WAR, TERRORISM AND PEACE IN MINDANAO
Understanding the Events in Mindanao
Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos
Spokesperson
NDF-Mindanao
July 21, 2003
The all-out war in Mindanao has escalated. Terrorist bombings have become common. Kidnap-for-ransom activities continue unabated. Vigilante killings have become alarming.
Owing to all these, a chorus of calls for peace have intensified and broadened. Some sectors of society and the broad masses of the people are all affected by these events. These developments in Mindanao since the start of the year continue to draw attention; they have far-reaching implications throughout the whole nation. As such, these developments must be studied and analyzed. Appropriate measures must be undertaken to safeguard the interests of the people and advance the struggle for genuine freedom, democracy and just peace.
To understand the overall situation in Mindanao, we need to make a rundown of these important events and then analyze them under the guidance of the objective laws of the development of society and the corresponding policies and plans of the forces that have interests in the country, which necessarily affect the island of Mindanao.
I. IMPORTANT EVENTS
We can arrange the important events along the following themes:
A. Postponement of the Joint US-RP Balikatan Military "Exercise" 03-1
The joint US-GRP Balikatan Military "Exercise" 03-1, which was scheduled for Jolo last year, was postponed after resounding protests were held by the people of Jolo and other parts of the country. The US also gave top priority to its preparations for war in Iraq at the onset of the year 2003.
After the US war of aggression in Iraq, the US arrogantly proclaimed that it would proceed to hold the Balikatan in Jolo and their troops would join in combat operations, in flagrant violation of the Constitution of the GRP. This statement by the US authorities was met with widespread protests, even by politicians within the Arroyo regime. Once again, the military "exercise" was postponed. But US troops continue to be present in Basilan and in Zamboanga. The US needs to concoct added pretexts, as it remains determined to conduct this "exercise" here in Mindanao.
B. All-out War
In February the US-Arroyo regime declared an all-out war against the MILF and in May the regime launched another one. Aerial bombings, artillery and mortar shellings and ground assaults were conducted by the AFP. The February attack centered on the Buliok Complex, which spans several towns of North Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces. In May, the scope was widened to include many areas of the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, the boundaries of North Cotabato and Maguindanao and some parts of Sultan Kudarat.
For the Buliok Complex attack, the AFP had the kidnap-for-ransom group Pentagon Gang for a scapegoat, alleging that this gang was being cuddled by the MILF. But after occupying the Buliok Complex, the military admitted that it was actually after MILF Chairman Salamat Hashim. The military assault was launched a day after a GRP negotiator signed an agreement with the MILF negotiator in Malaysia. In the May attack, the AFP said it was going after the perpetrators of the Siocon and Maigo raids and the "embedded cells" of the MILF. But the real reason can be gleaned by the fact that this was launched a few days before Mrs. Arroyo's visit to her master US President Bush.
In response to these attacks by the AFP, the MILF launched military offensives in many areas. Military clashes ensued wherein a great number of AFP troops were killed and wounded and some from the MILF. However, the attacks by the MILF in Maigo, Lanao del Norte and in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte resulted in a number of civilians being killed and wounded.
As a result of the widespread and intense AFP attacks, a great number of civilians, mainly Muslims, were displaced from their homes and livelihood. On June 17 this year, 396,824 persons evacuated to more than 200 evacuation centers in at least eight provinces and three cities, not counting those who sought shelter among their relatives. One hundred sixteen (116) evacuees died in these centers, most of them children, due to various illnesses that could have easily been cured except for lack of support from the regime. The evacuees suffered hunger, sickness, and lack of shelter. Added to these, the families have to face grave psychological problems.
In the midst of all these, the AFP spent P25 to P30 million each day for its all-out war. A big portion of this found its way into the pockets of many military officials of the AFP and the Department of National Defense. Also, of the millions that the reactionary government allotted for the internal refugees, only a very small portion actually reached the victims.
C. Bomb Explosions in the Cities
Bomb explosions occurred at the Davao International Airport in Davao City and at the vicinity of the capitol of Tagum City last March 4; 23 died and more than 100 were wounded in Davao and one was wounded in Tagum. These happened at a time of intensifying protests by the different sectors of the people and some well-known politicians against the AFP attacks on the Buliok Complex.
Less than a month later, last April 2, the Sasa wharf in Davao City was bombed; 16 died and 55 were wounded. There were other minor bombings in Tacurong City, Kidapawan City and Cotabato City, although none were killed. Also, in Pikit, North Cotabato, a grenade was lobbed at the evacuation center; fortunately, no one was injured.
Immediately following the bomb explosion at Sasa wharf, four mosques in Davao City were strafed with high-powered rifles and lobbed with fragmentation grenades.
In May, another bomb exploded in the public market of Koronadal City, South Cotabato, where 10 died and nine were wounded. This happened after Gracia Burnham's confirmation of the collusion of the AFP and Abu Sayyaf in kidnap-for-ransom activities became a national issue. Burnham had been a hostage of the Abu Sayyaf for more than a year.
Again, only last July 7, Koronadal City was rocked by a bomb explosion at its public market. Five persons were killed and 22 were wounded. It was the fourth time this year that the city was bombed; the first was last March.
Explosives were also planted in Kidapawan City, Cotabato City and General Santos City but these did not explode. There have also been bomb threats received by some offices of the reactionary government.
Immediately, the AFP and the mayor of Davao City put the blame for these bomb explosions and threats on the MILF. But the mayor of Koronadal City refused to accede to the AFP's prodding to blame the MILF for these; he pointed, instead, to a certain Moro extortionist as the one responsible.
D. Declaration of "State of Lawless Violence," Abductions, Arrests and Raids
A few minutes after the bomb explosion at Sasa wharf, Arroyo declared a "State of Lawless Violence" in the provinces and city of Davao. This was followed by the formation of the Task Force Davao (TFD) composed of special forces coming from different battalions of the AFP, some from as far away as Bohol and Zamboanga. These AFP troops are conspicuously deployed and have already swarmed the different areas of the city. They have been conducting random checkpoints and military operations within and outside the city.
Also, not very long afterward, more than 300 hundred barangay tanods and more than 100 CAFGUs were trained in Davao City to augment the TFD's campaign against "terrorism." They are being mobilized in the communities and barangays of Davao City to conduct intelligence and other "anti-terrorism" activities.
After every bombing incident follows arrests, abductions and raids. During the first incident at the Davao Airport terminal, Montaser Sudang, one of the victims who died, was himself accused as the perpetrator and a member of the MILF, in an effort to pin the bombing on the MILF. He was a suicide bomber, according to the AFP. His father and uncle were arrested while trying to claim the body of Montaser at the morgue. The dead Sudang was with 29 of his relatives who came to meet a relative returning back from the Middle East.
After more than a month of incarceration, the reactionary government was forced to release the suspects in the light of many testimonies, including that of the mayor of Kabacan, North Cotabato, that the Sudangs are not members of the MILF but are ordinary farmers and law-abiding citizens of the town. The AFP was hard put to fabricate a plausible story because even common sense will tell that the Sudangs would not have brought along relatives that many only to place them in danger of death.
After the Sasa bombing, four young Muslims and one minor were arrested in Cotabato City and brought to Davao City. The four were tortured to confess to their involvement in the Davao airport and Sasa wharf bombings. Their affidavits detailing their torture were to be given to a nongovernment organization but were confiscated by the police.
The arrested suspect of the bombing of Koronadal City suffered the same ordeal.
More arrests of Muslims were made in Cagayan de Oro City, General Santos City and Datu Paglas of Maguindano last May-June.
After the first and second bombings in Davao City, some Muslim leaders there were abducted by armed men in civilian clothes. There were five victims all in all. They remain missing up to the present.
Among the raids was the one in the Moro community in a village in Talomo, Davao City, last April 14. More than 200 heavily armed soldiers of the TFD, who brought with them two Simba armored personnel carriers, sowed terror among the residents. The soldiers barged into the houses of the Moros, ransacked their things and marked their houses with "X". After a few weeks, the fascist TFD raided a Moro community at barangay Madaum, Tagum City. Arrested was one Moro peasant-fisherman whose house was planted with evidence by the raiders. He was likewise tortured and forced to admit as one of the bombers.
But the Moro people are not the only ones being targetted by the AFP-PNP in their "anti-terrorism" campaign. Even ordinary groups that take up social issues have been victimized.
On May 15, in Tambulig, Zamboanga del Sur, the formation house of the Catholic Church was raided by the military; some residents and church people were holding socio-religious studies there. According to the military, they were looking for arms and armed men. In truth, the objective was to harass the parish priest and the group because they had been vocal about the anomalies of the town mayor who had connections with the military.
And last May 4 in Malagos, Baguio District, Davao City, 200 troops from the 73rd IB-AFP raided a youth camp sponsored by Kabataan Consortium, a grouping of nongovernment organizations serving neglected, exploited and marginalized children. The campers consisting of 85 children and 35 adults suffered threats and insults. Their belongings were ransacked for "dangerous weapons"; not a single one was found. The raid was intended to harass the Kabataan Consortium because aside from its work of dealing with the traumas suffered by the minors in the hands of their families and the society at large, it teaches children's rights and has aired some questions concerning the summary executions by vigilante groups of minors suspected of being drug pushers.
In all of the arrests done, no warrants of arrest were shown and the suspects were all tortured to admit for the crimes they were charged. In all of the raids, no search warrants were presented. In all cases, many of the military and police personnel who conducted these operations had their nameplates removed or covered; some of them wore bonnets. Fascist methods are once again being employed by the military and police.
E. Continuing Activities of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG)
The bandit group Abu Sayyaf remains active, continuing its criminal activities such as kidnapping-for-ransom and harassing civilians. Last month the group released one of their kidnapped victims.
That this group can persist -- although it adds up to less than a hundred members, compared with the battalions of AFP troops who have been conducting operations against it for several years now has created doubts among the people that a powerful group must be behind it. Last year, it was supposed to be the target of Balikatan 02-1 but it was not wiped out nor even neutralized. This year, Arroyo and the AFP boasted that the ASG would be wiped out in 90 days, which ended last May 28. But the ASG remains active. Every now and then, news reports of "encounters" between the forces of the ASG and the AFP occur.
F. US-Arroyo Regime's Answer to MILF's declaration of SOMA
Arroyo spurned the MILF's June declaration of Suspension of Offensive Military Actions (SOMA) and the AFP continued with its massive offensive operations against the forces of the MILF. What could have been an opening for the resumption of the peace negotiations between the GRP and the MILF was totally rejected. Arroyo and the AFP pick up whatever pretext and set unreasonable conditions just to stall the negotiations. It is a good thing that the MILF remains committed to waging armed struggle and continues to defend itself against the military attacks of the AFP.
G. Series of Vigilante Killings
Vigilante killings in Davao City and some other urban centers of Mindanao have recently become frequent and have reached alarming proportions. Since January this year, more than 80 have fallen victims in Davao City, more than 30 in Digos City and some in Tagum City, General Santos City, Cagayan de Oro City, Ozamis City, Mati of Davao Oriental and Tandag of Surigao del Sur. It is claimed that this is directed against illegal drug trafficking and criminality. But the basic question here is that even the due process of law of the GRP is being trampled upon, and hence tends to legitimize the trampling of civil liberties.
The existence of death squads responsible for these summary killings and their being left untouched by GRP authorities point to their being sponsored by highly placed officials of the GRP-AFP, from the local mayors up to the national level. This is bolstered by the statement of PNP Chief Supt. Gen. Ebdane who visited Davao City last May when he said that those being killed were criminal elements anyway. Also in Davao City, Mayor Duterte rationalized these killings by saying these would not stop until illegal drug trafficking stopped. But several policemen have been identified by witnesses as responsible for killing suspected drug pushers.
II. ANALYSIS OF THE EVENTS
From the important events we have enumerated above - the escalation of war, hundreds of thousands of internal refugees, terrorist bombings, kidnappings, vigilante killings - Mindanao can unquestionably be pictured as an island in turmoil, in chaos, a war-torn place that needs a "Strong Republic." And when the "Strong Republic" is not that strong, the pretexts have been set for the heightened intervention of US forces.
Consider the following:
Creating the Atmosphere for Greater US Intervention and Rise of Fascism
First, the all-out war of the Arroyo regime against the CPP-NPA-NDF revolutionary forces. This war has been intensified this year. Particularly in Mindanao, additional AFP troops have been deployed to NPA areas and these troops have been conducting various types of military operations. But despite the overwhelmingly big and strong enemy forces, the NPA continues to reap victories in advancing people's war, especially in launching successful tactical offensives and in expanding the revolutionary mass organizations with its hundreds of thousands of members. In Mindanao alone, since January, more than 40 successful tactical offensives were launched, seizing many high-powered rifles and inflicting many casualties on the AFP troops. Year by year the NPA has increased its strength. In Mindanao it now operates in 35 guerrilla fronts, covering 19 provinces, 200 municipalities and more than 2,000 barangays. Seeking to check this further advance of the revolutionary movement, the reactionary regime is sowing terror in the countryside through its fascist troops.
The CPP-NPA-NDF revolutionary organizations have already been tagged as "foreign terrorist organizations" by the US and the European Union; with the latter it was upon the lobbying of the Arroyo regime. The regime would only be too willing to have the US troops directly participate in its counter-revolutionary campaigns.
Second, alternating all-out war and diplomatic offensive against the MILF. The regime had twice launched an all-out war against the MILF. The SOMA declaration by the MILF last June, a gesture to pave the way for peace negotiations with the GRP, was at first spurned by the regime, citing poor excuses for not giving it a "positive response." Presently the Arroyo regime has agreed to resume the peace negotiations with Malaysia as the mediator; but it continues to drag its feet, belying its so-called willingness to put an end to the conflict. But because next year is election year, Arroyo is going through the motion of peace negotiations. Also to be noted in this recent action are the statements of US officials to help in the negotiations. But despite this, there are still some offensive actions by the AFP against the MILF in Maguindanao province. And the regime continues to project the MILF as another terrorist organization, linking it with the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah, and Al-Qaeda.
From the actions of the Arroyo regime, we can see the following schemes:
- a) Entrap the MILF to submit to the laws of the GRP and, in effect, surrender, as did the MNLF, in order to use it as a tool against the Moro people and allow unhampered US intervention in Mindanao; and
- b) If the MILF cannot be trapped into surrendering, then formally declare it as a "terrorist" group, thereby giving an additional pretext for the increased intervention of the US troops in Mindanao.
By escalating the war being launched by the regime against the revolutionary forces of the CPP-NPA-NDF and the MILF, the US finds another excuse to heighten its direct intervention in the internal affairs of the country and join the AFP in combat operations in the guise of "pursuing the terrorists" inasmuch as the US applies its policy of "war without boundaries."
Third, the spate of terrorist bombings in the cities. These bombings have been sweepingly blamed on the MILF. But the MILF has tirelessly disclaimed any responsibility over these because it has nothing to gain from such dastardly acts.
If these bombings are not the handiwork of an armed organization that is waging a struggle against the reactionary government, then who must be behind all these?
Based on circumstances and motives, the finger points to no other but the US, through the CIA, and the Arroyo regime, through some CIA assets inside the AFP and DND. By setting off deadly bomb explosions, the US and the puppet regime can manipulate the grief, fear and anger of the public in order to whip up support for "anti-terrorist" measures and for heightening and spreading the direct involvement of US troops in counter-revolutionary operations. And by attributing these dastardly acts to revolutionary organizations, the US and the puppet regime can gain a moral high ground in doing whatever they want to suppress them. Every time there is a bomb blast, the Arroyo-Reyes clique exerts more effort to pass into law the "Anti-Terrorism Bill" that contains many provisions violative of civil liberties.
After the first bombing in Davao City, the mayor of Davao City immediately declared his eagerness to welcome the holding of Balikatan 03-1 in the city, contrary to his earlier statements of refusal. The governor of North Cotabato prattled about inviting the Balikatan to his province, particularly to the area of the Liguasan Marsh, which is rich in natural gas. The AFP also issued a statement to the media that the governor of Compostela Valley was offering to host the Balikatan in his province. In truth, he uttered no such statement; he refuted this fabricated story to the media.
And after the second bombing, the Task Force Davao was hurriedly formed to pursue the perpetrators of the Davao bombings and conduct an "anti-terrorism" campaign in the provinces and city of Davao. This TFD has now been sowing terror in the city, especially in Moro communities where several warrantless raids and arrests have been conducted.
In these incidents, reports reaching the NDF office give us an idea as to who are those with knowledge about these terrorist acts.
It now becomes apparent that the US and the puppet regime are creating the conditions to facilitate greater direct US intervention in the country, currently focusing in Mindanao. It is also apparent that the so-called war on terrorism by both the US and the Arroyo regime is in fact a terrorist war against the Filipino people.
US Dirty Tactics
In this regard, one may ask, "Can the US and the puppet Philippine government be so heartless as to harm civilians even their very own citizens?" The answer can be found by going into their track records of wiles and deceptions and atrocities perpetrated for the sole purpose of serving their own selfish interests. Numerous cases of US involvement in such activities have been exposed. We can cite some notable incidents:
- The blowing up of the battleship USS Maine in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, was done by the US military itself but was blamed on Spain, thus setting the stage for declaring war on Spain in 1898, which led to the seizure of Spanish colonies like Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines by the US. It was also during the Spanish-American War that the mock battle in Manila Bay was staged between a Spanish gunboat and a US battleship to pave the way for the surrender of Spain to the US and not to the Filipino revolutionaries who were already victorious in the entire country except for the tiny portion of Intramuros, Manila.
- The attack on Pearl Harbor, 1941. According to Jim Maars, an American investigative journalist in his article, An Overview on the War on Terrorism, "by closing off Japan's oil supplies in the summer of '41, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the quintessential Wall Street insider, ensured an eventual attack on the United States... Roosevelt and a few close advisers knew full well that Pearl Harbor would be attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, but chose to allow it to happen to further their agenda for launching America into war."
- The Tonkin Gulf Incident. From the same article of Jim Maars: "The Vietnam war was prosecuted by men who were close to Roosevelt and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and who had long voiced a desire to gain control over Indochina's oil, magnesium and rubber assets." So when "Lyndon Johnson whipped Congress into a frenzy by claiming that North Vietnamese gunboats had attacked the US Sixth Fleet in the Gulf of Tonkin,' in 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving Johnson the power to wage war�. But the attack was a blatant lie. No evidence has ever been brought forward that such an attack took place. Even the US News & World Report called it 'The Phantom Battle that Led to War.'"
- The anti-Cuba Operation Northwoods. From the article U.S. Imperialist Hegemony and Crisis by Edberto Villegas, we quote: "(This project of the US) specifically of the US Joints Chiefs of Staff, is contained in the Northwoods document made public by the National Security Archive at the George Washington University.
"Operation Northwoods proposed tactics to incite war fever among the American people (along the principle of PSYOPs as discussed above) to support a US attack on Cuba. Although this full-scale attack was never carried out, the CIA did organize an invasion of Cuba in 1962 using remnants of the dreaded Batista regime equipped with US planes and weapons. The assault failed to topple Fidel Castro. Operation Northwoods, presented by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff to the US Secretary of State in a memorandum dated March 13, 1962, enumerated possible scenarios to provoke a war with Cuba. Quoting directly from the document:
- '3.A 'Remember the Maine' incident could be arranged in several forms:
a. We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba.
- '5. Blow up ammunitions inside [Guantanamo] base; start fires;
- '6. Burn aircraft on air base (sabotage);
- '7. Lob mortar shells from outside of base unto base. Some damage to installations.' (Operation Northwoods, p.8)
"Other proposed attacks to portray Cubans as cruel murderers are:
'It is possible to create an incident which will demonstrate convincingly that a Cuban aircraft has attacked and shut down a chartered civil airliner en route from the United States to Jamaica, Guatemala, Panama or Venezuela. The destination would be chosen only to cause the flight plan route to cross Cuba. The passenger could be a group of students off on a holiday or any grouping of persons with the common interest to support chartering and non-scheduled flight.' (p.10)
"The Joint Chiefs of Staff also suggests the possibility of killing or wounding some Cuban refugees:
'The terror campaign could be pointed at Cuban refugees seeking haven in the United States. We could sink a boatload of Cubans en route to Florida (real or simulated). We could foster attempts on lives of Cuban refugees in the United States even to the extent of wounding in instances to be widely publicized.'(p.9)
"Northwoods recommends elaborate schemes to create the proper illusion:
'6. Use of MIG type aircraft by US pilots could provide additional provocation. Harassment of civil air, attacks on surface shipping and destruction of US military drone aircraft by MIG type planes would be useful as complementary actions. An F-86 properly painted would convince air passengers that they saw a Cuban MIG, especially if the pilot of the transport were to announce such fact. The primary drawback to the suggestion appears to be the security risk inherent in obtaining or modifying an aircraft. However, reasonable copies of the MIG could be produced from US resources in about three months.'(p.9)
"Aware that the Machiavellian tactics proposed in Operation Northwoods may not sit well with those who are not in the immediate circle, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff advices strict confidentiality:
'b. This paper NOT be forwarded to commanders of unified or specified commands.
'c. This paper NOT be forwarded to US officers assigned to NATO activities.
'd. This paper NOT be forwarded to the Chairman, US delegation, United Nations Military Staff Committee.' (Emphasis by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, p.3)'"
- Bomb explosions in the cities of Vietnam in the 1950s. According to American writer H. Franklin in his "Our Man in Saigon" (The Nation, 02/03/03), the British writer Graham Greene uncovered that the CIA was behind the deadly bombings in Vietnam through its paid hacks of reactionary Vietnamese generals. The objective of such bombings was to galvanize the American public to support US involvement in the war and establish a puppet regime.
One of these dastardly crimes happened in January 1952. Bomb blasts exploded in the center of Saigon, which killed and wounded many civilians. According to Franklin, it was headlined in the New York Times of January 10, 1952 as "Reds' Time Bombs Rip Saigon Center", written "by Tillman Durdin, a Times reporter in Saigon working in tight collaboration with the CIA� A blood-chilling photo of the devastation appeared as 'Picture of the Week' in the January 28 Life magazine."
Franklin wrote: "Greene, who was then wintering in Saigon, wondered how Life happened to have a photographer on the scene, as he explained in his 1980 memoir Ways of Escape�. This photograph 'was reproduced in an American propaganda magazine published in Manila over the caption 'The work of Ho Chi Minh,' Greene continued, despite the fact that Gen. Trinh Minh The, a warlord masquerading as Vietnam's savior from colonialism and Communism, 'had promptly and proudly claimed the bomb as his own.' 'Who,' Greene pondered, 'had supplied the material' to this 'bandit'?"
"When Greene, a veteran of British intelligence, used his contacts in French security services to investigate the Saigon bombings of January 1952, he discovered a US campaign to create a 'Third Force,' opposed to both Communism and colonialism and designed to evolve into a US-backed 'democracy' in Vietnam�.The hotbed of US Third Force activities was the Economic Aid Mission�."
"�.To prepare for Diem's insertion into Vietnam, CIA operative Col. Edward Lansdale arrived on June 1, 1954�to launch a systematic campaign of sabotage and terror in the north and to supply a military force for Diem to gain control of Saigon. Building on the CIA contacts that Greene had earlier discovered, Lansdale employed terrorist warlord Gen. Trinh Minh The to secure the city�."
Col. Lansdale, we must not forget, was the same CIA officer in the Philippines in the 1950s who was the handler of then puppet president Ramon Magsaysay, and who shamelessly had his residence at the Malacanang Palace.
- In the latest US war of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq where thousands of civilian Afghans and Iraqis and hundreds of American soldiers were killed, false and forged evidences were used as justification. In Afghanistan, it was because Osama bin Laden and the Taliban government, in connection with the September 11 attacks, although no solid evidence was shown. In Iraq, it was because of "weapons of mass destruction" but these have not been shown to exist until now, more than three months since the occupation of the US troops. These facts confirm that the real aim of the wars was not as it seemed; it was to directly control the routes of oil pipelines and the source of oil.
- Even the September 11 [2001] attacks on the World Trade Center in New York are full of questions. Many incidents point to the fact that the US authorities had prior knowledge of this, especially the CIA. And to keep this secret, the Bush regime has resorted to harassing the US senators conducting a probe. According to a Washington Post report by Dana Priest, (August 22, 2002), "Ashcroft Demands Records of 17 Senators Probing Sept. 11th. Attacks." The report said: "The FBI has intensified its probe of a classified intelligence leak, asking 17 senators to turn over phone records, appointment calendars and schedules that would reveal their possible contact with reporters." It continued: "Requesting calendars, phone logs and schedules over a two-day period 'has much more of a fishing-around feel to it, trying to find out which senators are talking to the media,' said Charles Tiefer, a University of Baltimore law professor and former House deputy general counsel. 'That might frighten senators out of the business of telling the public [through the media] what they need to know.'"
A note from an editor said: "This action taken by John Ashcroft's Justice Department is part of an on going counter-investigation of members of congress who are attempting to probe the events leading up to Sept. 11th�. Many questions have been raised about what the White House, CIA and FBI knew about the attacks prior to Sept. 11th. Critics charge that Ashcroft's counter investigation of the congressional panel members looking into the attacks is an attempt to intimidate the members and keep from full public view the facts surrounding the attacks."
These pieces of historical and current facts confirm two things: 1) The US does not hesitate to undertake any activity, even if it entails the death of civilians or of its own citizens, just so imperialist interests can be advanced; and 2) the US does all it can to conceal its own crimes.
Now we come to the Arroyo regime. As a puppet of US imperialism, it has been very happy and willing to carry out the policies and plans of the US. It is doing all it can to implement the US "War on Terror" in the country because in general it serves to perpetuate the neocolonial system and in particular serves to support the plans of Arroyo and Gen. Reyes to cling to power and amass greater wealth from whatever comes from US aid and from the state coffers. Also, some generals in the DND and AFP who are linked to the CIA are pushing for the rise of fascism in the country for that would make them more powerful. That is why these people have no qualms about committing dastardly acts. Our experience with the dictator Marcos who masterminded the fake ambush of Juan Ponce Enrile and the series of bombings in Metro Manila prior to the declaration of Martial Law taught us that reactionaries create a crisis so that they can then introduce their hidden agenda.
What does the US stand to gain by its intervention in Mindanao?
Mindanao lies directly in the path of the US global plans. It is strategic to the US. In his speech, Imperialist Globalization and Terrorism, at the annual forum of International League for Peoples Struggle (ILPS) in Amsterdam, Feb. 18, 2002, Prof. Jose Ma. Sison had this to say: "The real main objective of US military deployment in the Philippines is to participate actively in combat against the New People's Army and the armies of the Bangsamoro and establish US military bases in southern Philippines in order to be at the center of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines and exercise control over the oil and other natural resources as well as the routes of international commerce in the region. The first three aforementioned countries are major oil producers and the Cotabato basin and Palawan waters in Mindanao are also acknowledged as having rich oil reserves."
There is the vast reserve of natural gas in the Liguasan Marsh of Maguindanao, oil and natural gas in Palawan, deuterium in northeast Mindanao, gold mines in Compostela Valley and gold deposits in South Cotabato, fertile lands for cash crop plantations, virgin forests for timber logging, and other minerals for industrial use. This is why the US-dominated Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in its meeting together with the US last June 16, 2003 agreed to strengthen "anti-terrorist" measures and give power to the US to act as guardian of the Malacca Strait.
This explains why the US is very much interested in Basilan, Jolo and Tawi-tawi and why the US Agency for International Development (USAID) funded the construction of a first-class airport in General Santos City.
Jose Ma. Sison continued: "Right now, a total of 1000 US combat troops are already deployed in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in the Philippines. The pretext is for said troops to train the Filipino officers and men how to fight in the combat zones of Basilan and Jolo against a small bandit group, the Abu Sayyaf, a creation of the US CIA with the collaboration of some Filipino puppet military officers in the early 1990s against the Moro National Liberation Front."
In another speech of Sison entitled Update on Imperialism, War and People's Struggle at the ILPS Annual Forum, Amsterdam, March 3, 2003, he had this to say: "The US has arrogantly announced to the world that US special operations forces would undertake combat operations against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu, southern Philippines, in flagrant violation of Philippine sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is paving the way for military aggression against the revolutionary forces and people represented by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines."
The reality comes to the fore -- the "anti-terror" campaign of the US is clearly a pretext only to justify intervention in our country since it has great vested imperialist interests. When it wants to establish itself anywhere in the world, it will create the justification for its presence, as it did in the recent Iraq war when it needed to strengthen its foothold in the Middle East.
What determined these actions of the US, which the puppet regime doggedly implements?
The answer can be found by looking at the reality that there is a basic contradiction between US imperialism and our country and people. What is uppermost in the minds and actions of the imperialists is to further the imperialist system, to strive for maximum profits and rule the world. Here is what the great Karl Marx said about the capitalist's drive for profit: "A certain 10 per cent will insure its employment anywhere; 20 per cent certainly will produce eagerness; 50 per cent, positive audacity; 100 per cent will make it ready to trample on all human laws; 300 per cent, and there is not a crime at which it will scruple, nor a risk it will not run, even to the chance of its owner being hanged." And with the current crisis besetting the imperialist system in the US and throughout the world while the peoples and some nations are struggling to liberate themselves from its clutches, US imperialism seeks to strengthen its stranglehold on the country and intensify exploitation of the people. Thus these events have unfolded, affecting the island of Mindanao and the whole country.
Going again to Sison, from Imperialist Globalization and Terrorism: "Even before the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the Bush administration had proposed stepping up military production as the solution to the current economic crisis of the US and world capitalist system."
From Update on Imperialism: "The US is now using the September 11 attacks as a license to misrepresent as 'terrorist' the countries assertive of national independence, national liberation movements and progressive leaders, to whip up the hysteria of a 'permanent and borderless war on terrorism', to push the doctrine of preemptive strike and repression of the people, to rechannel resources to US military forces, homeland security, war preparations and war production and to use a policy of aggressive war and threats in order to enlarge US economic territory.
"In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the US has been able to further penetrate Central Asia and South Asia and gain further access to the oil and gas resources in the Caspian Sea and Central Asia. It has based itself on a previous investment of US $20 billion in the region. It has also cleared the way for an oil pipeline to the Indian Ocean via Afghanistan and Pakistan, under the pretext of seeking to destroy Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
"The trend is for the US to whip up jingoism, racism, fascism and war hysteria�. Long before the September 11 attacks, the US authorities have been playing up the threat of terrorism to justify repressive actions against the working people, the people of color and others who challenge or are bound to challenge imperialism in the US and abroad."
"The impulse to launch a war of aggression for the sake of economic expansion or for maintaining the status quo is not only due to economic factors but even more importantly due to political factors, such as the rise of the ultra-rightist forces of jingoism, racism, religious bigotry and fascism.
"Expect that after its hostile acts succeed in Iraq, the US will continue to step up military production, build up its military forces and build more overseas military bases (now numbering 80) in order to maintain political and military superiority over its own imperialist allies and keep its initiative in undertaking unilateral or multilateral actions to exploit and oppress the people of the world."
From all these, we can expect greater military intervention by the US in Mindanao and throughout the country. Militarization will also intensify. The people will suffer more. A "state of lawless violence" may not be confined only to the areas of Davao but extended to other provinces. Oppression and exploitation of the people by US imperialism and the local ruling class will intensify to serve their greed for profit and power.
III. QUEST FOR PEACE
In the light of these realities, can we expect peace in Mindanao and in the whole country?
Before answering this question, let it be clear that we hanker for peace and the revolutionary struggle we are waging aims for a lasting peace. But in fighting for peace, we cannot reject wars that are just and progressive such as our current people's war. The peace we need is one that is based on justice and democracy. This war was forced on us. It is the people's answer to the centuries-old problems that have plunged our people into miserable, unlivable conditions brought about by social injustice perpetuated by imperialism and the local ruling classes. The more than 100 years of direct and indirect rule by US imperialism is more than enough for the suffering of the Filipino people, especially the Lumads and Bangsamoro. Genuine peace in the country cannot prevail unless the rotten neocolonial system is overthrown.
Right now, calls for peace are resounding throughout the country. We are elated by this development. We appreciate all forces that are advocating for just peace and we unite with them. These forces need to be galvanized into a unified force to become powerful in the struggle. For this, coalition building is necessary.
In this movement for peace, it is important that it be infused with an anti-imperialist and democratic content so as to raise the struggle to a new level. Also, while uniting with other forces, our own forces should not be led astray by advocating peace at all cost or peace that is not based on social justice and genuine democracy. That would be bourgeois pacifism. That is why, while we unite with various peace advocates in opposing and combatting the terrorist war of the US and the all-out war of the Arroyo regime, there must be no condemnation of all kinds of war that has no distinction between just and unjust wars.
In our propaganda and education work, we must inculcate in the minds of the people the truth that imperialism means war and terrorism, that the US is presently the No. 1 aggressor and terrorist in the world, the No. 1 obstacle to peace, and that the Arroyo regime is an accomplice to the crimes against humanity that its imperialist master has committed and continues to commit. According to Prof. Jose Ma. Sison, in his Imperialist Globalization and Terrorism, "Through puppet regimes of open terror, the US has sponsored all kinds of acts of terrorism against the people. These include illegal arrests and detention, torture, extrajudicial killings, arson, looting, forced mass evacuation and so on. So many millions of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America have thus suffered from such acts of terrorism."
Now, we understand who is waging an unjust war that terrorizes the people and how terrorism is used as a pretext for war.
Hence, in carrying the issue of peace, great effort must be exerted to clarify that genuine peace can only prevail once imperialism and all reaction are overthrown and replaced with a progressive system that carries out social justice and democracy - the system that the NDF is fighting for. The call for peace must be linked to the basic problems that the Filipino people are facing -- the problems of imperialism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism.
Our calls are "Peace Based on Justice," "Peace with Democracy!", "Just Peace." Also, there must be condemnation of US terrorist war, of the all-out war by the puppet regime, and of terrorist bombings. Our efforts must be geared toward the unity of all forces in combatting the real aggressors and terrorists. This way, the struggle for peace becomes meaningful and fruitful.
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