[News] US Wages ''War on Terror'' in the Philippines

[Anti-Imperialist News]

    US Wages ''War on Terror'' in the Philippines

Thursday, 09 April 2015 00:00 By Adam Hudson 
<http://www.truth-out.org/author/itemlist/user/48317>,
*http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/30061-us-wages-war-on-terror-in-the-philippine#*

Although Islamic State regularly captures global headlines, the 
so-called fight against ''terrorism'' is not just confined to the Middle 
East. The United States quietly maintains other fronts in the War on 
Terror - including the Philippines.

Last January 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/deadly-philippine-clash-strains-pact-to-end-40-year-conflict/2015/01/26/6e8c7046-a577-11e4-a7c2-03d37af98440_story.html>, 
Filipino police from the elite Special Action Force (SAF) - a Philippine 
SWAT-style police unit that's modeled off the British Army Special Air 
Service (SAS) - entered Tukanalipao, a small enclave in the Mamasapano 
municipality, in the southwestern part of the Philippines' Mindanao 
island. Their goal was to arrest two suspected terrorists 
<http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/430766/news/specialreports/infographic-profiling-marwan-and-usman-the-bomb-making-trainors> 
who were on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List with hefty US bounties 
on their heads - Zulkifli bin Hir (also known as Marwan), a Malaysian 
national, bomb maker and leader of the Southeast Asian Islamic militant 
group Jemaah Islamiya; and Abdul Basit Usman, a Filipino rebel and 
bomb-making expert aligned with Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah. Neither 
of these men were members of al-Qaeda, and there is little evidence 
suggesting their involvement in terrorist plots against the US. Marwan 
was killed in the operation, and his finger severed and sent to the FBI 
to confirm his identity.


      ''It was a mission that we feel like the US used Filipino pawns to
      undertake, and where's the fairness in that?''

However, the operation also resulted in a violent firefight between 
Philippine police commandos and Islamic separatists - Moro Islamic 
Liberation Front (MILF) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). 
Mindanao is the southernmost of the Philippines' three island groups 
(Mindanao, Visayas, Luzon). The southwestern part of Mindanao is home to 
the Muslim, or Moro, population, which is comprised of many ethnic 
groups. It has also been the location of decades-long fighting between 
the Philippine government and Muslim separatists. The operation - 
officially named Operation Exodus but called ''Mamasapano massacre'' by 
many - resulted in 67 deaths, 44 of which were police, along with some 
separatists and many civilians.

What's also been highlighted and condemned 
<http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/03/19/demands-accountability-philippines-following-deadly-us-backed-raid> 
is the US role 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-had-role-in-deadly-counterterrorism-raid-in-philippines/2015/03/17/6ab42816-ccd6-11e4-8a46-b1dc9be5a8ff_story.html> 
in the operation. According to an investigation 
<http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/671237/us-drone-watched-mamasapano-debacle> by 
the Philippine Daily Inquirer, a US drone flying overhead provided 
real-time intelligence to Filipino commandos and pinpointed Marwan's 
location. It added that the United States ''fully funded and provided 
the training for the Mamasapano operation.'' Two government inquiries - 
one from the Philippine Senate 
<http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/03/18/1434963/document-senate-panels-report-mamasapano-clash>, 
the other from the Philippine National police 
<http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/03/13/1433196/full-text-pnp-board-inquirys-mamasapano-report>- 
both concluded the United States did play a role 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-had-role-in-deadly-counterterrorism-raid-in-philippines/2015/03/17/6ab42816-ccd6-11e4-8a46-b1dc9be5a8ff_story.html> 
in the Mamasapano operation. At least six US military personnel were at 
a Philippine command post and fed Philippine commandos intelligence 
collected by US aircraft. One of the Americans even ordered a Filipino 
army general to call in artillery fire, although he refused.

The operation has been widely condemned by Filipinos in the US and in 
the Philippines. Rhonda Ramiro, vice chair of BAYAN-USA, a progressive 
Filipino alliance, told Truthout, ''The interesting thing that we see 
happening is that people from right to left, from the conservative end 
of the spectrum all the way to the progressive and radical end - people 
are really upset about what happened.'' Ramiro said people feel that the 
operation ''never should have happened'' because ''it was really a 
US-planned operation. An operation to get two people that were on a US 
FBI Terrorist List. It wasn't something that was Philippine-made or 
Philippine-created or anything that really served the interests of 
Filipinos.'' She added, ''It was a mission that we feel like the US used 
Filipino pawns to undertake, and where's the fairness in that?''


      The War on Terror provided the US an opportunity to expand its
      military footprint in the Philippines.

Activists in both countries have been calling for accountability from 
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III - as well as President Obama - 
for the US' role in the botched operation.

This operation is one example of the recent impacts of the United 
States' ongoing military presence 
<http://fpif.org/obama-asia-washington-extracts-rent-free-basing-philippines/> 
in the Philippines. The United States operated military bases in the 
Philippines since the archipelago nation became independent in 1946. 
That ended in 1991, when the Philippine Senate voted to kick the 
American bases out of their country. However, the Visiting Forces 
Agreement <http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/107852.pdf> 
between the United States and Philippines - signed in 1998 and put into 
effect in 1999 - allows 
<http://web.archive.org/web/20080521115223/http://www.dfa.gov.ph/vfa/frame/frmfaq.htm> 
for joint military exercises between the US and Philippine militaries. 
Now the United States is expanding 
<http://rt.com/usa/philippines-usa-china-sea-176/> its military presence 
in the Asia-Pacific. In light of territorial disputes between the 
Philippines and China - along with the Obama administration's 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-announces-new-military-approach/2012/01/05/gIQAFWcmcP_print.html> 
strategic and military shift to Asia, also known as the Asia ''pivot,'' 
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175799/>to counter China's power - the 
Philippine and US governments have expanded their military cooperation 
efforts. Last year, the US and Philippine governments signed 
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/27/philippines-us-military-presence-china-dispute> 
a 10-year pact called the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) 
<http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/358871/news/nation/full-text-of-enhanced-defense-cooperation-agreement>, 
which provides US troops greater access to select Philippine military bases.

The War on Terror provided the US an opportunity to expand its military 
footprint in the Philippines. Of the little American press coverage of 
US foreign policy in the Philippines, much of it focuses on the 
counterterrorism aspect, accepting the framework that the Philippines is 
just another country partly inhabited with groups of militant, 
anti-Western Muslims. But there is a deeper background behind the 
situation - one that does not fit into such a narrow frame of reference.

*Muslim Insurgency in the Philippines*

Islam was introduced to the Philippines in the late-13th century by 
Muslim missionaries, such as Tuan Masha'ika. In 1280, Masha'ika arrived 
in the Sulu archipelago, where he established the Philippines' first 
Muslim community. After Masha'ika came another Muslim missionary, 
Karim-ul-Makhdum, in the mid-14th century. When Rajah Baginda arrived in 
the early 15th century, his son-in-law, Abu Bakar, created the Sulu 
Sultanate. Islam soon spread throughout the rest of Mindanao.

Dr. Jamial A. Kamlian, author of Bangsamoro Society and Culture, writes 
<http://opinion.inquirer.net/39098/who-are-the-moro-people>, 
''Eventually, it is the Islamic faith that would distinguish the Moros 
from the other natives of the Philippine archipelago. Under the 
sultanates, the Moros were unified under one leadership, one command and 
one God. Islam served not only as a unifying thread for their political 
organization but also as the ideological foundation to effectively 
resist foreign intrusions.'' Kamlian holds that the non-Islamic natives 
were more scattered and presented a less united front (making them 
potentially more vulnerable to foreign colonialism).

The arrival of Spanish colonialism set the stage for the current 
conflict in the southern Philippines. In 1521, Spanish colonizers 
colonized and, in 1565, incorporated the Philippines into the Spanish 
Empire. The Spanish converted most of the native Filipino population, 
particularly in the northern islands, to Christianity, through violent 
means. After expelling Muslims from Spain in the late 15th century, the 
Spanish colonizers were hell-bent on eliminating any trace of Islam from 
the Philippines. In 1578, the Spanish governor ''ordered that 'there be 
not among them anymore preachers of the doctrines of Mahoma since it is 
evil and false' and called for all mosques to be destroyed,'' according 
to 
<http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/03/20123574732969894.html> an 
in-depth Al-Jazeera English op-ed by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, a former 
Pakistani high commissioner to the UK, and Frankie Martin, an Ibn 
Khaldun Chair Research Fellow at American University's School of 
International Service. Ahmed and Martin add that the ''governor's 
instructions set the tone for centuries of continuous warfare.'' For 
over 300 years, the Moro people fought the Spanish colonizers.

Once the declining Spanish Empire lost control of the Philippines after 
the 1898 Spanish-American War, the United States replaced Spain and 
established its own form of colonial rule in the country. Kamlian 
writes, ''The US colonial government systematized and regulated the 
whole process of land ownership, land registration, cadastral survey, 
homesteading and agricultural investments. Through class legislation and 
discriminatory processes, the ancestral lands and economic resources of 
the Moros and Lumad would gradually drift into the hands of Christian 
Filipino settlers and large US corporations.'' Additionally, the Moro 
people lost their ''right to govern themselves according to their own 
systems'' since their lands were absorbed into the Philippine colonial 
bureaucracy.

Philippine independence in 1946 did little to change the situation of 
the Moro people. Christian Filipino elites had the most economic power 
and were committed to protecting foreign economic interests. 
Multinational corporations controlled the Moro people's economy, 
particularly in pineapple, banana and rubber exports. This laid the 
groundwork for future conflict.


      While the Philippines has a constitutional republican form of
      government, corruption and oligarchy run deep.

''The current conflict,'' explain Ahmed and Martin, ''began in 1968 with 
what became known as the Jabidah Massacre, when around 60, mainly 
Tausug, recruits in the Philippine Army were summarily executed after 
they refused a mission to attack the Malaysian region of Sabah, where a 
population of Tausug also resides.'' The Tausug people are among the 13 
Moro ethnic groups. Angered by the Jabidah Massacre, in 1971, a group of 
Moro formed the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) to fight for Moro 
independence. Splinter groups eventually grew out of MNLF, particularly 
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Abu Sayyaf. MILF and Abu Sayyaf 
are both Islamic guerrilla groups but Abu Sayyaf 
<http://csis.org/files/publication/111128_Fellman_ASG_AQAMCaseStudy5.pdf> is 
more brutal and extreme. It commits terrorist attacks on civilians - 
such as kidnappings, bombings and assassinations - and engages in 
criminal activity. Abu Sayyaf has made headlines for both its terrorist 
attacks and loose ties to al-Qaeda. Because of this, the MNLF and MILF 
tend to distance themselves from Abu Sayyaf, but the Philippine military 
accuses both groups of providing support to Abu Sayyaf.

Poverty and inequality are endemic throughout the Philippines. As of 
2012, the GINI coefficient 
<http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI> - a measurement of 
inequality going from 0 the lowest to 1 (or 100 
<http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI> by other measurements) 
the highest - for the Philippines is .43 (or 43.0). The poverty 
<http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/03/06/1430828/philippine-poverty-incidence-rises-first-half-2014> 
rate is 25.8 percent, according to government statistics 
<http://www.nscb.gov.ph/pressreleases/2015/PSA-20150306-SS2-01_poverty.asp>. 
Poverty is most pronounced in Mindanao, which holds 10 of the country's 
poorest 16 provinces 
<https://www.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2014/0605_aquino1.asp>. Lanao 
del Norte is the poorest, with a 67.3 percent poverty rate.

While the Philippines has a constitutional republican form of 
government, corruption and oligarchy run deep. In a population of 100 
million people, there are 178 dynasties that rule 73 - over 90 percent - 
of the Philippines' 80 provinces. According to Al-Jazeera English 
<http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/05/2013511104835690790.html>, 
''Half come from the old landed elites, while the rest turned up after 
the 1986 popular revolt that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos.'' Current 
President Benigno Aquino III also comes from a political dynasty. His 
father, Benigno Jr., was a senator, while his mother was the 
late-President Corazon Aquino. Aquino's predecessor, Gloria 
Macapagal-Arroyo, is a daughter of former president Diosdado Macapagal.

It is within this context of poverty, inequality, oligarchic nepotism 
and lack of political self-determination that Muslim separatists, along 
with many left-wing guerrilla fighters, labor organizers and political 
activists, are challenging the Philippine establishment, through both 
armed and nonviolent resistance.

*US-Philippine War on Terror*

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Philippines became an ally in the 
US War on Terror. The Philippine government used this amorphous war as 
an opportunity to continue its generations-long war against Muslim 
separatists in the southern Philippines. The United States provided the 
Philippine government ample assistance in this fight.


      The people deemed ''terrorists'' by the Philippine government are
      often activists, organizers, political dissidents or separatists
      fighting for national liberation.

In 2002, the United States established a counterterrorism task force 
called Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines 
<http://jsotf-p.blogspot.com/2011/09/type-your-summary-here_20.html> 
(JSOTF-P), a team of US special operation forces that aid Philippine 
security forces fighting Islamic militants. The US' main target is Abu 
Sayyaf. At its height, the task force had between 500 to 600 US 
commandos assisting the Philippine military with intelligence, training 
and transport. Its forces hail from US Army Special Operations Forces, 
Navy SEALs, Air Force special operators and other military services. 
While US forces are generally not involved in combat, some 
<http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2009-09-29-voa12/415161.html> US 
military personnel have been killed 
<http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/173383/news/regions/2-us-navy-men-1-marine-killed-in-sulu-land-mine-blast> 
in the Philippines. In fact, in early 2012, a US drone strike targeting 
the Islamic militant groups Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah killed 
<http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/03/20123574732969894.html> 15 
people on the southern Philippine island of Jolo.

While not publicly confirmed, it is possible that the CIA is on the 
ground in the Philippines, as well. In a mid-March story, the Washington 
Post mentioned 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-had-role-in-deadly-counterterrorism-raid-in-philippines/2015/03/17/6ab42816-ccd6-11e4-8a46-b1dc9be5a8ff_story.html> 
that ''It is common for the elite troops'' from the US antiterrorism 
task force in the Philippines ''to work with intelligence operatives 
from the CIA and other agencies.'' The CIA didn't answer the Washington 
Post's questions about its involvement in the country.

In late February, the United States announced that it would disband its 
counterterrorism task force in the Philippines. According to a US 
Special Operations Command, Pacific spokesperson's statement 
<http://news.usni.org/2015/02/27/u-s-officially-ends-special-operations-task-force-in-the-philippines-some-advisors-may-remain> 
to USNI News, JSOTF-P will complete the transition on May 1. Some 
''personnel will return to their units,'' while others ''will remain as 
part of foreign liaison elements and continue to advise and assist 
Philippine counterterrorism efforts . . . This represents a shift in 
focus for US Special Operations Forces from advising and assisting at 
the small unit level to providing operational advice and assistance at 
higher levels of command within the Philippine Security Forces for 
continued counterterrorism progress, humanitarian assistance and civil 
military cooperations.''

Thus, while JSOTF-P will be disbanded, US special operations forces will 
still maintain a significant presence in the Philippines, assisting the 
upper echelons of the Philippine security apparatus. Moreover, the 
overall US counterterrorism mission in the Philippines - dubbed 
Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines - will still continue 
<https://medium.com/war-is-boring/yes-american-commandos-are-still-in-the-philippines-f67dea166460> 
for the foreseeable future.

*Philippine Dirty War on Dissidents*

After the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Philippines joined the 
US in the global War on Terror. The effort became a subterfuge for the 
Philippine government to wage its own Argentina-style dirty war against 
political opponents. In 2002, then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo 
launched a counterinsurgency campaign called /Oplan Bantay Laya/, or 
Operation Freedom Watch, to, ostensibly, fight communist guerrilla 
fighters. However, the policy's holistic approach does not distinguish 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/asia/13iht-phils.html> between 
armed combatants and noncombatant activists. For over a decade, 
Philippine security forces have assassinated, abducted and tortured 
hundreds of left-wing activists, organizers, lawyers, journalists and 
religious leaders suspected of being communists. To vilify dissidents 
and justify their repression, the Philippine government will often 
accuse dissidents of being terrorist sympathizers.

Getting accurate numbers of people killed or abducted is difficult, and 
numbers vary between studies. But most show that hundreds of people have 
been killed or abducted since 2001, and most have been activists and 
other dissidents.

A legal report 
<https://asiafoundation.org/resources/pdfs/ReportonPhilippineEJK20012010.pdf> 
on the Philippine government's extrajudicial killings from 2001 to 2010 
- during the Macapagal-Arroyo administration - found that the vast 
majority of victims are activists, government officials and other 
noncombatant members of the opposition. Of the 390 people killed within 
that time frame, 32 percent were officers or members of activist groups, 
15 percent were elected government officials, 15 percent were 
journalists, 10 percent were farmers and the rest were others such as 
lawyers and religious leaders. Only 8 percent of those victims were 
armed rebel fighters.

Of all perpetrators, most are unidentified armed men (57 percent of 837 
suspects), while the rest - the perpetrators who are identified - are 
typically state actors like the military (19 percent) or police (9 
percent). Only 12 percent of the suspects were rebels. The Philippine 
military has consistently denied involvement in extrajudicial killings 
and, in some instances, blame left-wing guerrillas for the killings.

However, the Philippine military has been uncooperative with efforts to 
investigate these killings and hold perpetrators accountable. A Human 
Rights Watch report 
<http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/philippines0711WebRevised.pdf> 
states, ''At the lowest ranks, the military has created an environment 
in which foot soldiers have readily participated in killings of leftist 
activists. A military insider told Human Rights Watch that even if the 
local commander did not give the order to kill, 'he knows of everything' 
and will protect his soldiers. Soldiers have also been paid as hired 
killers, acting on behalf of private interests or other government 
agencies.'' So it is possible that many of the unidentified armed men 
responsible for extrajudicial killings are paid mercenaries. It is 
unclear to what extent military officers higher up the chain of command 
are responsible for these extrajudicial killings.

This dirty war has continued 
<http://www.karapatan.org/Aquino+Oplan+Bayanihan+failure+waste+of+people%27s+money> 
under the Aquino government. According to Karapatan 
<http://www.karapatan.org/files/K%20Monitor%202Q%202014%20Issue%202_1.pdf>, 
a human rights group <http://www.karapatan.org/about> in the 
Philippines, from July 2010 to June 2014, there were 204 extrajudicial 
killings, 21 enforced disappearances, 99 instances of torture, 3 
instances of rape and 664 people illegally arrested and detained by the 
Aquino government.

Even US citizens who are active in Filipino left-wing politics are 
targets of government vilification and repression 
<http://bayanusa.org/bayan-usa-demands-end-to-harassment-and-threats-on-brandon-lee-community-leaders/>. 
One such case is that of Melissa Roxas 
<http://justiceformelissa.org/who-is-melissa/>, a graduate of the 
University of California, San Diego, longtime activist and member of 
BAYAN-USA. On May 19, 2009, during a medical mission to the Philippines, 
Roxas was abducted at gunpoint and tortured by the Philippine military 
for six days. Ramiro told Truthout that members of BAYAN-USA in the San 
Francisco Bay Area have been surveilled and interrogated by the FBI, as 
well.

This is why the framework of ''terrorism'' is unhelpful for 
understanding the situation in the Philippines. The people deemed 
''terrorists'' by the Philippine government are often activists, 
organizers, political dissidents or separatists fighting for national 
liberation.

*Natural Resources in the Philippines*

The Philippines, particularly the southern region, is also rich in 
natural resources 
<http://www.academia.edu/5861514/Socio-Economic_Analysis_of_Natural_Resources_in_Mindanao>, 
due to its proximity to the ''Pacific Rim of Fire.'' It is home 
<http://www.mgb.gov.ph/Files/ItemLinks/MetallicOresAndIndustrialMineralsOfThePhilippines.pdf> 
to iron, gold, copper, nickel, chromite and other minerals. Much of its 
mineral potential is untapped 
<http://philippinemining.imaginet.com.ph/mining_articles/mineral-potential-in-the-philippines>, 
which provides opportunities for investment, exploration and 
exploitation by foreign multinational corporations. In 2006, the US 
embassy in Manila estimated, in a diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks 
<https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06MANILA740_a.html>, that ''the 
Philippines may have untapped mineral wealth worth between $840 billion 
and $1 trillion.'' Mindanao, in particular, is seen as ''a treasure 
trove'' of minerals. The embassy stated:

    According to data from the GRP Mines and Geosciences Bureau, up to
    70 percent of the Philippines' mineral resources may be in Mindanao.
    Interest has grown significantly since a December 2004 decision by
    the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Mining Act.
    Companies that are up to 100 percent foreign-owned may now pursue
    investments in large-scale exploration and development of minerals,
    oil and gas. As of early 2006, there were 23 mining projects
    nationwide. Multinational firms are already eyeing areas in Mindanao
    for possible projects.

Moreover, there are, according to 
<http://www.eia.gov/countries/regions-topics.cfm?fips=scs> the US Energy 
Information Administration (EIA), approximately 11 billion barrels of 
oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the South China Sea 
that have yet to be tapped. Seven countries bordering the sea - China, 
Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia - all 
lay competing claims 
<http://www.newstatesman.com/business/2013/10/territorial-disputes-south-china-sea-will-not-hold-back-oil-exploration> 
to that oil and natural gas.

The Wikileaks cable points to a key reason for expansion of US military 
power in the Asia-Pacific region. Beyond the rhetoric of fighting 
''terrorism,'' a key reason for US militarism in the Philippines is to 
protect American economic interests.

*Peace or Endless War?*

Last year, the Philippine government reached a peace deal 
<http://www.bangkokpost.com/print/391473/> with MILF. In exchange for 
laying down its arms, the government granted MILF a concession: Muslims 
would self-govern parts of the southern Philippines. As of today, the 
MILF has decommissioned its armed rebel forces. However, the Mamasapano 
operation jeopardized 
<http://fpif.org/the-u-s-military-just-plunged-philippine-politics-into-crisis/> 
prospects for some semblance of peace laid down by this deal. Some 
right-wing elements argue that the botched operation's police deaths 
show that the Moro people are not ''ready'' for peace and cannot be 
trusted; they lay the blame on Muslims for what happened.

One month after the Mamasapano massacre, the armed forces of Philippines 
Chief General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. ordered 
<http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/442203/news/nation/afp-chief-catapang-orders-all-out-offensive-vs-biff> 
an all-out offensive against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. 
Recently, Gen. Catapang announced 
<http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/461230/news/nation/all-out-military-offensive-vs-biff-halted-afp-chief> 
that the offensive ended as the military had achieved its objectives. 
The offensive killed 139 BIFF men, wounded 53 and captured 12, according 
to Catapang. However, tens of thousands of civilians were also displaced 
due to the fighting.

However, Ramiro points out, there is widespread unity among Filipinos in 
holding the government accountable for the failed operation and for 
letting the United States violate Philippine sovereignty. Some are even 
calling for Aquino to resign. At the same time, according to Ramiro, 
''There are definitely those forces in Philippine society that don't 
want that kind of unity, that would rather have the status quo. So 
they're calling for all-out war.''

But war, she said, is not the recipe for peace. ''If we want to achieve 
peace, it's not going to be through these kinds of operations. It's 
going to be through addressing poverty and inequality,'' said Ramiro.

The US role in the Mamasapano massacre underscores how far the War on 
Terror has spread over the past 13 years. Even though the original 
Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) gave the president the 
power to use military force against those responsible for 9/11 attacks, 
it has been stretched to include not just al-Qaeda, but also 
''associated forces.'' This loose term - coupled with an expansive 
interpretation - gives the US legal cover to use force against any 
Islamic militant group that may or may not pose a direct threat to the 
United States.

Since most of al-Qaeda's base is gone, the US is waging borderless, 
perpetual war against a slew of loose, transnational terrorist networks 
who hardly pose an existential threat to the United States. Much of this 
war is waged in the shadows with paramilitary and elite special 
operations forces, mercenaries and allied proxies around the world. One 
underreported front in this borderless, perpetual war is the 
Philippines. The botched Mamasapano operation is one of many examples of 
how the War on Terror generates more instability, exacerbates human 
suffering and undermines true peace and justice.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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