McKinley now had four years to crush the rebellion. Nor did the policy changed under his Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt. The Americans had a two-pronged attack with William Taft, the American governor of the Philippines, instituting a policy of rebuilding the island whereas General Arthur Mac Arthur handled the military strategy. It was the classic good cop/bad cop as Taft policies were designed to reconcile the Filipinos to American rule but it would fall to MacArthur to provide the hammer.

The American Army displayed cruelty in routing out the Filipinos guerrillas and this war was costly for both sides. Even the capture of Aquinaldo did not end the conflict. Atrocities occurred and many Americans back home were shocked at the atrocity committed in their name.

The end result was a successful end to the insurrection that lasted nearly four years and within a generation, many Filipinos fought side by side with their American allies against the Japanese. After the war, Philippines had their independence. As Max Boot concluded, "Among the institutions bequeathed to the Filipinos by the Americans were public schools, a free press, independent judiciary, a modern bureaucracy, democratic government and separation of church and state. Unlike the Dutch in the East Indies, the British in Malaya or the French in Indochina, the Americans virtually no legacy of economic exploitation." Congress even forbade large landholding by American citizens or corporations.

Americans lost over 4,000 soldiers in the conflict, which was more than tenfold killed in the Spanish-American War. Nearly 17,000 Filipinos were killed in battle and 200,000 civilians died as a result of famine, disease and cruelties of the war. Americans won in the end and decisively.

We look at Iraq today and as Victor Hanson observed, "For all the media-inspired pessimism, progress continues in Iraq. Despite all the killing, a logic of freedom persists, one that is slowly becoming a way of life for millions and that cannot be derailed by media-savvy murderers." When the Americans confronted the militias, it has beaten them easily and when Americans decide to commit one final offensive against Fallujah and Najaf, they will win again. In Kurdistan, a federated semi-autonomous state is being developed and in many Shities controlled area, local governments are springing up.

Out of sight of the media, schools are being built and the health system being repaired. The present terrorist war is surviving by cooperation of former Baathists and stealth warriors coming across the borders but there is no a widespread popular support for these thugs.