Free Republic

California Democrats are speechless as they watch their prized Sacramento gun control senator, Leland Yee, head to prison for weapons trafficking, accepting bribes, and extorting money. “The crimes that you committed have resulted in essentially an attack on democratic institutions,” Breyer told Yee, who nodded as the judge addressed him. “This is a serious, serious injury to a governmental institution.” Breyer called his involvement in that crime “hypocritical” and “unfathomable” given his past advocacy for gun control. The judge gave him 30 days to surrender to the U.S. Marshal’s Service, which will turn him over to the federal prison system....

A century before American soldiers fought Muslim terrorism in the Middle East, they fought it in the Philippines. Their attackers were Moro Muslims whose savage fanaticism appeared inexplicable. A formerly friendly Muslim might suddenly attack American soldiers, local Muslim rulers promised friendship while secretly aiding the terrorists and the yellow left-wing press at home seized on every report of an atrocity to denounce American soldiers as murderers whose honor was forever soiled. Much of what went on in that conflict, including the sacrifices of our soldiers, has been forgotten. The erasure has been so thorough that the media casually claims...

US Soldiers Pose with the Bodies of Moro (Muslim) Insurgents, Philippines; circa 1906 On March 7, 1906, US troops under the command of Major General Leonard Wood massacred as many as 1,000 Filipino Muslims, known as Moros, who were taking refuge at Bud Dajo, a volcanic crater on the island of Jolo in the southern Philippines. The First Battle of Bud Dajo, also known as the Bud Dajo Massacre, was a counter insurgency action fought by the United States Army against Moros in March 1906, during the Moro Rebellion phase of the Philippine - American War. After the United States...

THE WISDOM OF KNOWING YOUR ENEMY  "In the years preceding World War I, General Pershing was commander of the American forces in the Philippines.  The small Moslem community on the island nation began to wreak havoc against the Philippine government and American forces.  The American troops captured a large group of these terrorists.  During the interrogation by the Military Court, the fanatics were heard to repeatedly shout, 'Allah Achbar!  Allah Achbar! Jihad!  The Philippines are the lands of Islam!'    "Pershing ordered the Amalekites executed one by one in the presence of the whole group. (The author is referring to ...

VIDEO. Philippines, Muslim rebels hope for lasting peace with new deal.

AMNESTY International yesterday warned that arming civilians and militias in Mindanao against Muslim rebel attacks could escalate the violence there. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced and dozens killed in recent attacks blamed on Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels, prompting the government to scrap a preliminary peace accord calling for an expanded autonomy for minority Muslims. The rebels, who have been fighting for Muslim self-rule, said they regretted the violence but rejected government demands to hand over two commanders blamed for recent civilian deaths. The military has stepped up pressure on the rebels by launching limited air strikes...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — The Philippines government and separatist rebels have struck a deal on creating a Muslim homeland in the country's south which is expected to lead to a peace accord next year, officials said Thursday. The agreement on the extent of territory to be handed over had been a major stumbling block in the peace talks that opened when a ceasefire was forged with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2001. The two sides did not disclose the new borders agreed after two days of talks here, but Malaysian officials said the territory would be greater than...

Thousands of civilians have fled their homes in the southern Philippine island of Jolo after deadly clashes between troops and militants, officials say. More than 50 people were killed on Thursday, almost half of them soldiers. Reinforcements have begun to arrive in Jolo, as the military steps up its campaign against Islamist rebels. Troops backed by US military trainers have been fighting militants affiliated to various groups, hiding in the island's mountainous terrain. Thursday's fighting began when a troop convoy was ambushed near the town of Maimburg, leaving 10 soldiers dead. Fifteen more soldiers were killed and 17 were wounded...

"They'll slit your throat on Jolo," people told Col. Jim Linder, head of a U.S. military task force in the Philippines. He recalled the prediction as we buzzed toward Jolo Island in a helicopter. Linder, a 45-year-old South Carolina native who has the remnants of a Southern drawl, has led Special Forces operations in the Middle East, Central and South America, Eastern Europe and Africa for the past 20 years. His latest assignment is the remote 345-square-mile island at the southernmost edge of the vast Philippines archipelago. Jolo is a known haven for Al Qaeda-linked terrorist groups, including Abu Sayyaf,...

Then the US Army did something the Spaniards had not been able to accomplish in three hundred years. It seized tactical control over the entire area of Mindanao, including the hinterlands, using combined American-Filipino teams whose exploits were almost unbelievable.

A little more on this tomorrow, but for now hat tip to reader JM, who links to an article describing the landing of large quantities of small arms by the Mindanao Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), an act which may signal a resumption of hostilities against the Philippine Government. The Malaya reports that more than 1,000 rifles have been landed at two points in Mindanao (Marked in red flags on the map below. Click to expand) This may be followed by further shipments of mortars and machineguns. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation also reports that Philippine officials suspect that the truce may...

America’s first war with suicidal Islamic warriors took place a century ago in the Philippines and rings familiar today as the Moros continue what they call ‘the longest, bloodiest struggle for freedom in history.’ By David S. Woolman for Military History Magazine America’s first jungle war remains largely unknown, except in the Philippines where it began in 1900. Even those rare Americans who have heard of the U.S. jungle war against the Moros often connect it erroneously with the Philippine Insurrection. But with world attention now riveted upon Islamic jihad, we can expect to learn more about the volatile Islamic...

This book is part of a selection of rare Filipiniana books which have long been out of print and are no longer available. Through the admirable efforts of concerned groups such as the Filipiniana Book Guild, the Historical Conservation Society, Cacho Hermanos and the Eugenio Lopez Foundation, more Filipiniana materials have been reprinted and made available to the general public. These rare books, selected by Professor Renato Constantino, form part of the Filipiniana Reprint Series published by Cacho Hermanos. "It is to be expected that American author Vic Hurley would regard Muslim leaders and resistance groups as bandits and terrorists....