In this Issue

The twenty fourth of May

By Renato Redentor Constantino

In this issue:

We feature two articles o­n the United States and the quicksand it found itself in in waging an illegal war and occupation of Iraq. The first article is o­n the guilty verdict handed out by the World Tribunal o­n Iraq against the US government for war crimes in Iraq. The second is a July 2003 New York Times article o­n the "small wars" or the guerilla wars, or the people’s resistance to American occupation through the years.

The author of the second article below "A century of small wars shows they can be won",Max Boot is a neo-conservative writer. He is the author of the book "Savage Wars of Peace: Small wars and the rise of American Power".

Our purpose for re-printing the article is to show how Boot prescribes the pacificaton of the Philippines as a model for American military strategy in Iraq. Mr. Boot writes "There is no reason to think that the current struggle in Iraq will be remotely as difficult. But the Philippine war is a useful reminder that Americans have a long history of fighting guerrillas — and usually prevailing, though seldom quickly or easily."

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The battle for hearts and minds is the euphemism for the propaganda war that is now raging in Iraq. And the mighty mighty United States is losing this battle in Iraq and in its own backyard.  A few days ago we saw images of abuse, torture and de-humanization, pictures of US service men and women posing for the camera along with their blindfolded and naked captives. Yesterday i got to see even more horrifying pictures of rape and humiliation. General Kimit of the US was quick to say "Do not judge the 135,000 US troops by the conduct of a few misguided elements." This was a message to the American people.  For while over fifty percent of the American people still support the war, public opinion can easily turn around as the body count gets higher and as the war escalates further.

Red Constantino's article reminds us of America's track record when it comes to occupations and its penchant for censorship of images and stories in order to win the hearts and minds of its captives and of its own citizens.  

Renato Redentor Constantino writes a weekly column for the Philippine national newspaper TODAY, whose o­nline partner is abs-cbnnews.com.  He is also currently the climate and energy campaign advisor of Greenpeace China.  Recent works of the author can be accessed at www.redconstantino.blogspot.com.

In this Issue:

Yesterday afternoon, in a posh hotel in Makati City, I heard Nesreen Mustafa Siddeek Berwari speak about the challenges and opportunities for business in rebuilding Iraq. Madame Berwari heads the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works in Iraq. She is the o­nly woman in the 25-member cabinet appointed by the Iraqi Governing Council. Minister Berwari spoke about the poverty and oppression under the regime of Saddam Hussein, who she described as THE weapon of mass destruction.  Her country is in transition she said, the security risks are still there but the situation is not as bad as the media make it appear. The situation is good enough in fact to start discussing prospects for Philippine-Iraq business partnerships in rebuilding her war ravaged country. This demand for stronger Iraqi-Filipino partnership and cooperation resonated throughout the forum in the speeches of AIM president Roberto de Ocampo, Mr. Sostenes Campillo, Jr. of the Philippine Task Force for the Reconstruction of Iraq, Undersecretary Manuel Imson of the Department of Labor and Employment, Senatorial Candidate Ms Amina Rasul, and Dr. Federico Macaranas of the AIM Policy Center. Parallels were drawn between the war and post-war reconstruction experiences of Iraq and the Philippines. All these distinguished people were saying that the rebuilding of a new Iraq is already underway and indeed now is the perfect time to talk business. But how can they talk business when the conflict in Fallujah continues to escalate and the resistance to the US-led occupation grows stronger? How can they talk business amidst news of torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners in the hands of their US captors? How can they talk business in the wake of the death of Filipino truck driver Rodrigo Reyes?

Herbert Docena offers another, albeit more grounded view of the current state of Iraq-Philippine relations. Whether we like it or not the cold reality is that our two countries are at war and Filipinos in Iraq working o­n the side of the occupiers are viewed as mercenaries and enemies and obviously not as business partners.

Herbert is an analyst with Focus o­n the Global South and had just come back from Iraq as a researcher for the Baghdad-based International Iraq Occupation Watch Center. He has been closely following the occupation authorities' policies and he was in Iraq when the uprising broke out.

This article first appeared in TODAY newspaper o­n 30 April 2004.