More than 30,000 Filipinos in Lebanon are caught in a war, most of them have no idea what it’s all about.
The Israeli attack on Lebanon, which is on its 10th day, was precipitated by the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah fighters in a cross-border raid last July 12 which was immediately answered by Israel with a bombing of Beirut airport. From then on, the destruction of Lebanon has not stopped.
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Two weeks earlier, Hizbollah kidnapped an Israeli in the Gaza strip. That makes three soldiers in the hands of Hizbollah, whose recovery is the primary objective of this latest war in Lebanon which has caused mass evacuations of innocent civilians of all nationalities, the likes of which the world community has not witnessed in recent years.
What is Hizbollah and why is Israel out to crush them?
Hizbollah, which means “party of God”, is a Lebanese umbrella organization of radical Islamic Shiite groups and organizations. Founded in 1982 in response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, it seeks the destruction of the Jewish state.
Hizbollah is a political party with its own army. It’s a significant political force in Lebanon holding 14 of the 128 seats in the Parliament. Lebanon’s minister of water and electricity is a Hizbollah.
Although listed by the United States government as a terrorist group, it is known as a provider of social services, operating schools, hospitals, and agricultural services, for thousands of Lebanese Shiites. It also operates the al-Manar satellite television channel and broadcast station.
Proof of Hizbollah clout was the withdrawal in May 2000 of Israel’s military from Lebanon after a 20-year occupation.
Hizbollah’s base is in Lebanon’s Shiite-dominated areas, including parts of Beirut, southern Lebanon, which are the targets of current Israeli bombings, and the Bekaa Valley. There are reported Hizbollah cells in Europe, Africa, South America, and North America.
Lebanon, sharing borders with Israel in the south and Syria in the east, played no active role in the Arab-Israeli war. But in 1967, the Palestinians used the Middle East country on the Mediterranean sea as its base in attacking Israel. In December 1968, Israel raided Beirut airport, destroying 13 civilian planes in retaliation for an attack by Palestinian militants.
In June 1982, following the attempted assassination of Shlomo Argov, Israeli ambassador to Britain, Israel launched a full-scale invasion of Lebanon dubbed “Operation Peace for Galilee”. On September 12 of that same year, President-elect Bashir al-Jumayyil, was assassinated. The following day, Israeli forces occupied West Beirut. Israel forces stayed on to check Palestinian militants carrying out attacks on Israel.
In response, Shi’ite Muslims with the assistance of Iranian Revolutionary Guards formed Hizbollah to combat the Israeli presence, and ultimately to assist the Palestinians in their fight for statehood.
Hizbollah continues to enjoy the support of Iran and Syria.
On May 25, 1982, Hizbollah was able to force Israel to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon. That day, dubbed as “Resistance and Liberation Day” is celebrated by the Hizbollah as a public holiday.
Yesterday’s news reports said that Israeli forces have started crossing the borders to Lebanon which signals a more intense and bloody confrontation.
International news reports a flurry of negotiations for a cease-fire of hostilities. The New York Times, meanwhile, reported an American-Israeli consensus in which “Israel would continue to bombard Lebanon for about another week to degrade the capabilities of the Hizbollah militia.”
When that is achieved, the New York Times said, “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would go to the region and seek to establish a buffer zone to monitor Lebanon’s borders to prevent Hizbollah from obtaining more rockets with which to bombard Israel.”
“American officials signaled that Ms. Rice was waiting at least a few more days before wading into conflict, in part to give Israel more time to weaken Hizbollah forces,” the Times said.
Such strategy, however, is disturbing to Arab counties and their allies who, even now, feel that Israel’s endless bombardment of Lebanon is disproportionate to the cause of the latest conflict, which is the capture of the three Israeli soldiers.
There are concerns of more active involvement of Hizbollah’s two patrons, Iran and Syria. There are also fears that in the desire of Israel and the US to destroy Hizbollah, it could trigger what former Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamad Mahathir had warned in connection with US threat against Iran, “a global wave of suicide bombings that would create widespread insecurity.”
E-mail from Joey Dimaandal:
E-mail from Rodolfo Pua:
I just want to thank you that you keep touching the heart of the readers and especially our government regarding in the current situations we face like what happen now in Lebanon.
I always pray to our God that my mother will be always safe there in Lebanon, nakakatawag nga po ang gobyerno natin ngaun because pag dating sa ganitong sitwasyon wala tayong pera samantalang tama ang sinabi nyo na malaki naman ang kinita nila sa 12% vat.
Hindi na po ako naasa sa contingengy plan nila na hanggang dun lang din naman sa Lebanon hindi nila mailabas ng bansa.
Bumabaha ng pera sa gevernment pag impeachment na ang pinaguusapan pag PDAF o pork barrel ng congressman pag may biyahe si GMA at mga alagad nya may sasakyan bakit dito sa paglilikas sa ating mga OFW wala tayong mailabas.
Tinawag pa niyang mga bagong bayani sila tapos hahayaan nalang natin sila ngayon don na hinde malaman pano makakaalis at sa mga nagalala na kaanak nila dito na hinde man lang mabigyan ng assurance na nasa mabuting kalagayan ang kanilang mga mahal sa buhay.
Sa nakikita ko mas nakatuon ang gobyerno natin pag kalaban ka nila dahil mabibigyan ka ng panahon pag aaksayan ka ng pera katulad ng giyera natin sa NPA na maraming mas kailangan ng pera don pa natin nilalaan ang pondo na sanay nagagamit natin sa mga makakaturang bagay na makakaahon sa ating kahirapan.
Isama nyo nalang po ang mother ko sa inyong dasal dahil mahirap pong umasa sa ating gobyerno na mga nagpapayaman lang at mga sakim sa kapangyarihan.
salamat po!
Rodolfo Pua
Rodolfo, kasama ang iyong ina sa aming mga dasal.
E-mail from Luge Bago:
Yesterday, on the BBC, an Arab-Israeli Knesset member stated that the recent hostage-taking by Hezbollah of 2 israeli soldiers was the 4th such hostage-taking.
In previous hostage-taking incidents, resulting exchanges of soldiers taken by the Hezbollah and Lebanese prisoners taken by Israel were always made. Clearly, the 2 Israeli soldiers recently taken hostage have nothing to do with this war. An agenda is being pushed.
E-mail from Masha:
My mom commented that GMA and her ilk can charter flights and take all-expense paid trips paid for the by the tax payers but they cant charter flights/trips out of Lebanon? How immoral can these people get?
The OFW’s are keeping the economy afloat and partly the reason why GMA is still in Malacananng. I thought GMA considered them heroes.
Best,
Masha
This ongoing conflict between Lebanon and Israel caught the Philippine government sleeping. Proof that the bansot’s fake administration was not prepared for such eventuality nor they have any plan in this times of troubles. The incompetency of our leaders was due to their occupied time and resources to eradicate her critics and to stay in power forever and ever. Survival is the name of the game.
Bansot is truly not capable to lead the country, to protect its people, to provide employment locally, and to bring peace in the motherland. Almost two weeks since the war erupted and until now no OFW has come back to the country. In the news last night, Ambassador Bicharra was being interviewed in channel 2. He was asked how many evacuees do they have in the church where Father Advincula is. To my surprise, his data did not tally to the reports given by the priest.
It was also reported that Gen. Cimatu left only yesterday for Lebanon. My goodness!! Hundreds of expats from other nations have been transferred to safer places and yet our officials here are just planning what to do, how to go on that war-torn place???
Enough!!!!! GIVE UP THAT STOLEN POSITION. MAG-SNAP ELECTION NA!!! Paalisin ang bogus president!!!
Rodolfo’s plea is just like others whose voice seem not to bother the heartless illegal occupant by the Pasig. Rest assured that we pray for the safety of all Pinoys in that war-stricken place, yours included, Rodolfo.
RE: Pinoys in Lebanon:>the number of Pinoys in Lebanon was reduced to a total of 26,146 with the bulk in Beirut. That’s 17,769! Totoo ba itong figures na pinalabas nila? How about the previous estimate of 32,000 something?
To think that less than 200 have been reported evacuated.
What happens to the rest? Kailan? Paano?
According to BBC, there is sea and air blockade by Israeli troops with Beirut airport disabled. It’s a war out there! Israeli claims it has flown 3000 missions and struck 1200 targets. Looking at the image presented makes one wonder:
where have all the people gone? More specifically, where have all the PINOYS gone?
Taipan88, according to my source, the 200 are not actually OFWs, but staff of the Philippine Embassy there and their relatives. Si Cimatu naman ay hindi naman mabe-based sa Lebanon kundi sa Syria kaya ano iyong ipinagmamalaki niyang maglalagay siya ng bandila ng Pilipinas sa lahat ng lugar na may pilipino!
On the other hand, what I cannot understand is why they are encouraging those Filipinos to stay behind as announced by Undersec of Labor Danny Cruz, who used to be the labor attache in Tokyo (medyo masipag naman ang isang tao sa totoo lang), that a lot of those stranded in Lebanon are actually on a wait and see attitude and would like to stay with their employers. But then, why are these officials not giving these Filipinos an ultimatum that if they do not REALLY want to go home, the government will not be held responsible for them.
This early, we should actually think of some movement to help those who would like to be evacuated and be saved to demand compensation for the failure of this government of the Bansot to take faster action that what she brags she can afford to do for them.
They cannot even make up their minds as to the actual no. of Filipinos in Lebanon kasi sa totoo lang they do not even bother to list them and account for them. Ganyan ka-inefficient! Wala na bang pag-asang magbago? Pero ang galing mag-utos ng mga sisira ng mga movements na laban sa kaniya dahil sa totoo lang ay nandaya lang naman siya. Pati nga blog ni Ellen at Manolo hina-hack!!!
Ang tindi!
With the lack of credibility of government figures, we don’t really know how many Filipinos are there. But whatever it is, be it 30 or 30,000, they are human beings. They are Filipinos.
Al Bichara, philippine ambassador to lebanon, was exposed to be clueless of what is happening there yesterday in an inerview with ted failon on tv patrol. When asked about the progress of the first and second batch of evacuation, he said, “wala namang second batch. Yung umalis na 190 plus, yun na. Wala ng OFW sa evacuation center.”
Sabi ni Ted Failon, “Kakausap ko lang kay Fr. Advincula, sobra pa isang libo ang OFW doon sa kanya.”
Gloria doesn’t want those Filipipinos to come home. Period.
thanks ma’am ellen and taipan88 for including my mother in your prayer. I watch the news in TV and I pray laso for those who left behind and caugth by war and that is our People including my mother. I think tayo nalang ang naiwan don dahil lahat may sasakyan pang evacuate tayo meron naman kaya lang contingency plan na hanggang don lang din. I think I get the point of it kung uuwi nga naman sila dito what will happen to our econimic they are the one who send dollars one thing dagdag pa sila walang trabaho dito na until now di ma resolve ng ating government. Everynight I always included our government in my prayer. I pray na bigyan tayo ng leader na maka Diyos, matatag, makatao at hinde manloloko.
Paano nga kasi, pag makauwi ang mga kababayan natin na nasa Lebanon, at posibleng di na makabalik, di ba malaking kawalan ng income ng gobyerno ng pekeng presidente dahil wala ng remittance.
Kapag si pandak ang bumabiyahe kasama pati mga alipores niya at pati na yung girlfriends ng mga cabinet people, ayun, may perang nadudukot sa kaban. Pero dito sa sitwasyon ng mga OFWs sa Lebanon, wala talaga.
Ang tanong ko, anong pagkakaiba ng sitwasyon ng mga nasa Lebanon doon sa driver na kabalen niya na si Angelo dela Cruz ba yun? Bakit si Angelo, pinag-aksayahan ng oras at pera, pero itong mga nasa Lebanon, hindi?
O baka naman kasi alam ni Gloria na hindi niya kabalen ang mga ito at walang makukuhang brownie points, lalo na at makakabawas ng remittance?
Talaga nga naman……
goldenlion Says:
July 21st, 2006 at 8:36 am
Enough!!!!! GIVE UP THAT STOLEN POSITION. MAG-SNAP ELECTION NA!!! Paalisin ang bogus president!!!
Hello goldie, same sentiments here, but let’s look at reality.
1. Snap election or any other election for that matter would be like spinning your wheels – unless COMELECwere reconstituted or replaced by some other agency.
2. Ellen was right: BAWAL UMUWI ang mga OFW. Eduardo Ermita unequivocally stated that a revolution will flare out if there were no OFWs going out of the country. He knew too well that massive unemployment will easily spark unrest and uprising among pinoys.
3. You are also right when you said: “Bansot is truly not capable to lead the country, to protect its people, to provide employment locally, and …” She is however very capable in tracing her ancestors to Teresa de Avila and Lakandula and Alexander the great, which you labelled as Da Bansot Code.
4. DFA is the least embarassed in asking other governments to allow OFW’s in Lebanon to hitch a ride with their own evacuees. This means that 30,000 OFWs will be abandoned like garbage in Lebanon and will ultimately be part of the expected 1 million refugees in refugee camps. Right now these pinoys in Lebanon are crowding the churches as sanctuaries where there is acute lack of food, water and more especially, sanitation facilities. This is reminiscent of New Orleans stadium packed to the rafters during Katrina.
5. And the reality of realities is that pinoys are too timid to steer their own destiny, typically described by Juan Flavier as Juan Tamad sitting under the tree waiting for the fruit to fall.
Ma’m Ellen, si Al Bichara(or whatever his name is) ay mukhang “clueless” kasi nga, buking na nasa ‘Pinas na siya bago pa man “nangyari” yung kaguluhan sa Lebanon…palusot pa pero halata naman nagsisinungaling dahil “iwas pusoy” siya sa mga sagot niya kay Ted Failon.
Consider what it has been like in the grounds in Lebanon, and unless negotiations are made and succeed, no immediate end of the violence is in sight. Hezbollah and Hamas are both supported by Syria and Iran. Leader of Hezbollah Nasrallah and Hamas leader Khalid Mashal according to reports have been always in a regular meeting with Syrian and Iranian intellegence. Syria provided long range mortars and is a trans-shipment point for the Iranian weapons-missiles, short-range rockets and launchers supplied by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. It is also believed that some IRGC are in Lebanon to help in the operations of Iranians sohisticated weapons. This is what they call the Syrian Connections. All the countries in the neighboring area, except maybe Iran and Syria are keeping their fingers crossed for an early solution and hope that the conflict will not escalate into a full blown war that will engulf the entire Middle East. It is no secret that Iran’s most utmost desire is to see that Israel be wiped out from the world map and is just so content watching from the sidelines while Hezbollah is fighting a proxy war for them.
As we now know the violence started more than a week ago, when Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon launched a cross-border raid taking with them two Israeli soldiers as captives. The Israeli army in an attempt to rescue the soldiers, have their tank blown up over a mine killing its four crew members including an officer of the army. This prompted an almost all out attack by Israel which displaced over half a million people including citizens from different countries. The Philippines is no. 3 in the list of having the most nationals in Lebanon, behind Sri Lanka with almost 80,000, follwed by Canada with 35,000 and the Philippines with almost 34,000. While other countries are all making possible means to pluck all their nationals, the Philippine government is doing nothing, taking its own sweet time, still witch-hunting for coup plotters and supporters and contemplating if they will file charges against the bishops.
What they are waiting is for other countries to do the job for them. The speaker JDV even suggest that maybe the Filipinos will go to the mountains of Lebanon and from there find their way to Syria. What an idiot suggestion. They do not want to spend even a dime to rescue their compatroits trapped in the war zone. According to the DFA, they do not have the funds to embark a rescue operation. Yeah, right, No funds for the OFWs, but they have funds reserved to kill the impeachment, funds for the junket of government officials and their kabits, friends, and relatives, funds for the cha-cha campaign, etc. Why not for once in their lives, do a good thing, something worthwhile, something human, let’s say senators, congressmen, and the office of the fake pres. to give up their pork barrels, then add the impeachment fund, the contingency fund, and maybe from the jueteng lords like Chavit and Pineda, and maybe even a loan from Boc Boc Bolante or Jose Pidal. It’s during times of crises that certain virtues of the least expected individuals come to fore, and who knows it might be from the fake couple in the palace, with all their fat fat bank accounts and cash stashed all over, will volunteer themselves to shoulder all the cost of a rescue operation. They can even call the operation: PROJECT GLORRUPTION. Then maybe thru their act of kindness, they will be able to redeem themselves even though just by a hairline. It’s better than nil.
@Yuko, Yeah….the supposed last to abandon ship[the embassy staff, that is,] were the first to be transported back! Rotten policy! Kanya-kanya ang taga embahada na nagsilikas at naiwan ang mga taong siyang nagbabayad ng kanilang sweldo.
To all:
News report says: “Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has appealed to “all combatant forces” in Lebanon not to shoot Filipinos, as she ordered crisis managers to devise “markers” that would identify the migrant workers.
At the same time, the President ordered the release of 150 million pesos for the Filipinos’ evacuation of some 30,000 Filipinos from the war-torn state, even as she urged the international community to help evacuate her citizens.”eof.
May makikinig ba ng “Hey, don’t shoot! Pinoy ini!”
Malaki na yata ang gap sa brain ni ate glue….Eh siya kaya ang pumunta sa gitna ng bomba at magwagayway ng Bandera ng Pinas at sumigaw: “Don’t shoot my compatriots! I am here! Shoot me, instead!”.>>>> Baka sakaling tanghaling bayani pa siya sa Lubao!
Besides, siguradong sa evacuation mapupunta yung 150 M ha?
Baka sa bulsa na naman ng iba dyan…Kuwidaw!
sa palagay ko, sa darating na pambobola ni pandakekok sa lunes parang potrayal ito ng homecoming ng “iran hostages crisis noong January 1981”.
ipapalabas sa mainstream media na bida na naman ang huwad, peke at balasubas na lider ng mga sindikato na nasa malakanyang!!!
Florry: A very well-meaning and appropriate name for Lebanon evacuation: PROJECT GLORRUPTION. The situation only proves one thing – that is the Middle East Crisis Committee does not have any evacuation plan.
The funds to repatriate these OFWs should be sourced from OWWA and DFA should not just be saying that they don’t have the funds. Proper representation and coordination should prevail. Kung magpapayabangan lang sila ay walang mangyayari.
Sa interview ni Ted Failon kahapon sa TFC Global TV Patrol news ay talagang natutulog sa pansitan itong Ambassador to Lebanon Albichara. Hindi niya alam kung ano ang dapat niyang isagot sa mga tanong ni Ted. Talagang wala siyang kaalam-alam sa mga kaganapan sa kanyang dapat pamahalaan!
Sa BBC News naman ay hindi pinayagan makasama ang isang Pilipinang nanny ng dalawang batang British citizens dahil hindi siya Britioh passport holder. Ang ina ng mga bata ay naghahantay sa kanina sa Cyprus.
Ngayon ang sinasabi naman ni Pandak ay makisakay ang mga Filipino refugees sa mga barkong susundo sa mga nationals ng US, UK, Australia at Canada. Ito ngang nanny ay hindi pinasakay – manood nga siya ng BBC at CNN upang makita niya kung gaano ka-efficient ang mga marshalls ng iba’t ibang bansa kapag evacuation ang pinag-usapan. Hindi iyong puro daldal lang!
From BBC:
\\\\\\\\\”We heard that it was free to go to Cyprus but then we would have to pay a lot to get back to our country,” said Dinah Vicente, 31, a Filipino citizen who works at a Chinese restaurant in the Lebanese capital.
She said she had initially wanted to leave the country but had then changed her mind.
“We are used to the bombs now but the Israeli planes still frighten us. We’re unsure of where they will drop their bombs,” she said.
Ms Vicente insists her boss has treated her well.
“He told us that if there were any serious problems then he would find accommodation for us in the mountains,” she said.
But without tourists and their dollars, Ms Vicente is worried the restaurant could close and that she would lose her job.”///////////
Many of the foreign workers like her are caught in a lose-lose situation. They cannot travel because they do not have money, and their government seemed to have abandoned them…..
Taipan88:
Count yourself lucky you are here. Kawawa talaga ang ginagawa sa mga pinoy ng bugaw na ito na hinuhubog ang isip ng mga pilipino na iyan lang ang makakatulong sa kanila para makaahon sa hirap. Magtrabaho sa mga lugar na hindi nila dapat na puntahan sa totoo lang!
‘Kakalungkot! No, nakakasuka! Tignan mo na lang ang ginagawa sa mga pilipino sa Lebanon. Ito ring mga recruiter ay dapat na isumpa. Bakit nila itinutulak ang mga kababayan nilang magpakamatay sa Lebanon, Iraq, etc. for the love of money?
Abangan mo ang documentary na ginagawa namin ngayon on the caregiver na ipapalabas sa NHK. 13 to 17 years old na hindi makapag-aral dahil sa kahirapan na maraming anak pa ng mga OFWs sa ibang bansa ang kasama sa ino-offer na course na ito ng pagpapa-alila! I’ll announce it here kapag nalaman ko ang date of showing sa NHK.
New slavery, bakit hindi nila alam iyan? Sabi ni Egcel Lagman when he came here last year, ang OFW daw ay “the Philippines’ No. 1 Export Commodity” at ang pagpapadala ng mga OFW sa ibang bansa ay siyang ONLY, MAIN AND PRIMARY INDUSTRY na dini-develop ng mga bugaw led by Pandak and Company. Buti naman at nagresign na si Pat Sto. Tomas na naging mukhang Mama-san na sa pagbubugaw ng mga pilipino sa Japan and elsewhere!
Emilio_OFW Says:
July 21st, 2006 at 11:51 am
Sa interview ni Ted Failon kahapon sa TFC Global TV Patrol news ay talagang natutulog sa pansitan itong Ambassador to Lebanon Albichara. Hindi niya alam kung ano ang dapat niyang isagot sa mga tanong ni Ted. Talagang wala siyang kaalam-alam sa mga kaganapan sa kanyang dapat pamahalaan!
Emilio, ang ibig mong sabihin ay nasa Maynila na si Albichara? Di ba dapat ay siya ang umaasikaso sa evacuation ng mga pinoy sa Lebanon? Siya pa ang unang sumibat na bahag-buntot sa unang bagsak ng bomba? Kung wala siyang bayag, paano nga naman niya matullungan ang kanyang mga kababayan? Dapat siya ay gapusin ng yantok mindoro at itapon sa kulungan for direliction of duty. Dapat sabunin siya ni bansot.
Nelbar:
Patayin mo na lang ang TV mo sa Lunes, at sumama ka na lang sa martsa sa Congress. Sabihan mo rin ang mga kapitbahay ninyo na useless na panoorin si Pandak dahil nonsense naman ang sasabihin niyan. Sabihin mo maglagay sila ng mga placard sa labas ng bahay nila na galit sila kay Pandak. Tignan lang natin kung kaya ni Pandak na pakilusin ang mga pulis laban sa mga taumbayan.
Sa dami na lang ng mga OFW sa Lebanon na ina-abandon niya, talo na ang mga pulis kahit na tawagin pa ni Pandak iyong mga taga Macabebe na katulad ng ginawa ni Aguinaldo noong patayin nila si Andres Bonifacio at kumuha ng bayad sa mga kastila na kunyari pumayag silang magpa-exile sa Hong Kong. Iyan ang dahilan kung bakit ang mga kababayan ng lolo ni Pandak ay tinawag na mga “Dugong Aso.”
Ang problema kasi ay itinanim sa mga pilipino na walang magagawang matanggal ang mga kurakot at ang pag-asa lang nila ay lumayas ng Pilipinas para umunlad ang buhay nila. Hope hindi ganyan ang takbo ng utak mo.
Sa isang banda, mabuhay ang mga katulad mong bukas ang mga mata, and hopefully, tumi-tiempo lang! Right?
On the other hand, hindi ako naniniwalang bukal sa kalooban ni San Juan ang ginawa niya. Kitang-kita sa mga mata niya na iba ang nasa utak niya at sa sinasabi niya doon sa press conference niya. Pero between him and Faeldon, mas gusto ko si Faeldon kahit na patayin, hindi umuurong! Mabuhay din si Lim, Gudani, Trillanes, et al. I don’t see why it was wrong for their lawyers to talk to them even when they were on the run. Tungkulin ng abogado iyan na pangalagaan ang kliyente nila. Bakit hindi iyan naiintindihan ng mga mambabatas sa Pilipinas na they are not obligated to reveal to the police what their clients tell them. Kasi ang trabaho ng pulis ay mag-imbestiga ng krimen sa totoo lang. Ang pagpaparusa ay nasa kamay ng hukom!
OK din iyong pareng si Tobias na hindi takot kay bobong SiRaulOng Gonzales. Bakit hindi siya puedeng makipagkita doon sa nangangailangan ng kaniyang pagdarasal sa mga nagnanais na maging malapit sa Diyos kahit na sila nagtatago? Meron siyang discretion as a priest to offer sanctuary to these soldiers as a matter of fact since by international conventions and laws, it is considered valid and legal.
Ang simbahan ay supposed to be a sanctuary. Kung hindi iyan ino-honor ni Pandak bilang isang katoliko, e peke siya. Dapat diyan ay i-excommunicate!
Basahin mo ang istorya ni Helmut Hubener at baka magkaroon ka ng idea at inspiration on what to do for the Philippines now. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmuth_H%C3%BCbener)
I guess everything an deverybody in this administration is fake. Just like her Enchanted Kingdom which only exists in her convoluted mind, so is her concern for our OFWs. Its sad to think that the biggest contributors to her economy are now left out in the cold.
Ermita should go to Lebanon and lead our OFWs to where his escape routes are. While Cimatu can distribute flags to be used by amulets to ward of Israeli bullets and bombs.
These are the kind of people we have in government, either senile old men,or daydreamers who does nothing all day but to concoct stories of how well the administration is doing its job.
Yes, we might as well send them all to the U.S. and seek asylum there with Bolante, not political asylum but a mental asylum as all of them are sick in the head.
Alitaptap: Nang ini-interview si Ambassador Albichara ni Ted Failon kahapon sa TFC Global TV Patrol news ay magkakasama sila nina Gen. Cimatu at Ambassador Seguis sa border ng Damascus. Hindi nabanggit kung siya ay kasamang pabalik ng mga evacuees sa Pilipinas.
Kaya ko nasabing natutulog sa pansitan ay hindi niya alam ang tunay na nangyayari sa kanyang dapat pamahalaan. Mas mabuti ba nga iyong pari doon ay alam niya ang kaganapan.
Ganyan ka-inefficient ang ipinadadala ni Pandak sa mga bansa na dapat ay tumutulong sa mga Filipino OFWs na naghahanap-buhay.
“who does nothing all day but to concoct stories of how well the administration is doing its job”
kaya nga ako nagtataka kung bakit meron pang mga radyo, telebisyon at dyaryo na nagbabalita tungkol sa mga ini-isyu ng statement ng malakanyang?
Annan blames both Israel and Hizbollah
By Mark Turner at the United Nations and Guy Dinmore in Washington
Published: July 20 2006 17:31 | Last updated: July 20 2006 19:50
Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, on Thursday warned the Security Council there were significant obstacles to any quick end to the violence in the Middle East, but urged it to demand an immediate end of hostilities to save lives, send aid and to allow space for diplomacy.
Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, on Thursday warned the Security Council there were significant obstacles to any quick end to the violence in the Middle East, but urged it to demand an immediate end of hostilities to save lives, send aid and to allow space for diplomacy.
His package included the release of abducted Israeli soldiers, an expanded peacekeeping force, urgent aid and reconstruction measures, and an international conference to set timelines for the restoration of full Lebanese sovereignty and dismantling militia.
Mr Annan had tough words for both Hizbollah and Israel. “Whatever other agendas they may serve, Hizbollah’s actions, which it portrays as defending Palestinian and Lebanese interests, in fact do neither,” he said. “On the contrary, they hold an entire nation hostage.”
But while reaffirming Israel’s right to self-defence, Mr Annan condemned its disproportionate reaction: “Whatever damage Israel’s operations may be doing to Hizbollah’s military capabilities, they are doing nothing to decrease popular support for Hizbollah in Lebanon or the region, but are doing a great deal to weaken the government of Lebanon.”
Dan Gillerman, Israel’s UN ambassador, claimed that “three key elements of this crisis – terrorism, Iran and Syria” were not addressed in Mr Annan’s speech.
“The first thing that must be addressed is cessation of terror, before we can talk about a cessation of hostilities,” he said. “Diplomacy can play a part only after terror has been taken care of.”
John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, insisted any solution would need to “fundamentally change the realities of the region”, but added: “No one has explained how you conduct a ceasefire with a group of terrorists.” Nouhad Mahmoud, Lebanon’s envoy, described Mr Annan’s calls as “the voice of reason. Our first impression is very positive.”
Mr Annan said that even while hostilities continued, it was “imperative” to establish safe humanitarian corridors. “The humanitarian task facing us is massive and must be funded urgently,” he said.
He also urged a peace track for Gaza, where Palestinians were “suffering deeply”, and where he noted that a million people were without electricity after Israel’s destruction of the Gaza power plant.
“I call for an immediate cessation of indiscriminate and disproportionate violence and a reopening of closed crossing-points, without which Gaza will continue to be sucked into a downward spiral of suffering and chaos, and the region further inflamed.”
Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, and Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, were due to meet Mr Annan on Thursday night.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
* * * * * * * * * *
Alam ng Israel ang mentalidad ng bawat Lebanese dahil sa ipinakita nito noong ‘Cedar Spring’ noong 2005.
At isa na si Kofi Annan sa liderato ng UN sa mga nagtulak nito.
Anim na taon matapos ang withdrawal ni Ehud Barak sa Souther Lebanon at heto na naman ang Israel.
Ang isa sa mga dahilan kung bakit malakas ang loob ng Israel na ma-invade ang Lebanon ay dahil sa naipakita ang Anti-Syrian sentiments ng Lebanese population.
Isang aral ito sa mga naghahangad ng “pro-democracy”(kuno) conspiracy ng western empire upang lalong manghimasok sa mga host countries o internal affairs ng mga bansa.
Lebanon’s Filipino OFWs are the living proofs that Filipino oversease workers, obviously from the impoverished ranks of Philippine society, would rather take the risk of facing shellings, explosions, destruction, deaths, injuries, hardships and other man-caused disasters in another country where they have a chance of keeping their job than to return home.
Their dogma: Anywhere but the Philippines.
Simply staggering! Quite extraordinary! Where on earth do you see citizens of a so-called democratic nation willing to go through that kind of hell just because they know that if they returned home, it would be double hell?
The OFWs’ attitude reflects the kind of nation Gloria has turned the Philippines into: A NO MAN’s LAND.
Gloria and her usurper friends should die of shame!
Kaya nga, Anna, sabi ko kay Nelbar na its a reflection of the true State of the Nation na iyan ang dapat na sabihin ni Pandak.
How about writing a SONA for this Bansot. O uumpisahan ko —
“Mga Kababayan Ko na Pinapatay Ko Sa Gutom, Ladies and Gentlemen and In-Between:
“As you know, I was supposed to tell about a new crap talk similar to the one I loved to talk about, like the paper boat that I actually lied about six years ago, or was it 5 years ago and then I retold about 3 years ago. Yes, dear countrymen, like Mother Goose of the famous nursery ryhme, I was going to tell you another queer story, and that was the story of the Reyna Engkantada–actually me–in the Enchanted Kingdom.
“Unfortunately, itong mga Hudyo biglang umalma when two of their soldiers were taken hostage by the Hisbala, e hindi pala Hezbollah, na binoboladas nitong mga Hudyo para gamiting dahilan sa pagbomba ng Lebanon.
“Ngayon, dear Kababayan, malaki ang aking problema. Ang daming OFW sa Lebanon, mas marami pa kesa sa mga Amerikano doon kaya ayaw nilang magpasakay sa eroplano at bapor nila! Kayo ang may kasalanan kasi sabi kayo ng sabi sa akin na huwag kong isali ang ating mga sundalo sa guerra sa Iraq. Ayan tuloy hindi ako makapa-cute-cute kay Dubya Bush.
“Iyon namang mga amo ng mga OFW na mga foreigner ay nagtakbuhan na rin before we could demand payment for the airfare of their Filipino domestic helpers for repatriation sa ibang lugar sa Middle East o kaya sa Hong Kong, Singapore o siguro kahit sa Spain! I will try to find out from my Labor Secretary what has happened to our talk with the Spaniards about hiring Filipino caregivers. Siguro, we will just ask them to get domestic helpers na galing Lebanon para hindi na masayang iyong Standby Fund na sinabi kong i-hold muna hanggat hindi tayo nakakasiguro na baka naman maayos n Kofi Anan at Condie Rice ang sigalot na ito! Baka kasi maki-cooperate si Lucio Tan na ipagamit ng libre ang mga eroplano niya paghakot sa mga OFW doon. Sayang din kasi ang perang matatago just in case humingi ng dagdag iyong mga yayari sa Impeachment.
Ayan ha, I’m being fair. Hindi ko sinabing papatayin kundi yayariin na lang. Bahala kayong mag-conclude kung for or against! Itong mga modern-day heroes and heroines natin ay dapat nating matulungang huwag umuwi at makapagpatuloy na magtrabaho kahit saan!”
O, Anna, Everybody, ituloy ninyo ang SONA ni Pandak!
Re: Mahathir’s statment. I concur. Not only that, for every bomb that Israel drops in Lebanon, a future Hezbollah and anti-West fighter is born.
The two Israeli soldies who were captured by the Hezbollahs are being offered in the prisoners’ swap. According to the Hez chief, they abducted them for the purpose. The world is forgetting that Israel has thousands of Islamic and Hezbollah prisoners in their dungeons.
Also, there have been 14 military Israeli casualties so far to “get back the 2 Israeli soldiers.” Is this the Israeli rationale?
Bush could pressure the Israelis to accept a ceasfire. Why Bush is procrastinating and refusing a ceasefire is beyond me. I hope one day, Bush and his friend in Israel are tried for war crimes or crimes against humanity.
The Hezbollahs may be terrorists but so are Bush and his Israeli friend in absolutely the same, equal degree!
Naku Yuko, batuhin na lang ng kamatis iyang si Bansot. She will be conning the nation lang naman on Monday.
Yes Anna, for a measely pay of $150 a month, they would rather risk life and limb than to die here with their eyes wide open.
Nelbar,
We need media, they are responsible for exposing all the lies these administration is peddling. Kaya nga galit na galit si bansot sa media kasi lagi siyang binubuking.
Can’t understand this mentality of Filipinos wanting to go to hell than go back home to the Philippines! Lack of opportunities back home should not be an excuse for this government to be excused for not doing its best to repatriate those 30,000 stranded Filipinos in Lebanon.
Just talked to a boy whose mother is in Lebanon working as a maid. He’s retarded as a matter of fact, but retarded or not, he wants his mother to come home. “Ayokong mamatay ang nanay ko sa Lebanon. Matagal ko na siyang gustong umuwi kahit magutom kami!” he cried.
Enough of the Tiyanak’s excuses! >:-
From Channel News Asia:
Indonesia, Malaysia could contribute to Mideast peacekeeping force
Posted: 21 July 2006 1103 hrs
ASIA – Indonesia is ready to contribute to a peacekeeping force in the Middle East while Malaysia may also do so once the UN Security Council decides on a proposal to despatch troops to the area.
UN chief Kofi Annan has called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and for an expanded contingent of peacekeeping troops to be deployed in the troubled region.
And leaders of the G8 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia and the United States — have proposed an international stabilisation force for Lebanon.
The United Nations currently has a 2,000-strong troop contingent in Lebanon.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said Thursday during a visit to Britain that Malaysia, the current chair of the world’s largest grouping of Islamic countries, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, was well-placed to send soldiers.
“Certainly this (decision) has to be made by the cabinet but based on our experience and involvement in Bosnia, and our position as OIC chairman, there is a strong case for Malaysia to seriously consider it,” he told the official Bernama news agency.
Malaysia, speaking as the chair of the 116-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), has condemned Israel’s offensives in Gaza and Lebanon and called for an international force to be deployed to prevent the violence from spiralling into a regional conflict.
“The international community … should make every effort to ensure that these aggressive military actions by Israel do not lead to a widening of the conflict involving other countries in the region,” Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.
Meanwhile Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has written to the UN chief to express concern about the escalating conflict in the Middle East and express Jakarta’s readiness to contribute to a UN force there, an official said Friday.
President Yudhoyono also told Mr Annan about the need to rebuild regions devastated by more than a week of Israeli air strikes, presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said.
“The president expressed support for the formation of an international force under a UN mandate and Indonesia is willing to participate in such a force by contributing at least a battalion,” Djalal told reporters.
Indonesia would also send food and medicine, plus one million dollars to help beleaguered Palestinians and Lebanese.
“The president stressed the need to rebuild conflict-hit regions which have suffered chaos and desolation. The president also expressed the need to revive the Middle East road map to peace, which has stalled,” Djalal said.
Yudhoyono’s letter to the UN chief followed his call Tuesday for a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia group.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian struggle for statehood and has no diplomatic ties with Israel.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda has called Israel’s military strikes on Lebanon and Palestinian territory “beyond appropriateness and disproportionate.”
Analysts say the absence of ties with Israel is a stumbling block for Indonesia to play a greater role in the Middle East peace process.
The attacks on Lebanon, triggered by the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, have killed more than 300 people, mostly civilians.- AFP/ir
Copyright © 2006 MCN International Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Turkish anti-West mood ‘rising’
Last Updated: Thursday, 20 July 2006, 12:57 GMT 13:57 UK
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has warned that moderate Turks are becoming anti-American and anti-EU.
Mr Gul said many Turks were embittered by the US’ support for Israel’s actions in Lebanon and by Turkey’s problems in joining the EU.
He also said Ankara could be forced to act to stop cross-border raids by Kurdish rebels operating from Iraq.
Mr Gul’s comments came in a wide-ranging interview with the UK’s Financial Times newspaper.
“Moderate liberal people [in Turkey] are becoming anti-American and anti-EU,” he said.
Some EU leaders are lukewarm about Turkey’s bid
“If our young, educated, dynamic and economically active people become bitter, if their attitudes and feelings are changed, it is not good.
“Their feeling has changed towards these global policies and strategic issues. This is dangerous.”
On the EU accession talks, Mr Gul said failure to resolve the dispute with Cyprus was “poisoning” the process that was formally launched in June.
Cyprus has threatened to veto the Turkish bid unless Ankara officially recognises it and opens its ports and airports to Greek Cypriot ships and planes.
But Mr Gul said Turkish lawmakers would reject such proposals unless the Cypriots also lifted their veto on any direct trade with the Turkish Cypriot government in northern Cyprus, which is not internationally recognised.
He also suggested that some EU states seemed to be hiding behind the Cyprus issues to delay Turkey’s accession talks.
Kurdish issue
On the Middle East issue, Mr Gul said US policies were causing a backlash in Turkey and the region.
Washington’s support for Israel did not help solve the problem, he said.
And he again warned that Turkey would have to act if the US and Iraq failed to stop by the Turkish Kurdish rebel group, the PKK, which is operating from Iraq.
Washington – a long-term ally of Ankara – has warned Turkey against taking unilateral military action against PKK bases in northern Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5198290.stm
© BBC MMVI
Bush’s representative in the UN has stated that the US will not capitulate and has actually turned down Anan’s suggestion for both Israel and Lebanon to stop hostilities.
Israel is insisting on the dissolution of Hezbollah so that despite the handing over of the Israeli soldiers kidnapped by the Hezbollah to the Red Cross, Israel is not letting up according to the latest CNN news. Civilians are being told to leave areas the Israelis plan to bomb!
Bush must be in his bedroom praying for some American casualty to validate US participation in this war that is why he is not saying much nor is he telling the US military to rush evacuation of US citizens out of Lebanon. (:-&
On the other hand, newspapers here have not reported any Japanese stranded in Lebanon because of a ban on travel to the Middle East especially these countries now at war. We are more concerned about the conflict with North Korea as a matter of fact.
At least, we don’t have anymore troop in Iraq and next time, our soldiers get involved in this kind of conflict, it will have to be as UN peacekeepers to gain permanent seat in the UN Security Council. Even that in fact is not welcomed by a lot many Japanese who want to keep the pacifist Constitution of Japan.
Meanwhile, with such an average of 100 OFWs a day to ship out from Lebanon, how long do you think will it take to repatriate the less than 30,000 OFWs? So what is Cimatu jumping about like a monkey? 300 days! There are 365 days a year! Golly, sa isang taon pa makakauwi iyong mga mamalasing maging kulilat! |-{
“Bush must be in his bedroom praying for some American casualty to validate US participation in this war ”
Oh my! What if your hunch is true? Never ever occured to me that Bush actually might relish the thought of an American casualty to step in and do another Iraq.
Just too sickening to even imagine it!
Post WW2 creation of Israel was the beginning of perhaps un-ending of killing between the Arab States and the lonely Israelian right smack in the middle of Muslim nation, middle east. Arab nation will never give up any piece of land that they believe are belong to them. Yet, Israelian are there to stay, and surely it’s now there home. Be that as it may, in the eyes of the Arabs, Israelian are undocumented illegal immigrants and it has no claim to be occupying the portion of the land, the promised land. So, in my opinion, the hatred are so deep between different ethnicities that reconciliation are not even in the map. There will always be killing between cultural nations in that part of the globe for years to come, its inevitable. If the Pilipinos wants to be out of the harms way, they shouldn’t even considering of traveling in that part of the middle east. And/or, if they insist, Pilipinos should do so at their own personal risk that when they get in trouble they shouldn’t expect any assistance from the Philippines govt regardless of who in the govt. Lets be realistic, and not at the present circumtances anyway, Philippines just has no means and resources to be galloping worldwide helping or assisting every Pilipinos that gets in trouble. We are a poor nation and a beggar as other see us. We must change such perception on the Pilipinos.
But, as a poor nation, we must also keep our self-pride as a proud Pilipinos and stop asking others for assistance. We got ourselves in a bind and somehow we must have strong resolve to get us out of trouble, not by hitch hiking a free ride from other coutries, they also have their own problems. Lets not be a problem for others!
Gloria Arroyo instead of making her to look good on empty promises, she must initiate an honest dialogue, with the 30,000 Pilipinos caught in the conflict. Somehow, someone must do an Ellen Torsidellas, let the truth be known. Get the message to the Pilipinos stranded that no assistance are coming that they’re on their own, so they can plan other options necessary for them to get to safety, it there is such a place.
Anna,
That is what I’m reading from the statements of the hawkish US representative in the UN.
Bush has no respect in fact for the UN. I am in this egroup of members of our church in the US and around the world, and I’m the only Asiatic there although I hide behind my British family name and favorite Andrew Lloyd Webber’s play, and I remember the discussion about Bush having a book written by an anti-UN American on top of his desk that he reads like he’ll read the Bible!
Remember how the US joined WWI and WWII! At least, those wars were kind of justified or so we are taught in school especially with textbooks printed and published in the US.
I’m praying though that it will not happen even when there seems to be some conspiracy regarding this considering the fact that this is actually not the first time that Israeli soldiers have been taken as hostages by the members of Hezbollah.
Heaven forbid, but this is something prophesied in fact! Gotta get ready, dear friend! :-C
Anna,
Remember the Beirut bombing in the ’80s where 250 marines died? These only shows the ferocity of these fundamentalist to rid the earth of any (to their belief) non-believers. Such a waste of life.
If the 30,000 Pilipinos in harms way still looking for assistance from Gloria Arroyo and Company, they can just forget it. The sooner the better, that the Pilipinos overseas to start realizing that the only way they’ll get help is if they help themselves. In view of this conflict there is a lesson to be learned here, and I think it would be at the best interest of the Pilipino nation to start adapting the same political ideology of Israel, that every citizens of Israel are soldiers of the country no matter who they may be. They are all willing to make a contribution even to the cost of one’sife. Do Pilipinos have the will?
The conflict in Lebanon and the middle east has been going on for 2000 years. The OFW presence in the middle east has been going only the the last 20 years. Gloria has been pretending to be honestly elected only in the last 2 years. And within the last 24 hours Gloria has dumped the cause of evacuating the OFWs and DFA founding ceremony in favor of ceremonies of changing of the guard in the military. In the final analysis, the OFWs are not worth anything and dispensable when they no longer contribute Gloria’s economy and DFA is simply for convenience of the enchanted kingdom.
Yuko, I don’t think bansot will deliver SONA. She will speak instead SOKA (state of kingdom address). I won’t bother to listen, for the sake of my mental health. Baka masoka pa ako.
Aa, soo ka! Alitaptap, I won’t even bother listen to the broadcast to be aired on the Internet by GMA or ABS-CBN. I have a suspicion that she is going to try to make us look silly talking about her enchanted kingdom when in fact she is being convinced right now to concentrate on the progress daw noong mga batang kinasangkapan nila sa SONA niya 5 years ago. Golly, may kinalaman pala si Dinky Soliman dito!!!
Nangkupo!!! Sukasukasukasukasuka………!
Americans fleeing Lebanon express regret –Yahoo! News
BEIRUT, Lebanon – Anxious Americans hauled bulging suitcases down a rocky Lebanese beach and into the waiting hold of a U.S. Navy landing craft Friday as the accelerating U.S. evacuation moved thousands away from unrelenting Israeli airstrikes.
Five thousand U.S. citizens were leaving Friday — the largest number in one day since the evacuation began Wednesday. U.S. officials confirmed that 3,600 had left but it wasn’t immediately clear if a ship carrying the remaining 1,400 had departed.
U.S. Embassy officials, still smarting from criticism over delays in starting the evacuation effort, said that with the day’s departures, more than 8,000 of the 25,000 Americans in Lebanon when the bombing started had evacuated.
The Americans joined tens of thousands of foreigners heading home to destinations around the globe.
U.S. Marines helped push baby carriages and lifted children into the boats ferrying thousands of U.S. citizens, many who had been visiting family in Lebanon, to seven warships that waited in the Mediterranean, compared to two the day before.
Dogs sniffed luggage for explosives. Troops handed out water bottles and military rations to evacuees, many of whom had been waiting in the sun since 5 a.m.
“We’re really sad because we’re leaving this way,” said Maha Maher, 38, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who was visiting relatives with her two sons. “All that we wish is peace for Lebanon, because it’s a great country. The Lebanese people are paying the price, and we feel sorry for this.”
The USS Trenton, normally a troop transport, left Beirut carrying 1,775 Americans to the neighboring Mediterranean island of Cyprus, as did the USS Nashville, with 1,000 evacuees.
Officials had said that only about 8,000 Americans had registered to leave, but they were letting people who had not signed up board the ships. They declined to give a specific number, but suggested the effort would wrap up this weekend.
“That would be my suspicion,” said Marine Brig. Gen. Carl B. Jensen, who was leading the operation. He added there might even be room for guests from other countries.
“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we had some excess capacity,” Jensen said. “We will of course make that available to other nations to assist in their orderly departure,” he added.
About a quarter of Lebanon’s population, or about 1 million people, emigrated during the 1975-1990 war, to France, the Americas and Australia. Many of those who settled in the U.S. were dual citizens.
Catherine Haidar and her husband Mahmoud, who own a restaurant in southern California, had brought their four girls — ages 9 to 17.
“I was waiting for my kids to grow up,” Catherine Haidar said, adding that the girls had just gotten used to the unfamiliar territory and made friends when the bombs began to fall.
“The house was shaking,” Haidar said.
Americans already in Cyprus boarded flights home or packed into shelters.
The U.S. government already has spent about $200,000 helping Americans return to the United States, an amount expected to grow.
A repatriation center opened Thursday at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Another center opened Friday at Philadelphia’s airport.
The centers are staffed by medical and mental health professionals, and have phone banks and computers to help people contact friends and relatives.
Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, setting off the Israeli offensive. Hezbollah has responded by raining rockets onto Israel.
Most foreigners are traveling by sea to Cyprus as the overland route to Syria was deemed too dangerous and Israel knocked Beirut’s airport out of service last week by bombing its runways.
About 200 Canadians assembled near the Beirut port waiting to be evacuated, many wearing hats or covering their heads with towels under the sweltering heat. Officials said as many as 30,000 were scheduled for evacuation and 2,413 people had left Beirut by the end of the day.
The first planeload landed in Ottawa aboard Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s jet, which Harper had flown to Larnaca, Cyprus.
Canada has been criticised for conducting chaotic and slow evacuation efforts. Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said the criticism, of what would likely become the country’s largest emergency exodus from another country, was unwarranted.
“It’s the largest effort in Canadian history; we are making progress and we are getting results,” he told a news conference in Ottawa. “We are sparing the politics and we are moving forward in a way that is going to allow Canadians to get home.”
The U.S. evacuation effort drew Marines to Lebanon for the first time in more than two decades. A total of 241 Americans, including many Marines, were killed in a 1983 suicide bombing blamed on Hezbollah-linked militants. The Marines left Lebanon a few months later, ending the last U.S. military presence in this tiny Arab nation.
“For the U.S. Marine Corps, Beirut will always be hallowed ground,” Jensen said. “No Marine can set foot on Lebanon without memories flooding.”
Other evacuees so far include at least 2,860 Britons, 1,000 Italians, 608 Indians, 3,500 Germans, 560 Greeks and 1,000 Turks.
___
Associated Press Writer Maria Sanminiatelli in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this story.
Ellen,
Off topic but concerns your blog’s inaccessibility 2 days ago. I asked Dean over at Philippinecommentary.blogspot.com and here’s his comment:
“Rizalist said…
BFR, HB:
“I was out last nite…
“I think Ellen could be having that wonderful problem most bloggers would love to have:: too many visitors for her server to handle at the same time.
“You see folks, nowadays, the best way to shut down a website you don’t like is…to give it more visitors than the server’s bandwidth can handle at any given moment!
“I know it sounds crazy, but if you google for “denial of service attack” you will see the principle in action.
“I doubt that Ellen was under a DOS attack, but I don’t know about YOUR servers. hehe.”
I’ve also just read a commenter’s post in Dean’s blog where he says someone’s been able to sign under the name his usually been posting his comments at Mlq3’s.
Weird things are happening. Seems Gloria’s internet brigade are out to sow trouble in the anti-Gloria blogosphere.
We all must heed Yuko’s warning to be careful and to install all these anti-virus, etc. walls against intruders.
This article, “The Terrorism Trap” by Rashid Khalidi appeared in the July 22, 2006 issue of the New York Times.
It gives us a broader insight to a conflict that we don’t see ending soon.
Rashid Khalidi is a professor of Arab studies at Columbia University and the author of the forthcoming “The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood.”
My apologies to Ellen and the rest for this off-topic entry. I just wanted to share this little discovery of mine. Just in case that you are not aware, Bishop Lagdameo has a blog and the following is the link – http://abplagdameo.blogspot.com/2006/07/in-interest-of-common-good.html
Ellen, Anna, All:
I’m sending Ellen the utilities I have for these attacks that she may try to install in her PC.
I have asked a friend in the police task with tracking violators of the new Internet Law to check on Ellen’s blog. Apparently, someone or some organization is trying to subtly shut it down especially to bloggers like us who are rabidly anti-Pandak not that we don’t want to give her a chance to proof her worth but that we cannot see any reason why we should be privy to her plundering of public funds, cheating, lying, incompetence, inefficiency, her trying hard to prove that she is something of a Jack of all trade and definitely not a master of anything, mediocrity, etc., etc. You name it, she does not have it! Kaya bakit hindi na lang bumaba ang ungas na ito!
I gave Ellen’s blog, plus the others having similar problems of being unaccessible. Apparently, this is possible especially when the owner of the blog does not own the server or provider and has no way of checking why his/her blogsite is being taken off the Internet or being blocked, or being switched off and on para hindi mahalatang hina-hack.
I’ll get the result in a day or two. We’ll let you know guys in private the result of such investigation, for I might need some help in tracing whose IP/DNS nos. will be discovered doing this kind of net sabotage.
Instead of finding ways to end the war in Lebanon, the U.S. is helping Israel worsen the situation. This is from The New York Times, July 22, 2006:
P. S.
I found out that one of the best things to do to remove any implanted spyware being sent through Ellen’s blog, I guess, is to clean up your PC first before accessing Ellen’s blog. I have tried this today and yesterday. It worked fine. I use two spyware detectors and removers, then I activate my virus buster, and then I run my BCWipe, which is better than any cleaning software I have ever used. It is a product of Jettison, a software company in the US.
I’m not being paid for advertising this products that I am using but they sure are powerful softwares to protect your PC and web surfing. All are available at the download.com or zdnet.com as freeware or shareware. I use AVG virus buster from Grisoft.
Thanks, Yuko.
Thanks, Nelbar for updates.
Rodolfo, what’s your mother’s name (thanks ma’am ellen and taipan88 for including my mother in your prayer.) and what’s the latest from her? Na sa evacuation center ba siya?
Ellen, All:
If you need a background check on this crisis, I would like to refer you to http://www.informationclearinghouse.info. Apparently, the mad man at the White House is having a celebration for the possibility of this crisis escalating into a World War, because war is the business of his family!!! Old ammunition in their warehouses have to be sold before they leak out again!!!
I doubt if Iran is really capable enough to fight the Americans especially with such show of helplessness during crisis caused by natural disasters and calamities like earthquakes.
In Lebanon, the dead have to wait
By Hassan M. Fattah
07/21/06 “New York Times” — – – TYRE, Lebanon Carpenters are running out of wood for coffins.
Bodies are stacked three or four high in a truck at the hospital morgue. The stench is spreading in the rubble.
The morbid reality of Israel’s bombing campaign of the south is reaching almost every corner of this city. Just a few kilometers from the Rest House hotel, where the United Nations was evacuating civilians on Thursday, wild dogs gnawed at the charred remains of a family bombed as they were trying to escape the village of Hosh, officials said.
Officials at the Tyre Government Hospital inside a Palestinian refugee camp said they had counted the bodies of 50 children among the 115 in the refrigerated truck in the morgue, although their count could not be independently confirmed.
Abdelmuhsin al-Husseini, Tyre’s mayor, announced Thursday that any bodies not claimed within the next two days by next of kin would be buried temporarily in a mass grave near the morgue until they could receive a proper burial once the fighting ends.
“I am asking the families, if they can come here, to claim the bodies,” said Husseini, whose bloodshot eyes hinted at his mad scramble to secure food rations and bring some order to the city.
“Otherwise, we have no choice but to bury them in mass graves.”
With the roads and bridges to many surrounding villages bombed out, few families have been able to come to the hospital to claim their dead.
Even if they could make the journey, they fear they would be hit by airstrikes along the way, Husseini said. Emergency workers have been unwilling to risk recovering many bodies strewn along the road. Instead, they have been left to rot.
For those relatives who reach the morgue, conducting a proper burial is impossible while the bombing continues. Many have opted to leave the bodies at the morgue until the conflict ends.
The morgue has had to order more than 100 coffins with special handles to make it easier to remove them from the ground to be reburied later.
“What? He wants a hundred?” a local carpenter said, half shocked, half perplexed. “Where the hell am I going to get enough wood to build that many coffins?”
At the hospital, members of the medical staff now find themselves dealing with the dead more than saving the living.
“This hospital is working like a morgue more than a hospital,” said Hala Hijazi, a volunteer whose mother is an anesthesiologist at the hospital. Lately, Hijazi said, she has begun to recognize some of the faces arriving here as the scope of the Israeli bombings has widened. “A lot of the people are from Tyre, and we know some of them,” she said of the cadavers.
A pall fell over Tyre on Thursday, as UN peacekeepers loaded more than 600 UN employees, foreigners and Lebanese onto a ferry bound for Cyprus, then promptly packed up their makeshift evacuation center at the Rest House and left for their base in the town of Naqura.
Hundreds descended on the hotel on Wednesday, desperate to board the ferry. Despite fears that many would be left behind, almost all who sought refuge were able to board the ship Thursday.
But as the last UN peacekeepers left town later in the day, those who remained were braced for an even heavier bombardment. There were rumors of an Israeli invasion, and fears of even more casualties.
For Ali and Ahmad al-Ghanam, brothers who have taken shelter in a home just a few blocks from the morgue, the refrigerated truck full of cadavers is a vivid reminder of the attack that killed 23 members of their family.
When Israeli loudspeakers warned residents to evacuate the village of Marwaheen on Saturday, the families packed their belongings and headed for safety. Twenty-four people piled into a pickup truck and drove toward Tyre, with the brothers trailing behind them.
Another group set off for a nearby UN observation post, but were promptly turned away.
As the pickup raced to Tyre, Ali al- Ghanam said, Israeli boats shelled their convoy, hitting the pickup but wounding only the women and children in the back.
Within minutes, however, an Israeli helicopter approached, firing a missile that blew the pickup to pieces as the passengers struggled to jump out, he said. His brother Mohammad, his wife and their six children were killed instantly along with several of their relatives. The only survivor was the brothers’ 4-year-old niece, who suffered severe burns to much of her body.
“The dead stayed in the sun for hours until anyone could come and collect them,” Ghanam said. “The Israelis can’t understand that we are people, too. Should they wonder why so many of us support the resistance?” he said, speaking of Hezbollah.
The 23 bodies are still waiting to be buried. Ghanam said that it would be impossible for them to be buried in their village while the bombing continued.
Holding a funeral is impossible, but even digging a grave could attract fire, he said, assuming the remaining family members were able to return to the village.
The brothers walked to the hospital Thursday to sign documents allowing the hospital to bury the bodies in a mass grave.
TYRE, Lebanon Carpenters are running out of wood for coffins.
Bodies are stacked three or four high in a truck at the hospital morgue. The stench is spreading in the rubble.
The morbid reality of Israel’s bombing campaign of the south is reaching almost every corner of this city. Just a few kilometers from the Rest House hotel, where the United Nations was evacuating civilians on Thursday, wild dogs gnawed at the charred remains of a family bombed as they were trying to escape the village of Hosh, officials said.
Officials at the Tyre Government Hospital inside a Palestinian refugee camp said they had counted the bodies of 50 children among the 115 in the refrigerated truck in the morgue, although their count could not be independently confirmed.
Abdelmuhsin al-Husseini, Tyre’s mayor, announced Thursday that any bodies not claimed within the next two days by next of kin would be buried temporarily in a mass grave near the morgue until they could receive a proper burial once the fighting ends.
“I am asking the families, if they can come here, to claim the bodies,” said Husseini, whose bloodshot eyes hinted at his mad scramble to secure food rations and bring some order to the city.
“Otherwise, we have no choice but to bury them in mass graves.”
With the roads and bridges to many surrounding villages bombed out, few families have been able to come to the hospital to claim their dead.
Even if they could make the journey, they fear they would be hit by airstrikes along the way, Husseini said. Emergency workers have been unwilling to risk recovering many bodies strewn along the road. Instead, they have been left to rot.
For those relatives who reach the morgue, conducting a proper burial is impossible while the bombing continues. Many have opted to leave the bodies at the morgue until the conflict ends.
The morgue has had to order more than 100 coffins with special handles to make it easier to remove them from the ground to be reburied later.
“What? He wants a hundred?” a local carpenter said, half shocked, half perplexed. “Where the hell am I going to get enough wood to build that many coffins?”
At the hospital, members of the medical staff now find themselves dealing with the dead more than saving the living.
“This hospital is working like a morgue more than a hospital,” said Hala Hijazi, a volunteer whose mother is an anesthesiologist at the hospital. Lately, Hijazi said, she has begun to recognize some of the faces arriving here as the scope of the Israeli bombings has widened. “A lot of the people are from Tyre, and we know some of them,” she said of the cadavers.
A pall fell over Tyre on Thursday, as UN peacekeepers loaded more than 600 UN employees, foreigners and Lebanese onto a ferry bound for Cyprus, then promptly packed up their makeshift evacuation center at the Rest House and left for their base in the town of Naqura.
Hundreds descended on the hotel on Wednesday, desperate to board the ferry. Despite fears that many would be left behind, almost all who sought refuge were able to board the ship Thursday.
But as the last UN peacekeepers left town later in the day, those who remained were braced for an even heavier bombardment. There were rumors of an Israeli invasion, and fears of even more casualties.
For Ali and Ahmad al-Ghanam, brothers who have taken shelter in a home just a few blocks from the morgue, the refrigerated truck full of cadavers is a vivid reminder of the attack that killed 23 members of their family.
When Israeli loudspeakers warned residents to evacuate the village of Marwaheen on Saturday, the families packed their belongings and headed for safety. Twenty-four people piled into a pickup truck and drove toward Tyre, with the brothers trailing behind them.
Another group set off for a nearby UN observation post, but were promptly turned away.
As the pickup raced to Tyre, Ali al- Ghanam said, Israeli boats shelled their convoy, hitting the pickup but wounding only the women and children in the back.
Within minutes, however, an Israeli helicopter approached, firing a missile that blew the pickup to pieces as the passengers struggled to jump out, he said. His brother Mohammad, his wife and their six children were killed instantly along with several of their relatives. The only survivor was the brothers’ 4-year-old niece, who suffered severe burns to much of her body.
“The dead stayed in the sun for hours until anyone could come and collect them,” Ghanam said. “The Israelis can’t understand that we are people, too. Should they wonder why so many of us support the resistance?” he said, speaking of Hezbollah.
The 23 bodies are still waiting to be buried. Ghanam said that it would be impossible for them to be buried in their village while the bombing continued.
Holding a funeral is impossible, but even digging a grave could attract fire, he said, assuming the remaining family members were able to return to the village.
The brothers walked to the hospital Thursday to sign documents allowing the hospital to bury the bodies in a mass grave.
Copyright © 2006 the International Herald Tribune
*****
This reminds me of what my father said about the Del Rosario family that benefitted from the last world war. The family owned several funeral parlors and my father said that Funeraria Paz and Quiogue were contracted by the returning US forces to collect all the deads in Manila and bury them.
They still own these two big funeral parlors and added several more like the Arlington Funeral Parlor in Q. C. I wonder how much the Israelis’and Lebanese funeral parlours will earn from this war.
Tribune reports that “the Philippine government on Saturday ordered all Filipinos in southern Lebanon to leave immediately from that war-torn country after alert level 4 was issued on reports of the massing of Israeli troops poised for ground attack anytime.
“Alert level 4 is the highest warning, indicating that an attack is imminent, and mostly overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Lebanon must evacuate to safer ground right away.
“The OFWs should leave the area immediately as hostilities there continue to escalate, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Gilbert Asuque yesterday said.”
After 10 days since Israel attacked Lebanon, the Philippine government, to be exact the DFA, ordered the OFWs to leave Southern Lebanon. Naks, akala mo totoo! But with the breakdown of communication, etc. I wonder how these crooks order the OFWs to leave. Nagtatago nga iyan sa mga lungga, and the priest helping them has even made statements confirming the fact that they have not heard anything kasi nga putol na ang mga telepono.
So, the question boils down to “Just who are these people trying to impress?” In fact, the Pandak should give up giving any SONA amidst this crisis, and no time for celebrating even for the sake of her new Chief of Staff na isa pang mayabang din!
Dito iyan, kapag nagsalita ng ganyan ang Chief of Police or any of the leaders of the Japan Self Defense Force, bukas na bukas din, magkakaroon ng malaking demonstration dito to demand the resignation of an assassin of his own people regardless of whether or not they are terrorists, whom the police are supposed to stop by arresting them and putting them to jail.
Diyan mo makikita kung anong klase ang mga taong pinapayagan na makaupo at makaloko ng taumbayan. Ang tindi!
Yuko said:So, the question boils down to “Just who are these people trying to impress?”
It is obvious, dear Yuko, that they are trying to impress themselves. Nobody listens to them anymore, so what we got here is a new breed of politico narcissist, trumpeting empty decress, unmitigated lies, spurious stances, etc. The stark realities are that OFWs in Lebanon will become part of the refugees and displaced persons, abandoned and forgotten by their own government.
OFWs or Filipino workers are among the most pitiful foreigners in Lebanon. The kind of leaders we have reflect greatly on how other countries think and treat them. This will only improve once this fake president is removed. On her SONA Monday, SANA mawala na siya!
You bet, Alitaptap, these crooks are serving only themselves, but what I cannot understand is how these crooks are being allowed even now to go on insulting the Filipinos and getting scotfree with their lies and deceit. Excuse the profanity, but tangna talaga. Sobra naman ang pagkamartir ng mga pilipino!
I suggest that those who do not like the Pandak to just shut off their TVs or watch something else than listen to the BS that the Pandak is likely to make during her SONA to show their disgust even over the way she handles the Lebanon crisis. 30,000 na iyang possible boycotters of the SONA na mga pamilya ng mga OFWs, plus the millions of Filipinos who have given up hope of a better Philippines under the reign of this mediocre posing as high and mighty!
Ipakita ninyo ang galit ninyo, please! Anyway, this crook is going to say nothing but her fantasies that have caused the Filipinos more miseries than benefits such as her penchant for (1) the paper boats allegedly from some kids they have picked up from among the many kids writing the DSWD for help, (2) the enchanted kingdom that is more something like the park in Pinocchio where everyone becomes a donkey, and (3) admiration for herself that she thinks that there is no one else more fitting for the position that she has appointed herself in and succeeded with the help of those who have more to gain than lose in what has become more as a nightmare than a dream for a better Philippines for all Filipinos including those who are presently enjoying the patronage of the Pandak.
Best thing for the families of the OFWs in Lebanon to do is organize a rally to show their disgust against these pimps who have nothing much to offer Filipinos than these jobs they pimp Filipinos to. Best is to time this march tomorrow during the SONA/SOKA!!! 😛
And when the 30,000 OFWs arrive home, what do they have to contend with? Higher taxes, no suitable employment and wages that cannot keep up with inflation…
No wonder they would rather venture living and working in a powder keg of a country…
To all;
Let’s combine all your strength and energy to solve the mystery why GMA still in power. Stop licking your wounds, para lang kayong mga tindera ng isda at gulay sa palengke, matutuyo lang ang laway nyo sa pagiging butangera!!! 😉
How the opposition bungled moves to oust GMA
SPECIAL REPORT
By EFREN L. DANAO, RONNIE CALUMPITA AND MARICEL V. CRUZ, The Manila Times Reporters
When President Arroyo delivers her latest State of the Nation address Monday, the sixth since ascending to the presidency in 2001, she is expected to once again appeal for national unity in the face of a woefully fragmented opposition still gnashing its collective teeth over its multiple, though disparate, attempts to topple her, all of which failed.
The attempts ranged from the politically expedient route of impeachment, coupled with massive protests—dubbed “parliament of the streets”—to fomenting further unrest among troops already restive in the barracks, to using the pulpit to drive home one message: The President has to go.
But the message, although not wanting in the decibel scale, fell on the deaf ears of a population so tired of internecine political strife it tended to favor the subtler call from Malacañan: Enough! Let’s move on with our lives.
No deal
The opposition, quite predictably, is not buying the Malacañan pitch. In fact, weeks before tomorrow’s opening of the third regular session of the Thirteenth Congress, the House secretariat was swamped by impeachment complaints coming from a broad spectrum, from the Palace turncoats now known as the “Hyatt 10,” to members of the clergy.
One tireless mover for impeaching Mrs. Arroyo is House Minority Leader Francis Escudero (NPC, Sorsogon). He has vowed that the opposition would continue a Part 2 of its efforts last year, which fizzled when the opposition forces couldn’t muster the numbers to overturn the recommendation of the House Committee on Justice to shelve the complaint for being inadequate in form and substance.
Such new efforts seem foredoomed. No new charges against the President have been alleged, and no earthshaking results of the fresh moves are expected. Impeachment, after all, is a political, not a judicial, exercise. He who has the numbers wins.
Worse, the pro-impeachment bloc in the House has not gained new adherents. The numbers have in fact dwindled.
Rep. Luis Villafuerte, who cut his teeth as an oppositionist political strategist during the Marcos regime, has predicted that there would be 10 fewer signatories in the 2006 impeachment complaint.
Among the dropouts is Rep. Jacinto Paras of Negros Oriental, who says he would no longer support the new attempt, as he feels a number of opposition leaders are merely using impeachment to bolster their political plans in 2007, a mid-term election year.
The impeachment charges are bound to be thrown out by the justice committee without hearing on the merits. The rules of the impeachment proceedings provide that the committee can immediately jettison the complaint on the issue of sufficiency in form and substance. It is ironic that the same rules were proposed by the very same men and women composing today’s political opposition in the aftermath of the aborted impeachment of former President Joseph Estrada. They didn’t imagine that the rules they proposed would work to their disadvantage today. A case of sauce for the goose, being also sauce for the gander.
Licking their wounds
But the rules are but one factor in the opposition’s failure to oust the President. Mrs. Arroyo’s acceptance rating was at its lowest last year, but the various groups composing the opposition failed to capitalize on it and ended up licking their wounds, more divided than when they started.
The opposition mounted street protests, impeachment complaints, and even reportedly encouraged the “withdrawal of support” from the administration by some military officers and enlisted men. But the President managed to hold on to power.
A less resolute leader would have folded in the face of withering fire.
Not the diminutive Mrs. Arroyo. In a number of bold steps, she managed to squeeze through the gauntlet, wounded, perhaps, but never cowed.
In two controversial orders, she forbade her advisers to attend congressional investigations which she thought were meant to stymie the executive department’s programs, and threatened the closure of media outlets she deemed were out to sabotage her government. Both edicts were subsequently voided by the Supreme Court. But the message had been delivered.
Supporters and critics alike credit her staying power to something else besides her resolve and political savvy: The opposition blew its chances when it failed to unite in its drive to oust the President.
In fact, political observers point out, ousting the President is the only common item on the opposition’s agenda. On other things, it is hopelessly divided, pulling every which way. This division especially on who should lead the nation in case the President is deposed, has doomed the oust-Arroyo movement from day one.
The how and the who
The people could plainly see that the various opposition groups, even if sometimes they were together on a stage, were not united even in the method of removing President Arroyo.
Voters cannot make a single dynamic decision if they are given too many options. But the opposition leaders were offering the people a choice of four. Some would rid Malacañan of Gloria Arroyo by begging her to resign, others by impeaching her at the House and finding her guilty at the Senate, or forcing to oust her through People Power, or siccing the dogs of the military on her.
The people became even more confused when they pondered who would replace her. Assessing all the opposition leaders who were attacking her and calling for her ouster, they could not see anyone who was not a discredited trapo—except maybe some of the very young politicians. But these were judged too young to be GMA’s immediate replacement.
Sorry spectacle
Critics offer the failure of the political parties last year to impeach the President.
The Nationalist People’s Coalition, founded by the industrialist Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, allowed its members in the House to vote “according to conscience.” The Liberal Party, headed by Senate President Franklin Drilon, voted to impeach the President. Not so fast, said a pro-Arroyo breakaway group led by Mayor Lito Atienza of Manila, which promptly voted to install Atienza as Drilon’s successor. (That imbroglio remains unresolved). Sen. Edgardo Angara, president of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, considered it “sheer folly” for a political party to enforce a stand on impeachment. He recalled that the LDP division started with the impeachment proceedings against President Estrada in 2000 (the party ordered its members to support Estrada). In the 2005 impeachment attempt against Mrs. Arroyo, the LDP adopted the NPC position: vote according to your conscience.
The only opposition bloc most united in seeking Mrs. Arroyo’s ouster is the party-list representatives. But their numbers are puny, ranged against the juggernaut of the President and the Lakas-UMCD coalition.
Traditional politicians
And then there is the intense rivalry between the traditional politicians and the so-called nonpolitical elements in the opposition, the leaders of the late presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr., who openly showed their disdain for politicians. At a rally in Makati in August 2005, for instance, the movie director Joel Lamangan asked all politicians present not to mount the stage and allow Poe’s widow, the actress Susan Roces, to hog the spotlight. The result: the rally turned out to be more of an entertainment extravaganza than an anti-Arroyo demonstration. (Lamangan was subsequently disowned by his former colleagues when, last week, he took the oath as a member of the Liberal Party to run for a congressional seat in Cavite.)
In the 2005 rally, an opposition leader was so incensed by the Lamangan blockade that he vowed never again to participate in any rally organized by the entertainment industry. He also charged, in a talk with newsmen, that as long as Mayor Jejomar Binay of Makati and Minority Leader Escudero continued to push for Susan Roces as opposition leader, the opposition will never succeed in ousting Mrs. Arroyo. Ms. Roces, he said, meant well, but he felt she could never draw the “critical mass” needed to fuel another EDSA 1 or EDSA 2.
The involvement of former President Corazon Aquino and a sprinkling of her “yellow brigade” failed to add more than the usual faces to the rallies. (Mrs. Aquino was to discover that her star had waned when she tried to get inside Fort Bonifacio during the Marine standoff in February. The sentries barred her at the gate.)
The only time the demonstrations took a more vigorous turn was when the militants started to take a more active role.
Truncheons
“The group of Satur [Party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo] is experienced in rallies and they are more willing than others to brave truncheons and water cannons,” said former Sen. Vicente Sotto III, a leader of the United Opposition headed by Mayor Binay. Sotto cited the ability of Ocampo’s group to mobilize students and peasants for rallies. With Ocampo’s help, more participants turned up in political rallies although the “critical mass” the opposition hoped for never materialized. Without the critical mass, the opposition could not force the President to step down.
Ironically, it was perhaps the presence of the red-flag-waving throng during the rallies that further weakened the opposition: it alienated the sector that plays a pivotal role in any power play—the military.
“The military officers are taught right from the very beginning that communists are the enemies of the state,” says retired Commodore Rex Robles, one of the founders of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM). “They are like oil and water.”
Robles adds that some members of the military may be against the administration, but they also vehemently oppose the participation of leftist groups in any post-Arroyo “Council.” EDSA 1 and EDSA 2 showed that no popular mass movement can succeed without the military and the police—who would never allow the presence of their sworn enemy in a governing council, as borne out by recent events.
A tactical alliance between the military and the Reds can perhaps be forged, but this is certain to break up once they oust the administration. First Lt. Lawrence San Juan voiced this sentiment when he said he would never have attended an anti-Arroyo meeting in Quezon had he known that a New People’s Army leader would be present.
Church role
Where does the Catholic Church, so instrumental in unseating two presidents—Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Joseph Estrada in 2001—fit in the equation?
Luckily for the incumbent president, the Church no longer has a Jaime Cardinal Sin who never hesitated to use his powers of suasion over his flock to make his political choices known. Some called it meddling, but Sin always carried the day for the recipients of his political anointment.
Not anymore. Not only is Cardinal Sin gone, the bishops are as divided in their stand as the opposition. The much-anticipated statement of the Catholic Bishops Congress of the Philippines (CBCP) early this month raised more questions than it answered. What did it mean? The spin doctors of both the Palace and the opposition read different, at times conflicting, interpretations of the statement. Reminds one about the six blind men touching different parts of the elephant and trying to guess what the animal looked like.
Some of Mrs. Arroyo’s critics may not believe so, but the failure to identify a leader who would replace her has kept her in Malacañan longer than the opposition would want her to. Sen. Jinggoy Estrada suggested that a revolutionary council to be headed by his father would take over. Some said Susan Roces was the “logical and sentimental” choice. Others have said they were willing to accept former Senate President Drilon as Malacañan caretaker. All these proposals bombed. And in all talks about a transition government, opposition leaders never mentioned how long the unelected president or governing council would rule the country until normal democratic processes return.
Does Noli count?
Mrs. Arroyo’s Vice President, the former broadcaster Noli de Castro, did not figure in the opposition plans either. They argued that if Mrs. Arroyo cheated in the 2004 elections, so did de Castro. This line of reasoning alone—ignoring the law on succession—has led many to believe that the oust-Arroyo movement is nothing more than an attempt at a power grab that could plunge the nation into bigger uncertainties.
To his credit, the Vice President proved that he is a firm adherent of the constitutional processes and the rule on succession. He rebuffed the offer of the former President Aquino’s and the Hyatt 10’s Black and White Movement to make him the leader of the opposition in unseating Mrs. Arroyo.
Sen. Joker Arroyo, who ran on the administration slate in 2001 but has remained independent, berated the opposition. “They are dictating the rules. They want to remove the President but they want to determine who succeeds her because they do not want Noli. Who gave them the authority to choose who would be president?” he fumed.
That leaves one candidate, former Sen. Loren Legarda, Poe’s running mate in the 2004 elections. Legarda has lodged a protest that has drawn nothing more than lip service from the opposition. In fact, her name is not even mentioned in a transition government scenario. Because of this lack of support, Legarda has had to scrounge for funds for the expensive protest and even had to drop some pilot provinces in her protest for lack of funds.
Legarda has found an ally in her crusade in Sen.Juan Ponce Enrile, who has questioned why the opposition leaders are not supporting her protest. He says that the protest is crucial to determining the legitimacy of succession should the presidency become vacant. Enrile adds that there can be no political stability if the people are not convinced that the successor in Malacañang was not legitimately elected.
The arrest of key suspects in an alleged coup plot against the administration has placed opposition leaders on the defensive, despite their decision to file a rehash of the foiled 2005 impeachment complaint. Their efforts have so far proved insufficient against a President determined to use any and all resources of her office to hold on until her term expires in 2010.
Since the Iraq war is relevant to the current Lebanon crisis especially when US decides to send her troops again in Lebanon, I believe this story of US Army Lt. Watada is both timely and an inspiration to those who are against unjust and deceitful wars:
SEATTLE (July 23) — When First Lt. Ehren K. Watada of the Army shipped out for a tour of duty in South Korea two years ago, he was a promising young officer rated among the best by his superiors. Like many young men after Sept. 11, he had volunteered “out of a desire to protect our country,” he said, even paying $800 for a medical test to prove he qualified despite childhood asthma.
Now Lieutenant Watada, 28, is working behind a desk at Fort Lewis just south of Seattle, one of only a handful of Army officers who have refused to serve in Iraq, an Army spokesman said, and apparently the first facing the prospect of a court-martial for doing so.
“I was still willing to go until I started reading,” Lieutenant Watada said in an interview one recent evening.
A long and deliberate buildup led to Lieutenant Watada’s decision to refuse deployment to Iraq. He reached out to antiwar groups, and they, in turn, embraced his cause, raising money for his legal defense, selling posters and T-shirts, and circulating a petition on his behalf.
Critics say the lieutenant’s move is an orchestrated act of defiance that will cause chaos in the military if repeated by others. But Lieutenant Watada said he arrived at his decision after much soul-searching and research.
On Jan. 25, “with deep regret,” he delivered a passionate two-page letter to his brigade commander, Col. Stephen J. Townsend, asking to resign his commission. “Simply put, I am wholeheartedly opposed to the continued war in Iraq, the deception used to wage this war, and the lawlessness that has pervaded every aspect of our civilian leadership,” Lieutenant Watada wrote.
At 2:30 a.m. on June 22, when the Third Stryker Brigade of the Second Infantry Division set off for Iraq, Lieutenant Watada was not on the plane. He has since been charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with one count of missing movement, for not deploying, two counts of contempt toward officials and three counts of conduct unbecoming an officer.
Lieutenant Watada’s about-face came as a shock to his parents, his fellow soldiers and his superiors. In retrospect, though, there may have been one ominous note in the praise heaped on him in his various military fitness reports: he was cited as having an “insatiable appetite for knowledge.”
Lieutenant Watada said that when he reported to Fort Lewis in June 2005, in preparation for deployment to Iraq, he was beginning to have doubts. “I was still prepared to go, still willing to go to Iraq,” he said. “I thought it was my responsibility to learn about the present situation.At that time, I never conceived our government would deceive the Army or deceive the people.”
He was not asking for leave as a conscientious objector, Lieutenant Watada said, a status assigned to those who oppose all military service because of moral objections to war. It was only the Iraq war that he said he opposed.
Military historians say it is rare in the era of the all-voluntary Army for officers to do what Lieutenant Watada has done.
“Certainly it’s far from unusual in the annals of war for this to happen,” said Michael E. O’Hanlon, a senior fellow in military affairs at the Brookings Institution. “But it is pretty obscure since the draft ended.”
Mr. O’Hanlon said that if other officers followed suit, it would be nearly impossible to run the military. “The idea that any individual officer can decide which war to fight doesn’t really pass the common-sense test,” he said.
Lieutenant Watada conceded that the military could not function if individual members decided which war was just. But, he wrote to Colonel Townsend, he owed his allegiance to a “higher power” — the Constitution — based on the values the Army had taught him: “loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage.”
“Please allow me to leave the Army with honor and dignity,” he concluded.
Lieutenant Watada said he began his self-tutorial about the Iraq war with James Bamford’s book “A Pretext for War,” which argues that the war in Iraq was driven by a small group of neoconservative civilians in the Pentagon and their allies in policy institutes. The book suggests that intelligence was twisted to justify the toppling of Saddam Hussein, with the goal of fundamentally changing the Middle East to the benefit of Israel.
Next was “Chain of Command,” by Seymour M. Hersh, about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. After that, Lieutenant Watada moved on to other publications on war-related themes, including selections on the treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the so-called Downing Street memo, in which the British chief of intelligence told Prime Minister Tony Blair in July 2002 that the Americans saw war in Iraq as “inevitable” and that “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.”
Lieutenant Watada said he also talked to soldiers returning to Fort Lewis from Iraq, including a staff sergeant who told him that he and his men had probably committed war crimes.
“When I learned the awful truth that we had been deceived — I was shocked and disgusted,” he wrote in the letter to his brigade commander.
There were efforts to work things out, Lieutenant Watada said.
Something from Stratfor on Hezbollah:
lOOking from the other side>
Special Report: Hezbollah’s Iranian Connection
July 21, 2006 01 17 GMT
Prior to the rise of the Shia in Iraq, Hezbollah — as a radical Shiite Islamist organization — was Iran’s main asset in the Arab world. In fact, it likely will continue to be used by Tehran as a key tool for furthering Iranian geopolitical interests in the region, until such time as Shiite power has been consolidated in Baghdad and Iran’s interests there secured.
In its earliest days, Hezbollah was a classic militant organization — the creation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite unit of the Iranian military. It was founded as a way to export the ideals of Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini’s Islamic revolution to the Shiite community of Lebanon, and served as a model for follow-on organizations (some even using the same name) in other Arab states. It did not take long, however, for Hezbollah to emerge in Lebanon as a guerrilla movement, whose fighters were trained in conventional military tactics.
In the mid-1980s, Iran’s premier intelligence agency, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), assumed the task of managing Tehran’s militant assets — not just in the Middle East but in other parts of the world as well. This allowed the Iranians, through a special unit within MOIS, to strike at Israeli interests in places as diverse as Latin America and Southeast Asia.
The relationship between MOIS and Hezbollah remains a subject worthy of study in light of the current situation in Lebanon. Of course, Iran has been Hezbollah’s chief source of funding and weapons over the years, and the Iranians continue to supply extensive training in weapons, tactics, communications, surveillance and other methods to the militant wing of Hezbollah in Lebanon. The relationship is sufficiently close that the Hezbollah branch within Iran recently declared it would unleash militant attacks against Israelis and Americans around the world if given the order by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Tehran insists that Hezbollah is not an arm of official policy.)
We have previously discussed the possibility that Hezbollah might be moved to seize hostages or engage in other militant acts, given the pressure the Israelis now are bringing to bear. There is some question, of course, as to whether Iran might be involved in future militant operations — and if so, what assets it might use and the modalities that would apply.
An Organizational Model
There is a division of labor of sorts in the way that Iran manages its foreign assets: The IRGC (which is led by a professional military officer with strong ideological credentials as an Islamist) oversees the Lebanese Hezbollah, while MOIS (which almost always is headed by a cleric) manages militant operatives and groups in other parts of the Muslim world — Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, India. Moreover, MOIS also maintains contacts among the Shiite immigrant populations in non-Muslim countries, including those in the West.
It also is important to note that radical Shiite Islamist ideology is only one factor that shapes Tehran’s decisions. Ethnicity and nationalism also play an important role in Iran’s dealings with Shiite allies of Arab, South Asian and other descent. The Persians claim a rich cultural heritage, which they view as superior to that of the Arabs. This attitude impacts the level of trust and cooperation between the Iranians and other Shiite groups — including Hezbollah — when it comes to sensitive international operations. It is little wonder, then, that the Lebanese organization’s sphere of operations does not extend much beyond the Levant.
It follows that Hezbollah is a useful tool for Iran in its dealings with Israel, but in few other areas. However, Iranian intelligence has cultivated numerous groups that can serve its interests in other parts of the world, and it maintains contact with these groups through MOIS operatives placed in diplomatic posts.
A History of Cooperation
Though it has been many years since Hezbollah carried out significant attacks beyond the Middle East, the participation of MOIS agents in some of those attacks is worthy of note. Investigations into the 1988 hijacking of Kuwait Airways Flight 422 out of Bangkok and two bombings in Buenos Aires — in 1992 and 1994 — both revealed involvement by MOIS, coordinating with local Hezbollah operatives. However, to provide plausible deniability, the hijacking and bomb teams were deployed from outside the targeted country; the assets in place were used to conduct preoperational surveillance on potential targets.
Up close, what this would mean is that the MOIS officer at the Iranian embassy in the target country or city would maintain close contact with the Hezbollah cells in his area or responsibility. Given the rules of intelligence work, an “official asset” like a diplomat is usually under suspicion and surveillance as an intelligence officer (or IO); therefore, less-prominent Hezbollah members can be used to case potential targets. In a situation where a MOIS agent is believed to be under such tight surveillance that he cannot function effectively, the Iranians might call on the services of a clandestine MOIS agent instead. In the case of the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, the MOIS officer was the Iranian cultural attache, who oversaw the operation from the safety of his embassy office. The Argentines eventually declared seven embassy employees as “persona non grata” due to suspected connections to the bombing.
Upon receiving a “go” order for an operation — such as assassinations of Iranian dissidents or the kidnappings of Western diplomatic and intelligence personnel (for instance, CIA station chief William F. Buckley in 1984 and U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins in 1988) — activity levels at the embassy spike. The role of MOIS frequently would be to provide the cash or supply weapons or materials needed for an attack carried out by its “militant assets.” In some countries, such as Britain (where Hezbollah bombed a Jewish charity in 1994), it can be difficult to obtain items like blasting caps and explosives; these can be supplied with the protection of a diplomatic pouch.
Many MOIS intelligence operatives have been educated in the United States or in Britain, wear nice suits, are multilingual and move easily in Western social circles — unlike the IRGC operatives in Lebanon, who, socially speaking, are rougher around the edges. The combination of their brains and Hezbollah’s willingness to pursue martyrdom can produce formidable capabilities.
With Hezbollah under attack in Lebanon and Iran unable to send significant reinforcements, there is some possibility that Hezbollah might resort to staging an attack abroad as a way of countering the Israeli assault. If so, it is highly likely that operatives already are on the move; the organization has been known to use “off the shelf” operational plans in the past, and its targeting information and surveillance would need to be updated — regardless of whether an order to strike is actually issued. It is reasonable to believe that Hezbollah would find it advantageous to coordinate with MOIS again, as in past operations. Whether the Iranians would see events through the same lens, however, is much less clear. Tehran might cooperate in an attack only if it is willing to seriously escalate the current conflict in the Middle East — which, given its many interests in the region, does not appear so far to be the case.
While the world speaks about ceasefire and immediate humanitarian aids to Lebanon, Israel continues to bomb Lebanon including the capital city of Beirut. Yesterday, Israel bombed the UN forces killing four including one Canadian (wonder what PM Harper would say now). According to the UN Secretary General, it was a deliberate act from Israel. Such a strong word from the UN doesn’t even bother Israel and the US a bit. In fact, the US again defended Israel for her act. And why should the US be bothered? The US acts and behaves like she is the UN. Remember that despite the UN’s objection and world opinion, the US went on to attack Iraq? So, why should the US change her position on this smaller Lebanon nation that doesn’t have even a single jet against over 400 jet figthers of Israel? Israel military might is 100 times more than Lebanon. And US aids keep pouring in by the billions.