Insurgency

Scenario:

The United States Marines deploy to a backward, violent country. Its government doesn't care about its people. The president declares that we are going to "teach them how to govern themselves."

The Marines displace the government and destroy most resistance within a year. An interim government is established, with a local we handpicked nominally in charge, while most of the cabinet offices and secretary positions are occupied by Americans.

The Marines build schools, run infrastructure building projects (roads, sewers, communication lines, etc). The Marines are also tasked with training up a local military/police force that will gradually take over for the Americans.

However, problems begin to arise. The locals that are supposed to assume a police/military role are (in general) lazy, illiterate, and uncommitted. Precepts about social standing make unifying the country difficult, and the longstanding traditions of politics through violence are a key part of the cultural memory.

Accidents, incidents, and a failure of cultural awareness, coupled with growing distaste for the foreigners with guns patrolling the countryside, leads to a resurgence of insurgency. The amount of resistance grows from several hundred isolated fighters to thousands, camped out in nearly inaccessible hills in the country's northern region. They initiate surprise attacks and spread rumors about the American occupiers, bringing more and more people into their fold.

The Marines' initial response is headhunting - trying to take out the leadership of the insurgency, and offering money and clemency to the fighters if they disarm or switch sides.

Many in the United States are concerned that the military occupation is driven by economic reasons; they claim that the Marines are there to further the goals of corporations. Furthermore, a concurrent war pulls many of the Marines and soldiers to another country, weakening the occupying force and giving  the insurgency time to brood and grow.

Sounds like Afghanistan, right?

Well this is Haiti, in 1915.

The president here was Woodrow Wilson - and he was an idealist, which means that he was a noble soul touched by ignorance (I consider myself to be an idealist also; I feel like this is better than the alternative). I think he genuinely believed it was his responsibility to help people all around the world find democracy.

The US was drawn into World War I in 1917; Haiti was practically forgotten except by the Marines trying to hold onto it.

Another note -

How did we beat the insurgency in Haiti? We found the guy in charge of the insurgency, infiltrated his camp, and assassinated him. Good times. The insurgency was mostly over by 1920, and after a long, protracted withdrawal, the last Marine contingent departed in 1934.

We were there for almost 20 years.

Meaningful Query - How successful is Haiti now?

How useful are historical parallels like this? I don't know. The frequency of history repeating itself does seem to reinforce the idea that we, as a species, don't change much.

Egregious motivational picture of then-Major Smedley Butler, one of the heroes of the Marine Corps, and two fellow Medal of Honor recipients:

Until that Day,

Sojourner