We would like to rebut the points raised by U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney in an interview with RMN-DXIC 5pm of February 20, 2008.
Ambassador Kenney said the deployment of U.S. soldiers in the two Lanao provinces is for no other reason than to carry out planned “humanitarian missions”. War games are only to be performed in parts of Luzon. They chose Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte to be among the beneficiaries of their “humanitarian missions” because of the large number of people who are deprived of access to the government’s medical and other social services.
And we say: US troops are benevolent by day and monsters by night.
Remember the case of Sgt. Reggie Lane who joined medical missions at daylight and shot the farmer Buyong-Buyong Isnijal that tragic night of July 27, 2002 in Tuburan, Basilan. Who can forget Cpl. Daniel Smith and company who raped “Nicole”, concealed in the darkness of November 2005?
We remain suspicious of the sincerity of these “humanitarian missions”, given the long history of these supposed humanitarian missions in Mindanao where covert operations were carried out. The US military uses “humanitarian missions” as a way to gather information and spy on the communities. American soldiers befriend the local populace, use the “humanitarian mission” as a form of psychological warfare to deceive the people and accept the long-term US military objective. Who can forget the “humanitarian missions” in Vietnam which concluded in a ruthless attack against the Vietnamese?
Ambassador Kenney stressed that they will perform the Balikatan Exercises in the two provinces with total respect to the culture, traditions and sensitivities especially of the Bangsamoro people.
And we say: US troops are perennial attackers of dignity and butchers of the Moro people.
Ambassador Kenney’s rhetorics cannot erase from our people’s collective memories the Bud Dajo and Bud Bagsak massacres, and the 400,000 Filipinos killed in the American colonial period. How many mosques were destroyed, how many religious leaders and believers killed in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the name of the US “war-on-terror?” How many more Moro leaders, as in the case of Ustadz Yahiya Sarahadil of Sulu, will be put on display and humiliated and charged as member of Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya? This merely to generate public opinion, to force people into saying that, yes, we need US troops in Mindanao.
Ambassador Kenney underscored that Mindanao is the focus of U.S. investments and development plans, considering the rich resources found in the island.
And we say this again: The US has been in the country for a centuryimposing its hegemony over our socio-economic and political lifeand giving us the hardest days of our lives.
The entry of U.S. investments in Mindanao has never been for the benefit the island’s inhabitants. U.S. foreign economic policies only cater to its own self-serving interests. What interests the US here is our natural gas, and the development of transshipment hubs in Lanao.
Finally, we regard the US military’s humanitarian missions as a huge slap to the Arroyo Administration. It is an admission to the Government’s inability to provide its people, especially the inhabitants of Mindanao, with the most basic social services.
The US Troops Out Now Lanao Coalition stands firm on its position calling for an end to the Balikatan Exercises in Mindanao, be it in the form of war games or humanitarian missions. More so, we demand for the ouster of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for utter puppetry to US imperialism.
US Troops Out Now! Lanao Coalition strongly believes that the best humanitarian assistance the U.S. Government can offer to the peoples of Mindanao, and the Filipinos in general, is for them to pull-out their troops and to put an end to U.S. intervention in the Philippines.
Down with US imperialism! Down with the US-Arroyo regime!###
For reference: Kristian Mark Urbano, Public Information Officer (0928-3988-908)
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