Attacks on the United States: Remembering Osama bin Laden and Pancho Villa

Cartoon drawn by Sam Berryman the Washington Star – Wikipedia Commons
Uncle Sam is chasing Pancho Villa into Mexico and saying, “”I’ve had about enough of this.”

During the past 198 years since the Battle of New Orleans, the continental United States has suffered foreign invasions only twice. Most recently, of course, the nation endured attacks on New York City and Washington D.C., on September 11, 2001, in a terrorist attack master-minded by Osama bin Ladin. The previous attack on the United States was planned and executed in person by Pancho Villa, the Mexican revolutionary, who crossed the border and laid waste to Columbus, New Mexico, on June 9, 1916. The similarities and differences between the two episodes are fascinating and instructive – especially in the way that we remember each: Osama is the epitome of the arch-villain, while Pancho, wonder of wonders, has emerged as a kind of folk hero.

1. Comparing the attacks

New York City, September 11, 2001

In each case the attack was a complete surprise. The Americans who gathered around their televisions on the morning of 9/11 were no more shocked by the news that day than Americans reading their newspapers decades before had been on June 9, 1916. In each case, the impossible had happened: the American homeland had been attacked by a foreign foe.  The loss of life was far greater during the attacks of 2001: almost 3000 died during 9/11 including the 19 perpetrators and those who were killed when a fourth hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania. In contrast, only eighteen Americans died when Villa attacked Columbus – eight soldiers at a small army post in town and ten civilians. About one hundred Villistas died in the attack. In neither case was the destruction tactically significant. Neither the loss of the World Trade Center and damage to the Pentagon, nor the destruction of four blocks of Columbus, New Mexico, impaired the fighting strength of the United States. In contrast, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was devastating to national security. But both Columbus and 9/11 led to righteous indignation and prompt retaliation.

Columbus< New Mexico, shortly after Pancho Villa's attack of June 9, 19166

2. Comparing the perpetrators

Osama bin Laden

In varying degrees there was confusion as to who actually orchestrated the Columbus and 9/11 attacks, unlike the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese planes with Japanese insignia. In that case, there was no doubt as to the identity of the enemy. The stories of Columbus and 9/11 are murkier.

Pancho Villa was there in person at Columbus, leading 500 men into battle. But who was Pancho Villa? By reading about the events of the Mexican Revolution, which had been going on since 1910, Americans knew the names of some of the revolutionary leaders including Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano Carranza, and Pancho Villa. But control of the revolution was constantly shifting. At the time of the Columbus raid, Villa had lost several battles in the civil war that occurred within the revolution. But when the United States intervened, then-President Carranza supported Villa to the extend of asking the United States to withdraw. Mexico did not exactly attack the United States, but the government did not entirely repudiate the raid.

The responsibility for 9/11 was even murkier. We soon knew that Osama bin Laden was the mastermind – he announced it himself.  But who were the eighteen men who hijacked the planes that did the damage? Many Americans thought back in 2002 that Iraqis were to blame, and many still hold that mistaken belief. But we now know than none of the hijackers were Iraqis: fourteen were from Saudi Arabia, and the others from Lebanon, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. Neither attack on the United States was orchestrated by a foreign state.

Photo by Bill Youngs
Statue of Pancho Villa at Grave Site in Chihuahua, Mexico

3. Comparing the Interventions

“Auto Truck Suply [sic] Train About to Leave for Mexico” – Wikipedia Commons

Since neither of these attacks was carried out by a nation state, like the acts of aggression in Europe and Asia prior to World War II, it would be difficult after both Columbus and 9/11 to form a measured response. The United States mounted a “Punitive Expedition” into Mexico led by Gen. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing with orders to capture Villa and prevent further raids while acting “with scrupulous regard to the sovereignty of Mexico” – a contradiction in terms if ever there was one! The American soldiers drove deep into Mexico and fought pitched battles with Villiastas, but never encountered Pancho Villa himself. After nine months the Americans withdrew, in part because of the difficulty of hunting Villa on his own ground, and in part because of official Mexican opposition to American troops on Mexican soil. Additiionally, the army had “bigger fish to fry.” In 1917 the United States entered the First World War. General Pershing was soon leading from a palace headquarters in France instead of a canvas tent in Mexico. Pancho Villa survived for six more years until 1923 when he was killed by assassins in Chihuahua.

The response to 9/11 was even more politically charged since the attack was not launched from a foreign country and was not the work of the citizens of a particular country. While most of the terrorists were Saudis the United States did not blame Saudi Arabia for the attack or consider invading Saudi Arabia in retaliation. The country went to war first in Afghanistan because its Taliban government gave sanctuary to al Qaeda operatives including Osama bin Laden himself. The United States next invaded Iraq on the largely discredited argument that Iraq was a hotbed of al Qaeda activity and had large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.. The focus of retaliation came back to Osama bin Laden when on May 1, 2011, he was tracked down in Pakistan and killed by Navy seals.

American Forces Prepare to Invade Iraq, 2003

4. Comparing Pancho Villa and Osama bin Laden in American Memory

The parallels between these two episodes are striking until we come to the historical aftermath of each. Pancho Villa has entered into the historical imagination of not only Mexicans, but also of many Americans as a kind of folk hero.  While travelling in Mexico several years ago, gathering information about Pershing and Villa, I found many citizens who regard him as one of Mexico’s great land reformers and as a friend of the people. His statues are ubiquitous. Here is one in Chihuahua:

Hundreds of miles south on a peak overlooking Zacatecas I found this statue. Mexican tourists flocked around it as well. Several shouted “Pancho Viiiiilla” as they arrived in imitation of the pronunciation of his name in a popular movie. One of them kindly took this picture of me, holding up my tripod case in imitation of Villa’s uplifted arm and his gun:

Here’s a close up of Villa’s face in this statue. Note his joyful look as he enters into battle:

Photo by Bill Youngs

So Pancho Villa is a hero in Mexico, but what about in the United States? Think about it. His name is everywhere: in the names of restaurants, menu items, taquilla bottles. (I’ve even seen a “Pancho Villa Mexican Restaurant” in Helsinki, Finland!) Just now, Google brought me to a restaurant chain in southern California called: “Pancho Villa’s Mexican Grill and Entertainment.” The web site includes a link for “Pancho Villa’s Story.” Here we learn: “Pancho Villa is considered by many to be the most widely known Mexican throughout the world. He is seen as a Robin Hood and a hero of the revolution.” I read on through a multi-paragraph account of his career, generally well written. Then I came to this paragraph, also true:

“Villa financed his army by stealing cattle herds in northern Mexico and selling them north of the border, where he found plenty of American businessmen willing to sell him guns and bullets. Villa became a sort of folk hero in the U.S. Even Hollywood filmmakers and U.S. newspaper photographers flocked to Northern Mexico to record his battles–many of which were staged for the cameras.”

By now I was waiting eager to see how this little history would “spin” Villa’s attack on Columbus, New Mexico. But that was all. The next subheading reads “Mariachi Music.”

So even among admirers of Pancho Villa, some have difficulty explaining his little invasion of the United States. What would folks say about Villa in Columbus itself, we might wonder? Here is the greatest surprise of all. In Columbus there is a state park telling the story of the raid. One might expect it to be called, “Gen. Pershing State Park” or even “The Punitive Expedition State Park.” But no – and Pancho must be smiling his big smile about this – it is Pancho Villa State Park!

There is a lot more to be said about this, about the strange ways we do or do not celebrate past events, but I will leave those ruminations to future AmericanRealities blog posts. In the mean time, if you anticipate a Pancho Villa State Park in Manhattan during our lifetimes or in generations to come, I have a bridge I'll sell you!

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               This current post is one of a growing number of historically-themed entries on americanrealities.com. To see a list of other posts, click here.
               If you enjoyed this post on 9/11 and Columbus, you may want to read these posts on military history:
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                    -- Hiroshima, 68 Years Later
                   -- Uncle William Wheeler at Gettysburg