Al Qaeda 29 August, 2008

AL QAEDA

In 1979, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) moved to invade Afghanistan. A mujahideen organization headed by Bin Laden and Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK), fought to keep out those who they had deemed ‘infidels’. The United States of America (USA) chose to provide the organization with arms and funds, aware that if the USSR lost the Middle East, it would be a great blow to communism all over the globe.

Shortly before his death, former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told the House of Commons that “Al Qaeda” was not really a terrorist group but a database of international mujahideen and arms smugglers used by the CIA and Saudis to funnel guerrillas, arms, and money into Soviet-occupied Afghanistan.

“Two of my Jordanian colleagues were experts in computers. They were air defense officers. Using computer science slang, they introduced a series of jokes about students’ punishment.

“For example, when one of us was late at the bus stop to leave the Staff College, the two officers used to tell us: ‘You’ll be noted in ‘Q eidat il-Maaloomaat’ which meant ‘You’ll be logged in the information database.’ Meaning ‘you will receive a warning . . .’ If the case were more severe, they would talk about ‘Q eidat i-Taaleemaat.’ Meaning ‘the decision database.’ It meant ‘you will be punished.’ For the worst cases they used to speak of logging in ‘Al Qaida.‘

[According to a Pakistani major] The database was divided into two parts, the information file, ‘Q eidat il-Maaloomaat’, where the participants in the meetings could pick up and send information they needed, and the decision file, ‘Q eidat i-Taaleemaat’, where the decisions made during the previous sessions were recorded and stored. Those two files were kept in one file called ‘Q eidat ilmu’ti’aat’ which is the exact translation of the English word database. But the Arabs commonly used the short word ‘Al Qaida’ which is means ‘The base’

“A lot of faxes and letters seized or intercepted by the French Rapid Action Force contained directions sent to Islamic armed groups in Algeria or in France. The messages quoted the sources of statements to be exploited in the redaction of the tracts or leaflets, or to be introduced in video or tapes to be sent to the media. The most commonly quoted sources were the United Nations, the non-aligned countries, the UNHCR and … Al Qaida.”

—Pierre-Henry Bunel, a former agent for French military intelligence.

After nine years, the USSR withdrew from the Middle East, leaving the remaining mujahideen free to overthrow the Afghan government. But the mujahideen leaders were unable to agree on a structure for governance, and soon fell into chaos and disarray, constantly reorganizing alliances between the regional warlords.

The mujahideen’s success in repelling one of the world’s two superpowers from a Muslim land most likely had a significant impact on Bin Laden. To his mind, the USSR’s defeat set in motion the chain of events that resulted in the collapse of the Soviet Union and the demise of Communism. Bin Laden, accordingly, concluded that confronting the United States would produce a similar result: U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East.

Thus, the movement which came to be known as Al Qaeda was conceived. Broad outlines began to take shape during 1987 and 1988. In 1989, Azzam was assassinated — killed in the explosion of a car bomb, generally blamed on a rival Afghani faction. Several rumors circulating at the time blamed Bin Laden himself for the attack. After the death of Azzam, the Al Qaeda formally split from MAK to become a jihadist movement in its own right.

“Al Qaeda is a radical Sunni Muslim umbrella organization established to recruit young Muslims into the Afghani Mujahideen and is aimed to establish Islamist states throughout the world, overthrow ‘un-Islamic regimes’ expel US soldiers and Western influence from the Gulf, and capture Jerusalem as a Muslim city.“

—US Department of Defense

Since then, at least two fatwas or religious rulings have been made. The first was issued on February 1998 by Osama Bin Laden and it states that:

“The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies—civilian or military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it”

Bin Laden regards the U.S. military presence as a continuation of the Crusades, a series of wars during the Middle Ages in which Western Christians sought to capture the Holy Land from Muslims

Then, on 14 May 1998, The London Al-Quds al-‘Arabi published an article saying that clerics in Afghanistan had issued a fatwa that emphasized the necessity to move U.S. forces out of the Gulf region. Addressing Muslims all over the globe, the Afghan ulema (Ulemas are the guardians of legal and religious traditions on Islam) had said:

“The enemies of Islam are not limited to a certain group or party; all atheists are enemies of Islam, and they take one another as friends. There must be jihad — based on the rules of the Shari’ah — against the United States and its followers. If Muslims are lax in their responsibility, the enemies of Islam will occupy the two holy mosques as well, just as they occupied the al- Aqsa Mosque. This fatwa–with the evidence and the rulings issued by early and current ulema, on which it is based–is not merely a fatwa issued by the ulema of a Muslim country, but rather a religious fatwa that every Muslim should adopt and work under.”

George Bush, the U.S. president, tries to explain. “We face an enemy that has an ideology,’’ Mr. Bush says. “They believe things. The best way to describe their ideology is to relate to you the fact that they think the opposite of the way we think.”

Bin Laden counters this in a videotape sent to broadcast on Al-Jazeera, a TV station based in Qatar. In the video, Bin Laden accused Bush of misleading Americans by saying the attack was carried out because Al Qaeda “hates freedom.” The terrorist leader said his followers have left alone countries that do not threaten Muslims. “We fought you because we are free … and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security, we undermine yours,” Bin Laden said.

“The current goal of Al Qaeda is to establish a pan-Islamic Caliphate throughout the world by working with allied Islamic extremist groups to overthrow regimes it deems “non-Islamic” and expelling Westerners and non-Muslims from Muslim countries.”

-The Terrorism files

On September 11, Al Qaeda delivered on its promise. In Bin Laden’s own words, they “struck some of America’s best buildings, the place where they are softest. And this America then is filled with fear from the north, south, east, and west, thank God.”

He said he was first inspired to attack the United States by the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon in which towers and buildings in Beirut were destroyed in the siege of the capital.

“While I was looking at these destroyed towers in Lebanon, it sparked in my mind that the tyrant should be punished with the same and that we should destroy towers in America, so that it tastes what we taste and would be deterred from killing our children and women.”

The attack soon became one of the most devastating in American history, with almost 3,000 people killed, the destruction of four commercial airliners, the collapse of both World Trade Center Towers, and the damaging of the Pentagon fortress.

“Al Qaeda cannot take on an organized army. It will try to go around it by striking directly at the center of power and culture of a society and bypass the military in the process.”

Chuck Spinney, Pentagon Defense analyst

Al Qaeda, in this case, may be showing great foresight or long-term planning. There is evidence that many of Al Qaeda’s leaders and main personages left Afghanistan, where their main base and training camp is located, before the bombing of the Twin Towers in America. They did not wait to see the public’s reaction, they knew that the attack would have tremendous effects on everything, especially travel.

While the September 11 attack is the most prominent of Al Qaeda’s to date, they have made numerous hits, most with devastating results. There is actually some question as to whom the attacks should be attributed to. Some of these actions may not be directly planned by the Al Qaeda, but committed by other militant groups inspired by their tenets and strategies.

On December 29, 1992, Al Qaeda planted three bombs at the hotels where American troops were staying in Aden, Yemen. In 1993, Al Qaeda operatives were said to have assisted in the shooting down of U.S. helicopters in Somalia. Two bombings in Saudi Arabia (1995 and 1996) are believed to be the work of either Al Qaeda or Hezbollah.

A bombing in Riyadh of a U.S. military facility during November 1995 killed 6 people. On June 1996, American military personnel were killed in the Khobar Towers bombing. Al-Qaeda is also believed to have been behind the bombing of U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the August of 1998, killing more than 200 people and injuring more than 5,000 others.

Al Qaeda also conducted The March 2004 bomb attacks on Madrid commuter trains, which killed nearly 200 people and left more than 1,800 injured, the May 2003 car bomb attacks on three residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the November 2002 car bomb attack in Mombasa, Kenya. Several spring 2002 bombings in Pakistan. The April 2002 explosion of a fuel tanker outside a synagogue in Tunisia. The October 2000 U.S.S. Cole bombing.

Al Qaeda is not always successful though, a couple of examples of their failures being their plan to attack the Tourists visiting Jordan for millennieal celebration, their plan to bomb the U.S. warship USS The Sullivans. and a failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli jetliner with shoulder-fired missiles.

Since 9/11, Al Qaeda has made numerous hits, including killing 11 German tourists in a historic synagogue in Indonesia on April 2002, bombing a French oil ship off the shore of Yemen in October 2002, and on November 2002, they bombed an Israeli owned hotel in Kenya. Al Qaeda was said to have contemplated bombing a nuclear factory before the Twin Towers, but decided against it, opting for a more symbolic attack.

After the attack on 9/11, The united states waged war on Afghanistan, though they claimed that they were not at war with a country but an individual and a network. Their enemy was not just a handful of wealthy, religuosly eccentric men, but a philosophy of zealotry and extremism.

In December 2001, thousands of Al Qaeda operatives were found in a cave complex called Tora Bora in the mountain ranges of eastern Afghanistan. Only 23 Al Qaeda fighters were captured, and Omar Samad (spokesman, Republic of Afghanistan) says that it was a missed opportunity. A lot of firepower was used, but not enough attention was paid to the escape routes connected to Pakistan. The attack ultimately failed.

Since Al Qaeda lost its base in Afghanistan and its training camps, it has morphed into something that is both less centralized and more spread out. It has spawned franchise operations from Spain to Singapore and is evolving from an organization into an anti-western ideology for muslims around the world.

Al Qaeda is only one of the many Islamist Terrorist groups that span the globe. They work together, forming alliances. Al Qaeda has been known to work with Hezbolla, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, The Libyan Islamic Fighting group, The Islamic Army of Aden (Yemen), Jama’at al-Tawhid wal Jihad (Iraq), Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad (Kashmir), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Salafist Group for Call and Combat and the Armed Islamic Group (Algeria), Abu Sayyaf Group (Malaysia, Philippines), and Jemaah Islamiya (Southeast Asia).

Al Qaeda is less cohesive in membership with a more open and diffuse structure, meaning that individuals or local terrorist groups under Al Qaeda are able to operate without direct orders from the central command units. This is probably why it has survived for so long despite global onslaught.

Its unusual structure, more flat than other terrorist groups, which tend to be pyramidal, is believed to be the reason why said group is being particularly difficult to eradicate. Its unusual structure encourages out-of-the-box thinking and allows local groups and sympathizers to carry out missions in the name of Al Qaeda without a direct link to Bin Laden himself.

The result is that even if Bin Laden is killed or captured, that’s not going to solve the problem. He is actually treated as a middle-eastern ‘Robin Hood’, by the tribes along the Afghan-Pakistan border. He has, in their own words, ‘attacked America, the great oppressor’.

In the words of Robert Baer, a Former CIA field officer…

“As long as there are underlying causes for terrorism, more and more people will join Al Qaeda, and they may be more adept than the previous generation.”

SOURCES:
• http://www.terrorismfiles.org/organisations/al_qaida.html
• http://www.terrorismfiles.org/organisations/faces_of_al_qaida.html
• http://www.terrorismfiles.org/individuals/usama_bin_laden.html
• http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,137095,00.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Qaeda
• http://www.september11news.com/OsamaBinLaden.htm
• http://stpeteforpeace.org/why.did.sept.11.happen.html
• http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_701610346/Al-Qaeda.html
• http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_701505592/bin_Laden_Osama.html
• http://www.cfr.org/publication/9126/
• http://www.cfr.org/publication/9235/
• http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/15411245.htm
• http://www.cfr.org/publication/9156/
• http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/washington/31bush.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
• http://www.cfr.org/publication/9135/
• http://www.cfr.org/publication/9154/
• http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/12942
• http://www.cfr.org/publication/8948/
• http://www.cfr.org/publication/9155/
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/faqs/
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/etc/today.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/alqaeda.html
• http://www.intellnet.org/documents/200/060/269.html
• http://www.ict.org.il/inter_ter/orgdet.cfm?orgid=74#history
• http://www.ict.org.il/inter_ter/orgdet.cfm?orgid=74#ideology
• http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/misc/janes010928_1_n.shtml
• http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ladin.htm
• http://terrorismfiles.org/organisations/abu_sayyaf_group.html
• http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=3836
• http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=4131
• http://nafeez.blogspot.com/2006/09/censored-ny-times-terror-plot-expose.html
• http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2004/05/al_qaedas_grand.html
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/3519414.stm
• http://www.bond.org.uk/networker/2003/july03/opinion.htm
• http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/00000006DFED.htm

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-090206qaida,0,2016849.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Reality Bites Back

Why are people so nitpicky these days? Why can’t they let fairy tales remain just that, fairy tales? Why do they have this need to make their lives so much like a fairy tale that they blur the line between fantasy and reality? In fact, why do they want lives that resemble fairy tales? Fairy tales pale in comparison to real life. In fairy tales, there is nothing real involved, no love, no trust, no sacrifice, no nothing. Everything is easy. It’s all fake.

‘…and your mother loves your father, ‘cause she’s got nowhere to go…’

Let’s take a look at Cinderella. The prince falls into Cinderella’s lap, for no apparent reason. He took her because she was pretty, and her foot fit that damn glass shoe. She took him because he was rich, and she had to get away from her abusive family. Tell me, where is the love in that? Where is the wooing, the sweetness, the sheer fluff that comes with falling truly madly deeply in love? They spend one night together, and then suddenly decide they want to spend the rest of their lives with each other? Did they have divorce back then?

‘…I want to take you for granted, and I will…’

Aladdin lied to Jasmine to marry her and become a legitimate prince, and got her in danger for it. He didn’t love her, only what she stood for. Fame, fortune, power… And what kind of father was the sultan to auction off his daughter to some stranger because he claimed to be a prince and had a fancy carpet? Or to his advisor, who is many, many, many years older than she is? Aladdin’s wishing the genie free was an ingenious bit of manipulation, and for all his thousand years, Genie was still too naïve to see through it.

‘…if I was a rich girl, nanananananana…’

In The princess and the Pea, who else is the princess but some spoiled, pampered brat, who has no qualms about making people rush to and fro to fulfill her each and every stupid whim? Haven’t we all met her before?

“…and, darling, you look wonderful tonight…”

When the little mermaid became human to marry Eric, she left her family, her home, everything behind, and for what? Some guy who cared only for her looks and not for what she actually had to say? It says a lot about him that he fell in love with her during the time that she didn’t talk. Ursula was portrayed as the villain, but she was the nicest person there. She laid down the truth, real and simple, for Ariel to see. But guess who still decided to give it all up for a crude facsimile of love?

Fairy tales embody real life more than we think. It’s no coincidence that quite a large number of Disney princesses are married to a Prince Charming. That’s polygamy in the making. The Princess and the frog, Alice in wonderland? They are so, so high.

To want a Disney life is to not want a life at all. To want a Disney life is to want nothing more than a mere fantasy, an imitation of life. The hardships that we go through, the trials we encounter, they mould us. They are a part of living and of us. They make us who we are. Problems prove that we bleed, breath, eat, sleep, laugh, cry… Problems are proof that we are alive.

Believe me, what little we see of life is sugar coated, just like Disney. Really. None of us have been through the hardship of not eating for a day, because we couldn’t afford it, or of eating but feeling like dirt, because we sold our bodies or our souls for it. None of us know what it’s like to be truly useless, to be completely and utterly worthless. None of us can claim to be familiar with the knowledge that nobody cares. Some of us may have experienced love, yes, and some of us may even know what it feels like to have truly earned the food that we eat…

‘…there she stumbles, falling to her knees. I think she tripped on reality…’

…I want to have it all. The good, the bad, the meaningful, the meaningless….There, out there, beyond the fairy tales, beyond the fantasies, beyond simply sitting there watching the goddamn T.V., there is this thing called Reality, called Life.

Take it, it’s yours.

—

These two, “Reality bites” and “Reality Bites Back”, were actually articler for our one issue only Class Magazine for english last year.

“Reality Bites” –Disney

BY: Sarah A. Oxales (a classmate of mine in Pisay)

Sometimes, Disney irritates me with how gets its stories all wrong. It messes up so many of the good parts in a classic story.

I noticed it a couple of days ago, as we were watching The King and I. The movie’s last scene was of Anna and the king having a giddy ballroom dance in a gazebo. In the movie, Tuptin has a happily-ever-after life with a prince. But, as most of you probably know, The king dies in the end in the original story, and so do Tuptim and her lover.

Have you ever heard of Disney’s Hercules? Remember his uber-dramaic ending, where Hera’s all sweet with Zeus? It’s not real. Hera hates Zeus. She has a long history of plotting to get rid of him. Why? It’s because Zeus is a flirt. He has so many illegitimate children; the gods who are not his children are the minority. As for the main character, Hercules kills Megara later on. That’s the original story.

And Mulan? She was punished with death for her deed. The little mermaid killed herself.

Now, do you see what happens? They sugar coat every story so that it’s ‘child friendly’. They mean well, I’m sure and I remember (and admit to) singing and dancing to a couple of those songs when myself when I was little.

“…No chance, no way, I won’t say it, no no…”

Haha…. until now.

Why don’t they show the cold hard truth to the kids? Is it because they don’t want them to end up as pessimistic drones? They’re too late and it seems almost a shame that some children still acquire (seem to want to acquire) a world-weary point of view, despite their best efforts. (and, hello, kettle? This is Sarah, the pot, calling. I just want you to know, you’re black )

Sometimes, when you see your little brother or sister or cousin or niece or just some kid you don’t really know, laugh and sing and say the occasional “I wanna be a knight/princess!” line, don’t you feel more than just a little bit jealous?

Their lives seem so simple (thanks to Disney), with the harsh reality of life hidden from them.

Admit it, everyone wants a Disney life. Even a small shred of you wants a life where all the bad parts seem to disappear. Disney does life a favor; it makes the worst seem better

And if that seems foggy to you, think of it like this. If you were Meg, from Hercules, wouldn’t you rather have a boyfriend who’d pick you over being a god, rather than one that kills you, right after getting you out of that last horrible relationship? Of course you would.

Sometimes, I admire Disney as well. They make lies seem so much better than the truth.

—

I wish people weren’t so pessimistic….

Dub Vs. Sub 1

I just watched…

Episode 38 of Sonic X.
English Title: Showdown in Space
Japanse Title: Maria no Negai, Minna no Negai (Maria’s Request, Everyone’s Request)

This is the plot summary (Brought to you by Wikipedia, via me! Spoilerz ahead)

As Space Colony Ark heads for the Earth, the combatants put aside their differences to stop the descent. Shadow however, begs to differ, and refuses to help since he believes there’s no point to it and the humans deserve to be destroyed because of what they’ve done. But after Chris reminds Shadow of the true promise he made to Maria, he changes his mind and decides to aid Sonic and co. He does so by fighting off the Bio-Lizard, a Project Shadow prototype, while Knuckles drains the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald. At first it appeared as if the Bio- Lizard was defeated by shadow. However the Bio-Lizard uses Chaos Control to attach itself to the colony to become the FinalHazard which is also hell-bent on pulling it toward Earth even faster. In order to stop it, Sonic and Shadow go into super-form to stop it. For a last second victory Shadow sees Maria and takes off his rings to gain all the power he needs. Both he and Sonic use Chaos Control to teleport the Space Colony out of the atmosphere and back into orbit. Shadow vanishes at the climax of their victory (presumed to be dead). Chris is given only one of Shadow’s rings, and with that the episode ends in a sad note.

My summary would be more like this…..

SHADOW DIES!!! WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

Anyway, I watched the episode in three languages. French, English, and Japanese. Granted, I can’t speak French and there were no subtitles, but I watched it anyway.

There are some pretty big differences in The English and the Japanese version. This is the Japanese subbed Version…

==Open Scene==

Shadow: “I am Shadow! Shadow The Hedgehog!”

(The Restriction rings fall off Shadow’s wrists and ankles)

Shadow: “Can you hear me?”

Sonic: “Yeah, I can hear you.”

Sonic and Shadow [Together]: “CHAOS CONTROL!”

(Enter The Final Boss Battle Theme “Live and Learn” from The game Sonic Adventure 2)

Shadow: (to himself or thinking) “Maria… is this… enough?”

==End Scene==

This is the English dubbed version…

==Open Scene==

Shadow: “I am Shadow! Shadow The Hedgehog!”

(The Restriction rings fall off Shadow’s wrists and ankles)

Shadow: “You ready?”

Sonic: “You bet! Here we go!”

Sonic and Shadow [Together]: “CHAOS CONTROL!”

(Enter generic “Exciting!” music)

Shadow: (to himself or thinking) “Maria… I did it… for you.”

==End Scene==

Do you see the difference? It just be me and my interpretations, but I definitley like the subbed version better. Both dialogues say something about Sonic and Shadow, but what they say….

In the Japanese Version, Shadow knows he’s about to die, and wants to reaffirm his existence before he does. Sonic understands and obliges. Then the awesome theme music to heighten the mood. Shadow dedicates what he did to Maria, and that is the last we hear from him.

In the English version, Shadow becomes some crude, Macho-bantering hedgehog who can’t speak in complete sentences. The I-am-Shadow scream becomes out of place, and there is depth taken out of the scene when Sonic replies. Shadow asking if Sonic is ready probably offends Sonic, because, hello? How many times has Sonic saved the world? Anyway, the music used there is generic and very UNmemorable, and Shadow ‘telling’ Maria that he did it for her makes it sound like he’s blaming her for what he’d done.

See the difference?

Even the titles change the mood!

I’m not really Anti-dubbing (the dubbing for YYH is REALLY funny sometimes), but this is one case where there is definitely something lost in translation.

Anyway, ON TO EPISODE 39! Wiki says Espio will make an appearance! GO ESPIO!!!

No, it did NOT happen like this. There is a good reason why.

Bring Back Bangsamoro

NOT synonymous for terrorist or NPA!

Bring Back Bangsamoro

Bangsamoro or Moroland is the name for the “homeland” of the Moro. The term comes from the Malay word bangsa, meaning nation or people, and the Spanish word moro, from the older Spanish word Moor, the Reconquista-period term for Arabs or Muslims.

Originally, Bangsamoro was home to the Muslim sultanates of Mindanao (such as Maguindanao and Sulu). These sultanates resisted Spanish colonial rule, and were therefore not fully integrated with the rest of the islands. Presently, there is armed conflict going on in this area. As of August 19 2008, they see no end, not even a temporary ceasefire to allow Muslims to celebrate Eid’l Fitr (The ending of Ramadan).

Bangsamoro covers the southern portion of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, Palawan, Basilan and the neighboring islands and the majority of the approximately 4.5 million Muslims in the Philippines live here. Within this area, a group called The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is active. The MILF is a Muslim separatist rebel group that was first centered around the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which was formed after The Jabidah massacre, also known as the Corregidor massacre, which refers to an incident which occurred on the night of March 18, 1968 on the Philippine island of Corregidor. It was on this night that members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) massacred at least 28 Moro Muslim recruits under their supervision.

Nur Misuari, a University of the Philippines professor, rose to become the leader of the MNLF with the title of chairman in the early 1970s. The MNLF proclaimed itself a Filipino Muslim liberation movement and proceeded to start the Islamic Insurgency in the Philippines, in the hope of achieving independence, or at the very least regional autonomy for the Southern Philippines. This struggle would eventually claim anywhere from 80,000 to 200,000 lives; at the height of its strength, the MNLF could count 30,000 armed men in its ranks.

Seeking an end to the hostilities, the Philippine government decided to hold peace talks in 1976. That same year, the Tripoli Agreement was negotiated by the government of Ferdinand Marcos and brokered by the flamboyant Moammar Gadhafi and with the support of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The agreement provided for a ceasefire and called for autonomy under the broad principle that Mindanao would remain an integral part of the Republic of the Philippines.

The MILF was formed in 1981 when Salamat Hashem and his followers split from the MNLF, due to the MNLF’s reluctance to launch an insurgency against the Philippine government forces and movements towards a peace agreement.

In January 1987, the MNLF accepted the government’s offer of semi-autonomy. The MILF refused to accept the offer. Thusly, the MILF became the largest separatist group in the Philippines. A general cessation of hostilities was signed in July 1997 (The Agreement for General Cessation of Hostilities dated July 18, 1997 Between the GRP and the MILF) but this agreement was broken in 2000 by the government of then President Joseph Estrada.

The MILF initially declared a jihad but became more receptive, especially following claims it is linked to the Abu Sayyaf and al Qaeda. A cease-fire accord was signed with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and The Agreement on the General Framework for the Resumption of Peace Talks Between the GRP and the MILF was signed on March 24, 2001; After that came The Tripoli Agreement on Peace Between the GRP and the MILF dated June 22, 2001; The Tripoli Agreement Between the GRP and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) dated December 23, 1976 and the Final Agreement on the Implementation of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement Between the GRP and the MNLF dated September 2, 1996;

Then, on July 17, 2008, The MILF and the government finally reached a decision about Bangsamoro. The agreement, while crucial for the resumption of formal peace talks, did not guarantee the end of a near 40-year conflict that has killed 120,000 people and displaced two million in Mindanao.

“We have finally settled all the remaining issues on ancestral domain. It was a tough meeting. The real battle will be fought on the next level when we start talks on the political formula to end the conflict. But, at least we have hurdled the ancestral domain issue. We can now return to formal negotiations.” Mohaqher Iqbal, chief MILF negotiator, . “Praise God. It’s over.” Rodolfo Garcia, the head of the government’s peace panel

The agreement was not to last. Although on August 5th both sides were set to sign the Moa thanks to the mediation of the Malaysian government, but a Philippine Supreme Court ruling blocked the accord considering it “unconstitutional”. The MoA was then heavily criticised by many leaders of Philippine society, who accuse it of being “unclear in its terminology” and elaborated “in secret, leaving aside the will of citizens who are completely in the dark regarding its real contents”. As anyone who has access to the internet can obtain a copy of this memorandum, It is unclear where it is the citizens or these leaders themselves who are in the dark.

On August 21, 2008, President Arroyo formally announced that she would not be signing the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA). The decision was taken as a direct effect of the escalation in violence in recent days, in particular on the island of Mindanao in the south.

The agreementbetween MILF and the government was set to establish the Autonomous region of Muslim Mindanao Mindanao (Armm). Muslims are demanding the annexation of 1000 villages, while the government wants to concede only 700, which then will have to choose annexation to Armm by popular referendum.

With the MoA not signed and the animosity between the Philippine Government and the MILF, Cagayan de Oro alone has lost over 5 million in the tourism industry, and since the beginning of August, more than 40 people have been killed, whether in direct combat or caught in the crossfire is still to be determined. President Arroyo herself has placed a 5 million peso bounty on the head of the MILF.

The Final word of the Arroyo Administration is that “the president will seek a new agreement with the rebels, but will not allow adventurism by MILF forces to pressure government to sign any agreement, even if it is for peace.”

GMA Through The Years

GMA Through The Years

a new meaning to "Power in Blood"

In the Philippines, winning an election does not mean that you were voted into office.

Arroyo entered politics in 1992, running for senator. She ranked 13th in the elections, winning a three-year term. Arroyo filed over 400 bills and authored or sponsored 55 laws during her tenure as senator, including the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law, the Indigenous People’s Rights Law, and the Export Development Act. She was re-elected in 1995, topping the senatorial elections with nearly 16 million votes.

On June 30, 1998, she was sworn in as vice president under then-president Joseph Estrada. A scant 3 years later, Estrada was forced to resign by EDSA II (otherwise known as People Power II; the first was held under the Marcos Regime), making Arroyo our president.

Now, it’s seven years later, and she still has the seat. She is supposed to relinquish her position on 2010, but there is doubt that she’ll give up the seat of power that easily. If there’s one thing that she’s shown, it’s how tenaciously she clings to her presidency.

She is the only president to survive two impeachment attempts (which never reached the trial stage) with position intact. She has survived two attempted mutinies. She has survived numerous scandals that, each on their own, would have sent lesser politicos running: the Jose Pidal Controversy; the Hello Garci Scandal; the fact that she ran for the presidency in 2004 after publicly announcing that she would not; Proclamation 1017; the “National Broadband Network Deal” (ZTE); the charter change that almost happened in the dead of night; the pardoning of Former President Estrada, who was proven guilty. The list goes on and on.

Most distressing of all, however, are her many violations of human rights. Extra-judicial killings in the Philippines have reached an appalling number. On the Global Peace Index, out of the 194 independent countries recognized, we are hovering in the lower 20’s; we are in the bottom 13 percent. We are respectively below Sudan, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and the Republic of Congo. We are a little bit above Maldives, Somalia, Singapore, and Russia.

During The Marcos regime, which lasted 21 years, the number of victims of extra judicial killings under martial law reached over 1500 with over 800 abductions and enforced dissappearances.

Human rights groups say that the toll extra judicial killings have has risen to 830 lives since Arroyo became president in 2001, but Task Force Usig, a special police unit tasked to probe the murders, counts only 115 and says most of these are the result of a supposed internal purge by communist rebels. Note that Arooyo herself formed Task Force Usig, which is therefore biased, while The UN itself (as stated by Philip Austen) puts extra judicial killings at over 800, along with Karapatan, a local human rights group.

If that doesn’t quite alarm you enough, there’s more. On February 8, 2007, the Congress approved of The Human Security Act of 2007. The bill makes terrorism a crime and allows authorities to arrest terror suspects without warrants and temporarily detain them without charges. The HSA defines a terrorist as someone who causes widespread fear and panic. Is Al Gore a terrorist, then, for informing us of global warming? The law also allows for surveillance on private property by the government, without consent.

It seems that 7 years after being sworn in as president during a political rally, she has forgotten how she got into office, forgotten what she used to stand for: fighting for freedom, fighting corruption, fighting for the Filipino. When public officials forget what they stand for, forget their country and the vow they took to serve its people, then it’s time to step down.

SOURCES:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/364302/Ferdinand-E-Marcos

http://www.hwwilson.com/print/cbintl_arroyo_biography.htm

http://hrw.org/reports/2007/philippines0607/1.htm#_Toc170279547

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=49657

http://www.congress.gov.ph/download/ra_13/RA09372.pdf

http://www.bulatlat.com/news/6-16/6-16-cia.htm

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19388