Pacifica Commentary for May 23, 2003.

Hello, This is Blase Bonpane with a comment.

General John "Black Jack" Pershing and his men massacred over 2,000 Moros in two

brutal attacks. The first was at Bud Dajo in March of 1906 and the second was in the

crater of the volcano Bud Basak in June of 1913. Both attacks were on the Island of Sulu

in the Philippines.

There is no way to describe how deep the memory of these massacres remains in the

minds of the inhabitants of Sulu. And now, almost a century later, our troops are moving

back to the same island. We now have the largest concentration of US forces in the

Philippines since the withdrawal of our military bases in 1992.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has been identified as our enemy thus reviving the

mystique of killing Moros. The Southern Command of U.S. Headquarters is in

Zamboanga on the Island of Mindanao where US forces are training

Filipino commandos in so-called "counter terrorism".

Both Christian and Muslim citizens of the Philippines opposed the War in Iraq as they

also call for and end to our military involvement in their country.

The U.S. trained armed forces have razed villages, destroyed crops and killed livestock in

a campaign of terror under the title of counter-terror. 90,000 people were displaced in

the year 2000 during these joint military operations

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has become the Tony Blair of the Philippines and is

compliant with the Bush Administration in spite of the opposition of her people. The

1987 Constitution of the Philippines clearly forbids foreign forces from

engaging in combat on Philippine soil. In complete defiance of Philippine Law

Washington states that US forces will participate in combat by operations to "disrupt and

destroy" the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. George Bush once said that our we were not

at war with Islam. Try to tell that to the residents of Mindanao and the Island of Sulu. It is

incumbent on the current administration to prove that it is not at war with Islam.

Our war in Indochina began with sending advisers and trainers. We lost that war together

with some 60,000 of our finest citizens and some 3,000,000 Indochinese civilians. The

wealth and resources of our nation are being wasted on endless counterproductive

military adventures. If there were any civil leadership in Washington we would work

in conjunction with all nations of the earth for sane solutions. The current effort of a

nation with less than 5% of the world's people to attempt to dominate the other 95% is

destined to fail at the expense of the citizens of the United States.

It is difficult to distinguish the conflict in the Philippines from the conflict in Colombia

both have failed objectives and false premises.

Our military presence in the Philippines, however, simply multiplies a legacy of hatred

throughout the Islamic world. Anyone should know that there are as many differences

within Islam as there are in Christianity or Judaism. To refer to Islam as an evil religion

demonstrates a profound ignorance and mirrors the behavior of the KKK. The name of

one's religion tells us nothing. There are saints and devils in every faith. By their fruits

you shall know them.

For a free copy of this commentary call 323/852-9808….323/852-9808

This is Blase Bonpane.