Manila to Withdraw from Iraq 'As Soon as Possible' (“In response to your request…”)

Reuters via Yahoo! ^ | 7/12/04

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DUBAI (Reuters) - The Philippines will withdraw its forces from Iraq (news - web sites) "as soon as possible," Philippine Deputy Foreign Minister Rafael Seguis said on Monday in a statement he read out on al Jazeera television.

"In response to your request, the Philippines ... will withdraw its humanitarian forces as soon as possible," Seguis said according to al Jazeera's Arabic translation of his remarks. His statement was addressed to the group which is holding a Filipino driver hostage.

[Stagerite]

The Democratic Party line: "Nothing is worth fighting for."

[7.62 x 51mm]

Thanks for the URL; I'll be back to visit it later.

[nina0113]

Terrorists now believe they can get whole countries to come to their knees.

Believe, hell - they KNOW.

[No Blue States]

"the phillipino government is now denying this . . . it's posted in another thread. pretty tough to figure out what the hell is going on."

Same thing I heard on the news, it almost sounds as if they are messing with the terrorists heads, stringing them along. Im not giving up on them yet, surely they know whats at stake.

[AmericanInTokyo]

"You give a mouse a cookie.. ... and he.... next asks for a glass of water." ---Air Force One (Harrison Ford)

[areafiftyone]

I believe they only have about 50 or so in Iraq. Its' not a big force. Besides they were planning on pulling out in August before this happened.

[LurkedLongEnough]

AP Update: "MANILA, Philippines -- Frantically trying to obtain the release of a captive Filipino truck driver with the clock ticking down, the Philippines said Tuesday it would withdraw its tiny peacekeeping force from Iraq as soon as it can."

[Destro]

Well here is the problem as I see it - The Bush admin has mismanaged the coalition. Now I agree with you thatthe USA is big enough not to need or be hobbled by coalitions as Kerry and the Dems would envision it but if the Bush admin talks up the fact that we do have a viable coalition then a better job was and is needed in maintaining such an alliance via diplomacy. I want to add before the flames come my way that this is hardly a mortal blow but it is a failure in diplomacy and so I hang this failure around the State Dept's neck.

[Chieftain]

More than 100 years later, the Philippines are STILL under Spanish influence!

Abu Sayef will be emboldened and reek more havoc on the Filipino people.

Sheesh!

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

With only a handfull of people in Iraq what do they have to lose from pulling their people out. Besides if it doesn't work they can put their people right back in. If it works they can still put their people right back in.

[Lijahsbubbe]

The point is not how many. They are going to try to pick off one nation at a time until they believe they can isolate us

Very astute. And so much of the world is so envious of our power, many would love to assist them.

[PetroniDE]

The Philipines were obviously a Spanish colony.

You sure they were not a "FRENCH" Colony.

[HAL9000]

The credibility of Rafael Seguis's statement looks doubtful.

It's too soon to leap to conclusions or criticize the Philippine government - especially with a hostage crisis in play.

[daybreakcoming]

You are correct about the Filipinos. This really surprises me. If I remember correctly, there are around 4,000 working for contractor there and even the civilians are not wusses.

[Zhangliqun]

"The Philipines were obviously a Spanish colony."

Ain't THAT the truth!...

[Zhangliqun]

"You know, I'm not isolationist by nature, but if the rest of the world wants to turn tail and run every time someone makes a threat, then perhaps we ought to withdraw our troops and our economy from the rest of the world, then lock down our borders and coasts completly with all those extra troops we'd have, and kick back while the rest of the planet descends into chaos. Give me secure borders and coasts, and a working, functional missile shield, and I'll be perfectly content."

I'd be with you if that were possible but it's not. At least 10,000 miles of border and coastline and god knows how many cubic miles of air space. Impossible to defend. The best defense is a good offense, which we have, and which is working with or without the Philippines. Making THEM (AQ) run and hide from JDAM's, bullets and Hellfires is a lot easier than defending the indefensible.

There's another angle on this that could work to our advantage in the long run. If we win, and we will if Kerry loses, the Iraqi's will remember us as the giant that stood by them regardless. But this is brought into much sharper relief by all the other countries cutting and running at the first hint of trouble. 50 years from now they will tell their grandchildren: "It wasn't 'the world' that helped us -- it was the Americans. 'The world' was happy to look the other way while Saddam threw us into paper shredders or shot us and sent our families the bill for the bullet."

[Syncro]

Well they do have a quite small contingent in Iraq, but still they should not capitulate.

If they do they should remove every one of their people from Iraq and then concentrate ALL their efforts on wiping out the Islamofacists in their country.

Until every terrorist is gone from the Philippines.

[Syncro]

Handful vs 4000

I thought it was only 400, anyone know which is right?

[Zhangliqun]

"DEog, a government be so ignorant because you don't have a clue.

If you understand what happened in Spain you would have done your homework and shut your pie hole."

Then by all means, tell us what happened in Spain. Complexify the obvious for us...