Monday, February 05, 2007

MiniPax

Once a "Peace Process" becomes an end in itself, no treachery however vile, should ever persuade the "peacemakers" that their "friend" is actually their enemy. Philippine Commentary talks about the astounding lengths to which the Arroyo government went to conceal that their "peace partners" had taken the negotiators themselves hostage.


All the way back from Baguio City today, I was listening to radio coverage of the detention by Moro National Liberation Front TERRORIST-INSURGENTS of 25 high ranking government "peace negotiators" including Undersecretary for the "Peace" Process Ramon Santos and Marine General Benjamin Dolorfino. I almost rammed a tricycle illegally plying the national away after my blood boiled over listening to "Peace Talks" head honcho JESUS DUREZA, and 3rd Marine Division Commandant Juancho [inaudible], make light of the whole thing, saying there was even a festive mood in Panamao, Jolo, after the terrorists slaughtered a calf in what was surely some kind of nasty celebration of the government's utter humiliation. Both claimed "no real harm has been done." All 25 detainees were released after being held for two days by the terrorist gang of Ustadz Malik, a Nur Misuari supporter. ...

NO HARM DONE? After a bunch of gun-wielding insurgent terror warlords detain the Major General that heads the National Capitol Region Command, a bunch of his colonels, as well as the Cabinet minister in charge of the peace process? No harm done!?

I think it's time for the Filipinos to start reading up on DHIMMITUDE.

Because that is what the Philippine Government and people have fallen into, thanks to the head dhimmi herself, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who started this fatal trend with the Angelo de la Cruz capitulation and ransom payoff to Iraqi terrorists, and continuing with her incredibly lame-brained leadership in a peace process whose only reason for existence is to claim it exists.

To lend credence to this fantastic story, the Arroyo government today paid $9,000 in "goodwill money" to the Muslim faction which detained her peace delegation, according to Philippine Commentary's new post. This shows nothing can be gained by force that cannot be more readily surrendered by farce. The Phlippine Inquirer now says that the Peace Delegation wanted to make amends for the deaths of their peace partners who turned out to be members of the Abu Sayyaf. "Sulu Gov. Benjamin Loong said the money was never intended as ransom. ... Dolorfino said the cash assistance for the families of the slain MNLF members was 'done according to Muslim practices.'" Would those practices include adopting the convenient identity of the moment?

For the first time, a top military official yesterday acknowledged that the nine alleged Abu Sayyaf members killed by Marines in an encounter in Patikul, Sulu, on Jan. 18 were MNLF members.

“Actually they were mistakenly identified (to be Abu Sayyaf members). The MNLF admitted it already, those were their men,” Cedo said on the phone. Navy and Marine officials previously insisted those killed were Abu Sayyaf members. A Marine spokesperson said the MNLF leadership might not be aware that the Front was being infiltrated by Abu Sayyaf bandits.

Here's some YouTube footage of US efforts in Panamao, Sulu, taken some months ago, in the area where those peace negotiators were taken hostage. Note the primitive conditions everywhere and how this US Special Forces soldier hopes the locals would turn to haberdashery and tailoring to earn a few extra bucks.

The key skill of any demagogue is the ability to promise everything to everybody even when the promises are contradictory, just as it is essential for the compleat swindler to be able to sign every check, whatever the amount, regardless of the prospects of its encashment. They can do this because they plan on offloading the consequences on somebody, even if that somebody doesn't know it yet. In the case of Arroyo, those "somebodys" are likely to be the Filipino people and the United States taxpayers. Thus, she can remain popular with her Leftist allies by throwing them Lance Corporal Daniel Smith while secretly welcoming American aid. Similarly, she can remain in good graces with the Peace Lobby and the International Community by appeasing not the best -- but the worst -- of her peace partners. The honorable Muslim insurgents by definition will refrain from making inordinate demands. Too bad for them. They have missed out on the gravy train that is to be supplied by the hapless Filipino and almost equally hapless American taxpayer. If by the time she accepts her international peace prize, all hell has broken loose in Mindanao, that would be so yesterday. Move on folks. Still hung up on that?

And if all of this sounds foolish, consider how much more foolish commitment to the Peace Process with the Palestinian Authority must sometimes seem.  Item: U.S. moving ahead with plans to train Palestinian security forces

The United States is planning to spend millions of dollars to train Palestinian security forces as part of a renewed effort to strengthen Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. American, Palestinian and Israeli officials said Monday that they're fine-tuning a proposal that would send thousands of Palestinian forces loyal to Abbas to neighboring Jordan and Egypt for advanced training. The initiative is intended to provide Abbas with critical support in his political and military confrontation with the well-armed Hamas hard-liners who've controlled the Palestinian Authority since elections early last year. The militant Islamist Hamas and Abbas' Fatah faction have fought in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.

But there's disagreement over whether to provide Abbas' forces with arms. Critics have charged that military aid could end up fueling, not containing, the street fighting, which has claimed more than 100 Palestinian lives in the last two months.

A cynical observer might be forgiven for thinking that the only plausible purpose for pouring weapons into Palestine was to ensure the fighting continues. Fighting by Fatah against Hamas. Fighting until one side wins, or preferably, until both sides lose. But in the language of diplomacy, the weapons are being supplied to advance the Peace Process. Orwell may be gone, but he is not forgotten.

14 Comments:

Blogger 3Case said...

"All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome."

"All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting."

George Orwell

2/05/2007 07:11:00 PM  
Blogger wretchardthecat said...

The kidnapping -- or nonkidnapping if you prefer -- of Arroyo's peace envoys has generated this pathetic, yet hilarious story. Here the "guests", which include a Filipino general and cabinet member, describe for themselves how they pleaded with Nur Misuari, himself in jail for sedition and rebellion, to free them. Remember now, they are simply "guests" complying with "Muslim practices".

Dureza and Dolorfino would rather leave it up to other government agencies to decide whether charges should be filed against the MNLF “captors” of the government peace team.

“It’s not up to me to make that determination, let the other agencies take care of that,” Dureza said.

Undersecretary Santos said that when his group was detained, he turned to prayer.

“On my own, I prayed,” Santos said. “It was as if I knew that I had become just one of the cards in the deck and that there would come a time when I would just be dealt. So I really prayed.”

Dureza said he called Misuari upon learning of the detention of the government team to ask if he could help.

“(Misuari) said he was not in touch with them but later I learned that he spoke to Malik,” Dureza said, referring to the leader of the group that detained Dolorfino and his companions.

“I’m sorry I can’t help you. If I establish communications with them I have a case in court that could be affected,” he quoted Misuari as telling him.


The really bad thing about political correctness is that it obliges you to surrender first your manhood, then your senses. Your money may also be taken in the process. The ultimate product of PC is not the sensitive human being, but the clown.

2/05/2007 07:51:00 PM  
Blogger wretchardthecat said...

Of course, this doesn't mean negotiations have no place. It is always a good thing to split off the real bad guys from the simply disgruntled. The problem with appeasement, as distinct from negotiation, is that it rewards the bad guys and leaves the disgruntled feeling they've somehow been had.

The American Special Forces guy in the video is trying to persuade the local people it makes sense to work for a living. Then the Arroyo government goes and hands out a bunch of money in payment for thuggery. This sends what signal? What does the man who planned on starting a career as a tailor think? Which is better, the gun or the sewing machine? The process of convincing the doubtful that the gun is better than the sewing machine is called "confidence building". Do enough of this and you will get a Nobel Prize. Maybe I'm just being bitter and cynical.

2/05/2007 09:12:00 PM  
Blogger buck smith said...

Guests of the Nation, as it were

2/05/2007 09:13:00 PM  
Blogger wretchardthecat said...

Our partners for peace.

CNN quotes US intelligence sources describing a current Iraqi parliamentarian, Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, as an assassin, Iranian agent and guilty of bombing the US and French embassies in 1983.

What do you think the sophisticates would make of that? Maybe we should engage Jamal Jafaar Mohammed some more. God knows everyone and his brother is pleading that we talk to his handlers, the Iranians. So why not talk to him? How can he be less guilty than his masters? Maybe US intel just got tired of the whole thing and outed him.

2/05/2007 09:21:00 PM  
Blogger Alexis said...

wretchard:

Please don't insult clowns by comparing them to appeasers. Rodeo clowns have much more courage than cowards who shelter behind political correctness.

2/05/2007 09:39:00 PM  
Blogger ndw said...

A cynical observer might be forgiven for thinking that the only plausible purpose for pouring weapons into Palestine was to ensure the fighting continues. Fighting by Fatah against Hamas. Fighting until one side wins, or preferably, until both sides lose.

Shhhh!

2/06/2007 05:08:00 AM  
Blogger Nancy Reyes said...

maybe, but here in the north a lot of NPA and their supporters are ending up dead by drive by shooting, and she's pretending she doesn't know anything about it.
With the Moros, she's trying to bribe the main ones while isolating the AlQaeda trained ones. The MILF (another group still in the talking stage of a truce) helped catch the guys.

2/06/2007 05:17:00 AM  
Blogger Reocon said...

wretchard said...
Our partners for peace. . .
What do you think the sophisticates would make of that? Maybe we should engage Jamal Jafaar Mohammed some more. God knows everyone and his brother is pleading that we talk to his handlers, the Iranians. So why not talk to him?


Or better yet, let's spend billions and a couple thousand more lives of our sons and daughters to prop up Jamal Jafaar Mohammed's cohorts in the Iraqi government! Surely we can convince such "moderates" like the former head of Da'wa's Jihad office in Damascus, Nuri al-Maliki, too give up their authoratarian, clerical ways, their ties to Iran and Hezbollah and come over to the side of reason. Isn't that what the "Surge" is all about? Isn't that what this fiasco has devolved into?
For those of you who are a bit slow, that what's been happening since 2005, when the Shiite Islamists won their purple-fingered victory. Wretchard's dead right here, to defend the propping up of this vile Iraqi/Iranian gov't is defend appeasement. Buddy, Wu Wei, care to have a crack at it?

2/06/2007 06:12:00 AM  
Blogger exhelodrvr1 said...

Think Arafat and the PLO.

2/06/2007 09:59:00 AM  
Blogger M. Simon said...

The Fatah folks need training to keep them in the civil war. Hamas gets better training from Iran.

The policy of Amerrica with respect to the Palestinians is civil war. It is the Israeli policy as well.

2/06/2007 12:15:00 PM  
Blogger Habu said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESIDENT REAGAN.

and thanks for all you did.

Habu

2/06/2007 02:17:00 PM  
Blogger RWE said...

To put it in the terms of a recent commentator over at American Future, it is indeed heartening to see that the young nation of the Philippines has achieved the kind of “mature democracy” that normally is seen only in Old Europe.

As the Am Future commentator said, it is inexplicable that the USA seems to avoid the use of diplomacy to resolve such disputes and, driven by impatience, rashly uses threats and even actual force of arms in lieu of the much more successful diplomatic approach.

The Arroyo administration and the Philippines as a whole deserve our congratulations. In a remarkably short time it has developed the basic outlook and philosophy of a “mature democracy.”

Like, say, France.

In 1939.

2/07/2007 07:18:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The problem with appeasement, as distinct from negotiation, is that it rewards the bad guys and leaves the disgruntled feeling they've somehow been had.

how bout containment.
that seemed to be working pretty well in the case of Saddam's iraq all the way up to the US overthrow.

in fact, though ya never hear this, The Bush Administrations invasion of Iraq and topple of Saddam seemed to prove that the containment and sanctions and no fly zones of 90's WORKED!!

we went in there and CONFIRMED THAT!
FIRST HAND!
no weapons of mass destruction were found!
just a shell of a regime and
a dictator found hiding in a rat hole.

i don't expect the administration to come out tomorrow and announce that Iraq was a big mistake, but atleast it proved that the containment policies of folks like saddam work. But that is indeed the message of the whole debacle.

In the 90's we finally did something NOT STUPID foreign policy wise in containing saddam and it worked!

the invasion of iraq was rock solid proof of it.
let's learn from out mistakes...and then do the things that actually work.

graytooth

2/07/2007 07:58:00 PM  

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