Posted on 09/14/2002 11:21:13 PM PDT by HAL9000
THE ADMINISTRATION of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has backtracked and withdrawn its offer to the United States to use Philippine air space for its planned attack on Iraq.Malacañang said in a policy statement released Saturday by Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye that it would consider allowing American war planes into Philippine air space "for humanitarian purposes," but only if the United Nations Security Council would support the US action.
It also said that it saw "no clear basis" for military action against Iraq under existing UN Security Council resolutions, and that the Philippines' concern at the moment was the safety of the 1.2 million Filipinos in the Middle East.
The administration had been drawing heavy criticism since it offered last week to the United States the use of Philippine air space and refueling facilities even without a formal request.
The President and Foreign Secretary Blas Ople had said the offer was part of the Philippines' commitment to the call of the UN Security Council for a global anti-terrorism war following the attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
But on Saturday, Malacañang noted that "even the United States is seeking a new resolution on which to base its action." It was a reference to US President George W. Bush's speech before the UN Thursday urging the world body to fix a deadline in "days and weeks" for action against the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, which he accuses of developing weapons of mass destruction.
"If such resolution is passed, it is not automatic that every country should join in an attack on Iraq," Malacañang said, adding that it would study the resolution's contents "in the context of our primordial interest of protecting Filipinos in the Middle East."
"At most the Philippines might allow the use of its territory and air space, but only for humanitarian purposes," it went on. "If no such resolution is passed, it is clear that the Philippines cannot even consider allowing the use of its territory and air space for an attack on Iraq."
Malacañang said it continued to hope for a "peaceful and diplomatic" solution to the US-Iraq conflict. But it stressed that its stance against terrorism was unchanged.
"Our determination not to participate in an attack on Iraq, however, should not be seen or misinterpreted in any way as a diminution of our firm commitment to fight terrorism," it said, adding:
"We continue to fight terrorism within the Philippines and have been increasing our cooperation in fighting terrorism particularly in our region."
Again without any formal request, Ms Macapagal was one of the first to declare support for the US-led war against terrorism launched after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which the United States blamed on the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.
Bunye said the President issued the policy statement based on the recommendation of Ople, who is in New York.
It was also Ople who recommended last Wednesday the immediate evacuation of the 121 Filipinos in Iraq, which the President approved and subsequently ordered.
But of the 121, only 10 took the long bus ride to neighboring Jordan.
Victoriano Lecaros, spokesperson of the Department of Foreign Affairs, said the Filipinos in Iraq could not be forced to leave if they did not want to.
In the policy statement, Malacañang said "contingency measures" that had been put in place were "adequate to meet the needs of the Filipinos in case hostilities break out over there."
"This includes immediate evacuation if needed," it said.
It also said the Philippines had three months worth of oil stocks in case oil supplies were affected by any US-led attack on Iraq.
Roy Cimatu, the newly retired Armed Forces chief of staff, heads a crisis committee that the President formed to deal with problems related to the US-Iraq conflict.
Malacañang on Saturday said Cimatu was also working on finding alternative oil supplies in case oil exports from the Middle East were for an even longer period.
Circumspection
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel said the administration should be circumspect in defining its stand on the US-Iraq conflict because of the possible tremendous impact on Filipinos in the Middle East and on the Philippines' oil supply.
He said it would be "prudent" for the administration to wait for a UN resolution on the matter before formulating a stand.
Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda agreed that any resort to force against Iraq should have the authority of the UN.
She pointed out that Filipinos were bound to suffer should war break out in the Middle East, and stressed the government policy of renouncing war as an instrument of national policy and adopting the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land.
"Our failure to move for a peaceful solution to the Iraqi problem could exacerbate our own local Muslim insurgency," Legarda added. "We must avoid adding fuel to the fires of rebellion in our own country." With a report from Cynthia D. Balana ©2002 www.inq7.net all rights reserved
France, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Phillipines...
Nope! Only those countries who want to be considered as being with us rather than being with the terrorists.
Yeah, let's just roll over and pull the covers over our head and hope it goes away.
I've argued for ten years that we should seize Iraqi oil in reparations for all they've cost us and to set an example for other arab nations who seem hell-bent on continuing their support for terrorism.
But there is a lot of oil there. So another thing we might want to consider offering our reluctant "allies" -- like the Philipines -- in this war against terrorism, is a guaranteed cheap source of oil after the war, until Iraq is pumped dry.
You just watch how fast the greedy little pirates would jump onboard!
(Thanks for the ping.)
europe.CNN.com: "MISSING EXPLOSIVES 'TO BE USED IN MANILA'" by Maria Ressa (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- An Al Qaeda plot has been set in motion in Manila targeting the U.S. and Israeli embassies, U.S. and Asian officials have told CNN. At least four tons of explosives are missing in the Philippines. Authorities have been told by an informant that they are to be used by al Qaeda suicide bombers who will travel -- or have already traveled -- to the Philippines from outside the region. (090902)
Bump that. The intelligent mind fcking mind has this way with total insanity and lack of shame of its denied inferiority.
According to an unnamed source, Bolivia and Mauritius will also "seriously impede US plans" by denying overflights.
;-)
Right! We could attack Iraq using the South Pole route.
CNS NEWS.com: "SOUTHEAST ASIAN TERRORIST ALLIANCE UNCOVERED" by Patrick Goodenough (ARTICLE NOTE: The network of Muslim terrorists has been identified as Jemaah Islamiah (JI). 092002)
CNS NEWS.com: "FILIPINO MILITANTS PROBED" by Patrick Goodenough (ARTICLE SNIPPET: " Security officials in the southern Philippines were meeting Thursday to discuss the alleged collaboration between Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network and a leading Filipino Muslim separatist group currently engaged in peace talks with Manila. The 12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) denied claims that it had allowed al Qaeda members to train in its camps in the southern Philippines' Mindanao region.") (091902)
Dubai GULF NEWS.com: "MANILA TO SEND BACK 12,000 INDONESIANS" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "At the same time, the Philippine government was alarmed by the involvement of many Indonesians based in the southern Philippines to the suspected terror group, the Jemaah Islamiyah, which has links to the Al Qaida network.") (092202)
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