By Latheef Farook
The colonial history of United States covers the period of European colonization of North America from the early 16th century until the unifying of thirteen British colonies and the creation of the United States 1783, during the American War of Independence.
Before becoming a country, the U.S was a group of colonies owned by Great Britain. On 4 July 1776, the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and announced their independence from Great Britain.
Before European colonization US was home to hundreds of diverse American Indian nations, each with its own language, culture and territory. Rather than a single country, the land featured varied societies ranging from nomadic hunter-gatherers to large-scale agricultural and urban civilizations. The continent was a mosaic of complex geopolitical landscapes. While there was no singular “pre-colonial America” identity, these societies shared the land in distinct ways.
Thus the United States is a settler colonialism—a process where foreign migrants arrive, permanently displace or eliminate the Indigenous populations, and establish a new society and governing structures.
Key Characteristics of the US as a Settler State;
1-Displacement of Indigenous Peoples. The US was built on the seizure of millions of acres of Native American land, enforced by policies like the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
2-Elimination and Assimilation: This model often goes beyond mere military conquest, relying on the physical removal of Indigenous people to reservations and cultural assimilation policies (such as forced boarding schools) to erase Native sovereignty and identity.
3-Manifest Destiny: The territorial expansion of the US was heavily driven by Manifest Destiny, a 19th-century cultural belief and myth that Euro-American settlers had a divine right to expand across the North American continent.
4-The 'Nation of Immigrants' Narrative:
Scholars argue that portraying the US primarily as a 'nation of immigrants' masks its origins as a settler state, where a dominant settler class established the country's core institutions, laws and cultural systems.
Most of the country's estimated 2.7 million Native Americans live in federally recognized tribal areas which are plagued with unemployment, alcoholism, high suicide rates, incest and other social problems.
For the first time after two and half centuries the UN human rights announced on 22 April 2012 its decision to inquiry on the living conditions of the Native Americans living in the US.
Perhaps this report is gathering dust UN archives.
In keeping with its history, once eliminated the natives and consolidated its power, the US started the same colonial venture abroad .Over the years today US maintains military bases worldwide directly and indirectly controlling many countries in the world by installing puppet regimes and looting their wealth,.
So far the US has engaged in direct military invasions, occupations, or major conflicts in many countries globally throughout its history, with independent research estimating the total death toll from post-9/11 operations alone at over 4.5 million people. A complete accounting of nearly 400 U.S. military interventions across 80+ countries since 1776 - from the Barbary Wars to the War on Terror. Every invasion, bombing campaign, CIA-backed coup, and covert operation, mapped and documented
According to reports the US deploys around 800 military bases worldwide .
In the Middle East there are US bases all over with the largest US military installation - Al Udeid Air Base-located west of Doha, Qatar. Established in 1996, it hosts around 11,000 American and coalition service members. Covering an area of 60 acres the base accommodates almost 100 aircraft as well as drones.
Since 1945, in the aftermath of World War 11, the US has used its global network of bases and military agreements to invade or intervene in 96 countries. Throughout the broader history of U.S. military interventions—dating back through the 20th century, the Vietnam War, and the Korean War—independent organizations estimate aggregate fatalities from U.S. military actions and supported conflicts to around 23 million.
These killings started during the so-called Cold War, as the US sought to prevent communist expansion, and continue today under a self-declared deceptive War on Terror- associating Islam with violence and demonizing Muslims to justify invading and destroying Muslim countries, killing its people and looting their wealth. Over the past 20 years alone, the US has spent $8 trillion on its so-called “global war on terror” according to the Costs of War project at Brown University.
Earlier on 30 September 1965 US backed coup led by General Suharto against procommunist Indonesian President Dr Ahmed Sukarno unleashed a murderous campaign of terror against suspected communists and alleged associates, including leftwing activists, artists and intellectuals, peasant’s groups and labour unions. Around a million were killed, disappeared, raped and imprisoned and the killers were applauded by the government as national heroes.
Suharto took over as totalitarian President for decades and to date US companies are looting the country.
Since the collapse for former Soviet Union in 1979 the US bombed and destroyed Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Pakistan, direct post-9/11 war violence has killed millions of innocent people mainly civilians and civilian infra structure. $2.1 trillion was spent on the wars in Iraq and Syria, and $355 billion was attributed to other wars.
According to some estimates 3.6 to 3.8 million people have been killed in these wars due to the destruction of economies, healthcare systems, and infrastructure. Iraq, Libya and Syria were destroyed to weaken Muslim Middle East and ensure Israel safer in the region.
The 20-year war in Afghanistan was the longest in US history. At its peak in 2011, the US had approximately 100,000 troops across at least 10 military bases from Bagram to Kandahar. In total, more than 800,000 US soldiers served in the war turning this proud ancient country into a killing field and wasteland. The war in Afghanistan accounts for $2.3 trillion which, according to Brown University researchers, equals more than $300 million a day for 20 years.
The US’ hostile military actions abroad violate the United Nations (UN) Charter’s provisions on peaceful settlement of disputes and refraining from the use of armed force except in self-defense after an armed attack by another state. None of the countries the US has invaded or attacked previously initiated hostilities against it. The US acts without Security Council approval when it wants to and also systematically violates many other UN resolutions and international law.
The most severe of the US’ acts of aggression have resulted in some 13-23 million deaths in at least 28 nations. Direct US military actions in at least 16 countries have caused around 7-13 million deaths. US-supported or -instigated armed conflicts in 19 countries have led to some 6-10 million deaths. There are countries where the US has engaged both directly in combat and indirectly through active military support.
These figures still do not include casualties from all the governments the US has supported militarily in their domestic conflicts against supposed insurgents and other political opposition.
Many tens of thousands more have been killed by client states with US support and using US- funded and -supplied war materiel, such as in the Philippines.
These extensive casualties underscore the high human cost of the US’ militarist strategy for maintaining its global hegemony. Ensuring the political subservience of governments to conform with US geopolitical objectives and ensuring access to countries’ economic and natural resources are essential to this.
As it is, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reports US military spending of US$916 billion in 2023 to be the largest in the world.
The latest being the US-Israeli illegal war on Iran, killing its leaders, people and even school children, destroying its infrastructure although Iran posed no threat to US in any way. War on Iran has woken up Americans to US spending their wealth to fight Israel’s savage wars.US- Israeli war turned Iran into a regional super with neighboring secular Arab despots who depended on US and Israel for their survival sending emissaries to Iran to patch up.
In a talk show titled “ Still at War 250 years later “Ray McGovern and Patrick Lawrence said” from the first attacks on Native Americans to the aggression on Iran, Americans have been at war, with perhaps the biggest one yet to come. End
No comments:
Post a Comment