Fw: War on Terror Takes Trip to Philippines

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg at tin.it>]

     ³We¹ll Have Some U.S. Special Forces and a Patrol Boat on the Side²
Richard MacKinnon  January 13,2002


In a January 11 Washington Post article, Pauline Jelinek of the Associated
Press writes, ³American special forces are in the Philippines ­ and at least
100 more will follow ­ as the United States bolsters the Asian nation's
defenses against radical Muslims linked to the al-Qaida network.

³With the war in Afghanistan in its third month, the dispatch of forces to
the Philippines is an example of U.S. efforts to take the fight against
terror elsewhere around the globe.

³About two dozen U.S. special forces are doing logistical and security
planning for the larger force that could arrive within a week, a defense
official said Thursday.²

Yet, not everyone in the Philippines is happy about this arrangement nor are
they satisfied that the stated agenda is the actual one.  AKBAYAN
Chairperson, Walden Bello, claims ³that the  Macapagal-Arroyo administration
has brought Philippine foreign policy back to the stone age of the 1950¹s
and 1960¹s, when Malacanang automatically identified the Philippine national
interest with that of the United States. National Security Adviser Roilo
Golez has even gone on record stating that the administration is willing to
let US forces to stay in the country during the entire duration of the
anti-terrorist campaign, which, as the US Defense Department has admitted,
may last years! What is this but an invitation to Washington to establish a
permanent military presence, which our people rejected when they expelled
the bases in 1991.

³But a failure to discern what is our national interest is not the only
reason for the administration¹s behavior. There is also a mercenary reason,
and that is to trade unqualified military support in exchange for aid and
loans from Washington. India, Indonesia, and Pakistan have already been
bought in different ways by Washington to get them into the military
alliance, and the Philippine government feels it too must have its slice of
the American pie.²

Indeed, the agreement specifies $100 million in U.S. military and law
enforcement aid as well as hundreds of millions more in food aid, debt
cancellation, trade guarantees, poverty reduction programs.

Bello also says that, ³the government should try to persuade Washington to
address not the symptoms but the roots of terrorism, which lie in its
50-year-old policy of subordinating the interests of the peoples of the
Middle East to its untrammeled access to oil to sustain its
high-consumption, petroleum-intensive civilization and in its unstinting
support for Israel, a state born out of the massive dispossession of the
Palestinian people from their lands and country. Malacanang should be
devoting its efforts to convincing Washington that unless the US ceases to
stand in the way of arrangements that promote equity, justice, and national
sovereignty in the Middle East, there will always be thousands of people who
willing to step into the shoes of Osama bin Laden.

³Moreover, the best contribution that the Philippines can make to the
international struggle against terrorism is not to participate in
ill-conceived foreign adventures but to address the roots of domestic
terrorism, the most important of which have to do with the historical
injustices perpetrated on the Moro people in Mindanao. Only a resolution
that promotes justice, equity, and self-determination for the Moro people
will lead to a lasting solution to the terrorist problem in the country.
Concentrating on police and military solutions will lead to failure locally,
as it will lead to failure globally.²

Despite the concerns of groups like the Citizens¹ Action Party the war on
terror has spread to another front.  Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, Philippines'
military chief of staff, said Wednesday that U.S. military advisers will be
allowed to join front-line Filipino troops. His statement was the first by a
senior Philippine military official that U.S. forces would be allowed in
battle areas.  Along with the human resources, the Philippines has received
equipment including a C-130 transport plane, eight UH-1 Huey helicopters and
30,000 rifles, the Pentagon says.  Officials are expecting a patrol boat in
the coming months.

It would be remiss to not say that the Filipino military thinks it¹s getting
a lot out of this arrangement.  Perhaps, Canada can follow its lead.  After
all, we are letting in more FBI agents and it looks like we¹ll be allowing
U.S. border agents to carry side arms.  If we let the customs agents carry
automatics and maybe reopen the American base in Newfoundland do you think
the U.S. will replace our Sea King helicopters?