reservations around their old home, the Apache prisoners lived in the prisons for 28 years.

The reservations that these once free peoples lived on were at some times little more then concentration camps. The lands that the Native Americans were moved to were nearly barren and lifeless. Often making it incredible hard for any kind of subsistence. The Native Americans lived in object poverty. Often the food that they got was nothing more then scraps from a butcher’s floor or old dried up bread. Not only was there land stolen from them but also their well being. Government programs designed to help and control the Native Americans were corrupt and evil. Known as the Indian Ring these government agents were responsible for the Native Americans poverty. Eastern reformers tried to break the ring but they thought that the Native Americans needed to change as well as the Government.

The Indian Allotment System was designed to break the Native Americans communal land practices. The Native Americans were forced to break up land into individual plots of land. The corrupt whites in charge started to hand out allotments to children, dogs and horses. Then white people would steal and adopt the children so they could control the children’s land. All of the extra reservation plots of land (those not inhabited) were sold to white folks. Two-thirds of the remaining land in Native American hands was taken away because of the Indian Allotment System.

The biggest atrocity committed against the Native Americans was the kidnapping and reeducating of their children in boarding schools. Some children as young as 4 years old were taken from their parents and forced to take on the white mans ways. Forbidden to speak their own language and traditions they were fed images of Indians as evil people. The children were forced to relinquish anything that could be a reminder of their old life, including their outward appearances. They were taught to be ashamed of their heritage. Then to top this off some of these children had been separated from their culture for so long that they forgot it. When they returned their families and leaders considered them as outsiders, outcasts from the tribe.

The Native Americans have the perception of land and culture as things that are sacred. These peoples wanted to live as one with the land. They want to take care of the land so that their children will be able to share in its beauty. To the Native Americans you get the sense that their culture is one with the land. They are a people that are so connected to their environment that they were crippled by losing their homes.

For the question of whether or not “It is the destiny of the Indians to be the conscious of America.” I believe this to be true to some extent. The Native Americans need to be remembered even more today. Their History should be taught better then it is toady. One of the men on the video said the gods allowed some Native Americans to survive to supply history with an alternative perspective. I think that is very true. If there was no one to tell the truth of the atrocities that we committed against the Native American then we might forget it just like Germany and Japan try to forget the atrocities they committed during WWII.

In conclusion I would like to say that I was inspired by this class to look into my own Native American ancestry. This particular movie has inspired me to look in to the Nez Perce and maybe planning a vacation to see some of the sites and history of this tribe. Overall I would have to give this movie a good approval. I would like to view the other videos in the series and share them with my family.

The United States needs to lead a coalition to Rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq

This is a speech I wrote Before the Invasion of Iraq in 2003

Imagine living in a country where there has been 20+ years of war from soviet invaders to Islamic Fundamentalists and finally to US air power and special forces, a place where children don’t have toys but AK-47’s and there hasn’t been running water in some places since 1979. If you can imagine this, it would be allot like what it is in Afghanistan.

Imagine living in a country where your family members have been going missing for 20+ years. After wars with Iran, in the 80’s and a battle against the world for Kuwait, Iraq has finally been lifted from the hands of Saddam Hussein but now after Iraq has been Bombed back to the 1950’s, the US has taken control and the Iraqis now face violence from the people who would resist the American occupation.

The hardships that the people of these two countries have gone through even before the United States invasion is almost enough to make someone want to rebuild. But after the B-52’s have dropped their payloads and defeated the Dictators and Islamic Fundamentalists Afghanistan and Iraq need to be rebuilt more then ever.

Despite weather or not you were for America’s wars in South West Asia, they have now been started and both of the conflicts are uncompleted. But setting aside their completion the U.S. has an obligation and a strategic need to Rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq.

Today I am going to argue that the U.S. should Rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq, out of moral obligations and strategic reasons.

The US military helped to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban were the Islamic Fundamentalist government that sheltered al Qa’eda and Usama bin Laden while they recruited and trained terrorists to attack the western world.

In Iraq the US lead a coalition to defeat Saddam Hussein, a Dictator who murdered his own people in the hundreds of thousands as well as attempting to take over other middle east countries.

In both situations we were responsible for bringing the people of these countries to there knees and we must help them stand on their own.

If the United States goes to war with a country then we have a Moral Obligation to rebuild it. We must show the World that our military actions are not to conquer empire or to swat at annoying little countries that get in our way. The United States people believe that our military is used for good, action against evil. This can be true, but we cannot decimate our Enemies government, infrastructure, culture, and environment, then leave and let someone else deal with it. The US will be seen as an evil force if we do this. As the most powerful military might in the world we must convince the world that we are not a threat to little countries. We must show them that it is in our interest to use military force against common enemies of the people. Our enemies are not the people of the nations themselves, but the leaders or factions of people inside these countries. If we destroy Saddam and Al Qa’eda and we leave the people with nothing do they not feel like victims in the war as well? We must convince the Afghanis and the Iraqis that they are not our targets but the small groups of people who are controlling them are our enemies.

Because we have the most powerful military the US poses a threat even if we are not aggressive. The way to show the world that we aren’t out for empire is to rebuild and make even better then before the countries we “liberate”. We must do this with little or no reward.

If we are going to criticize leaders or groups for attacking our citizens then we must not do the same thing. The US went to Iraq in 1991 because the Iraqis took over Kuwait for empire. If we take Iraq and Afghanistan and don’t rebuild, how different is it from staying and enslaving them.

Another reason it is important for the US to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan is for its strategic importance.

The US must rebuild so we can influence the people of these nations. Like our interest in helping the people we must help these countries develop a government that will also do just that. Republican Democracies seem to allow the best human rights worldwide so we ought to help them establish a representative government elected by the people. We also should help them to support freedom of religion and give them freer markets. With freedom of religion all of the different peoples can worship as they see fit and it will curb Islamic fundamentalism, which tries to vanquish all those who are different. Freer markets can increase the wealth of a people and so bring up the standard of living making the peoples happier, healthier, and wiser.

We also need to rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq because if we leave before they are rebuilt can we expect that the nation won’t fall into worse leadership. A return to Islamic Fundamentalist Government in Afghanistan or the creation of one in Iraq would set our goals back further then when we started. Won’t the Afghanis and Iraqis hate us for taking what stability they did have? Won’t they still be a threat to us if we don’t help them?

Islamic Fundamentalism and Dictatorships are both our enemies in these wars. Allot of the countries surrounding Iraq and Afghanistan our Islamic Fundamentalists or Dictatorships. Both Iraq and Afghanistan could easily revert to such governments but more importantly a successful Democratic Iraq and Afghanistan will help to spread the seeds of Democracy in the other countries therefore destroying our enemies nonviolently.

I see also that it is not just important for the US to be involved. Morally the US has an obligation to Rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq but other nations should help because they too are at threat from Dictators and Islamic fundamentalism. All countries could benefit from a free and prosperous Afghanistan and Iraq.

Some would believe that rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq is wrong and that we shouldn’t be involved.

Some think because they didn’t like the war in the first place that we should leave. Some say that the Iraqis don’t want us there so we should leave. A few of my favorite arguments to discredit are that we shouldn’t have to pay for these countries to be rebuilt when we have problems of our own, or someone says that too many Americans will die when we rebuild.

When someone tells me that we shouldn’t pay to rebuild or that to many will die I say look at the World Wars. After WWI the Allies didn’t rebuild Germany. In fact they made it pay major debts and even tacked on War Reparations to the Germans bills. Coupled with world depression, Germany remained in ruins. Germans were very poor and harbored hatred towards the Allied Powers that had won the war. Eventually in an attempt to build a better government on their own the Germans elected Hitler to be their leader. WWII then commenced and the Allies were forced to fight an even more devastatingly costly war in both casualties and money. Could the war and its costs have been thwarted. Could the suffering of the German and American people been halted. Many historians and contemporaries knew that if the Allies had helped Germany instead of leaving it in squalor, the largest war known to man may never have occurred.

America learned from their mistake, and in 1945 rebuilt not just Germany and Japan but many European Countries. Now if we look at our old adversaries today we can see that they are our best friends. Germany and Japan are two of the richest countries in the world. They are both Democracies and have never reverted back to their Dictator or Fundamentalist Governments. So I ask you will rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq save us from other wars? Will it prevent us from loosing more American lives and spending more money in foreign countries?

There are so many arguments against rebuilding our enemies that can be answered by the World War Analogies. But another argument might be that we would stretch our troops to thin if we stayed in Iraq and Afghanistan. I could almost agree with this point but there are a few flaws in its argument. One, we have very safe boarders when it comes to needing military protection. Both Canada and Mexico have very good relations with the US and even if there were an invasion we would repel them in days because Mexico and Canada have miniscule militaries in comparison to ours. Two, there is no better place for our troops to be other then back home. But yet we have troops in several countries, which do nothing but upset the locals. No place in the world needs Americans troops to protect a rebuilding process like Afghanistan and Iraq! Not only because of some of the other things I have already mentioned but also because it gives us an aggressive presence in the most hostile region of the world.

As I have shown the United States needs to Rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq. Not only do we have a moral obligation to the people of those countries but also the entire world has strategic reason for these two countries to prosper.