Something to Remember on Veterans Day: Washington's Foreign Wars

Gar Smith / Environmentalists Against War

Remembrance Day, November 11, was established to mark and mourn the 20 million deaths that occurred during WWI. Unlike most nations, the US has shifted the original focus of the commemoration from the victims of war to the practitioners -- US soldiers, living and dead.

Before there was a 'Veterans Day' -- complete with flags and marches to celebrate aging soldiers -- November 11 was an international day of peace. Ninety-six years ago, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, fighting ceased in the "war to end all wars." Congress passed an Armistice Day resolution calling for "exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding . . . inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples." November 11th was to be "a day dedicated to the cause of world peace."

Something that should be remembered on "Veterans Day" is the long list of foreign countries that the US has attacked, invaded and occupied over the past two centuries. Here is a partial list of some of the foreign lands Washington has invaded since America's founding in 1776. Countries attacked since the outbreak of "The War to End All Wars," 100 years ago, are highlighted in bold:

• French Territory (1798)

• Libya (1801-05; 1981; 1986; 1989)

• Spanish Mexico (1806)

• Britain (in the War of 1812)

• Marquesas Island (1813)

• French, British and Spanish Caribbean (1814-1825)

• Algiers and Tripoli (1815)

• Spanish Cuba (1822-1825)

• Greece (1827; 1947-49)

• Falkland/Malvinas Islands (1831)

• Sumatra (1832; 1838)

• Argentina (1833; 1890)

• Peru (1835-1836)

• Mexico (1836; 1846-48; 1859; 1876; 1913' 1914; 1915-16)

• Canada (1837)

• Fiji (1840-41; 1858)

• Samoa (1841; 1885; 1888; 1889; 1899)

• China (1843; 1859; 1866; 1894-1895; 1900; 1911-1941; 1927-1927; 1927-1934; 1934; 1940-34; 1934; 1946-49)

• Ivory Coast (1843)

• Ottoman Empire/Turkey (1849)

• Nicaragua (1854; 1867; 1894; 1896; 1898; 1899; 1907; 1910; 1912-1933)

• Japan (1854; 1863; 1864; 1868; 1981-1990)

• Uruguay (1855; 1868)

• Columbia (1856; 1860; 1865; 1866; 1870; 1873; 1885; 1895; 1901; 1902; 1903)

• Hawaii (1856; 1874; 1887; 1893)

• Paraguay (1859)

• Portuguese West Africa (1860)

• Formosa Island/Taiwan (1867)

• Midway Island (1867)

• Korea (1871; 1894-1896; 1904-05; 1950-53).

• British Egypt (1882)

• Haiti (1888; 1891; 1914-1934; 1959; 1991; 1994-96; 2004)

• Chile (1891; 1973)

• Guam (1898; 1903)

• Cuba (1898; 1906-09; 1912; 1917-1933; 1933; 1961; 1962)

• Puerto Rico (1898)

· Philippines (1898; 1899; 1948-54; 1989)

· Panama (1901; 1902; 1903; 1908; 1912; 1918-1920; 1925; 1958; 1964; 1989-1990)

· Honduras (1903; 1907; 1911; 1912; 1919; 1924-25; 1983-89)

· Dominican Republic (1903; 1914; 1916-1924; 1965)

· Russia (1918-1922)

· Yugoslavia (1919)

· Guatemala (1920; 1954; 1966-67)

· Turkey (1922)

· El Salvador (1932; 1981-1992)

· Iran (1946; 1953; 1980; 1984; 1987-1988)

· Italy (1948)

· Vietnam (1954; 1960-64; 1965-1975)

· Lebanon (1958; 1982-1984)

· Congo (1960; 1965)

· Laos (1962; 1965-73; 1971-73)

· Ecuador (1963)

· Brazil (1964)

· Indonesia (1965)

· Ghana (1966)

· Cambodia (1969-75; 1975)

· Oman (1970)

· Angola (1976-92)

· Iran (1980)


· Libya (1981)


· Grenada (1983)

· Lebanon (1983)


· Bolivia (1986)

· Libya (1986)


· Iran (1987-1988)


· Libya (1989)


· Liberia (1990; 1997)

· Iraq (1990-91; 1991-2003; 1998; 2003-6)

· Saudi Arabia (1991)


· Kuwait (1991)


· Somalia (1992-1994)


· Yugoslavia (1992-94; 1999)


· Bosnia (1993-95)

· Croatia (1995)

· Saudi Arabia (1996)


· Zaire (1996-97)

· Sudan (1998)

· Afghanistan (1998; 2001-)


· Kosovo (1999)


· Yemen (2000)


· Macedonia (2001)

· Philippines (2002-)


· Yemen (2002-)


· Colombia (2003)


· Iraq (2003)


· Liberia (2003)


· Pakistan (2004-)


· Haiti (2004 – 2005)


· Pakistan (2005-)


· Somalia (2007-)


· Syria (2008)


· Yemen (2009)


· Libya (2011)


· Iraq (2014-)


· Syria (2014-)

And How Many of These Nations Are Now Thriving 'Democracies'?

If there were any truth to the myth that the US uses its military might to promote democracy around the world, the most democratic countries on Earth would be the countries the US has spent the most time invading. By this reasoning, the most democratic nations on Earth would be:

• Honduras (7 interventions)

• Haiti (7)

• Cuba (7)

• Mexico (7)

• Nicaragua (9)

• Panama (10)

• Colombia (11)

• China (12)