Stark message of the mutiny

Stark message of the mutiny
Is the Philippine government bombing its own people for dollars?
Naomi Klein
Friday August 15, 2003
The Guardian

What does it take to become a major news story in the summer of Arnie and Kobe, Ben and Jen? A lot, as a group of young Philippine soldiers discovered recently. On July 27, 300 soldiers rigged a giant Manila shopping mall with C-4 explosives, accused one of Washington's closest allies of blowing up its own buildings to attract US military dollars - and still barely managed to make the international news.

That's our loss, because in the wake of the Marriott bombing in Jakarta and newly leaked intelligence reports claiming that the September 11 attacks were hatched in Manila, it looks like south-east Asia is about to become the next major front in Washington's war on terror.

The Philippines and Indonesia may have missed the cut for the axis of evil, but the two countries do offer Washington something Iran and North Korea do not: US-friendly governments willing to help the Pentagon secure an easy win. Both the Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri have embraced Bush's crusade as the perfect cover for their brutal cleansing of separatist movements from resource-rich regions - Mindanao in the Philippines, Aceh in Indonesia.

The Philippine government has already reaped a bonanza from its status as Washington's favoured terror-fighting ally in Asia. US military aid increased from $2m (£1.25m) in 2001 to $80m a year, while US soldiers and special forces flooded into Mindanao to launch offensives against Abu Sayyaf, a group the White House claims has links to al-Qaida.

--snip--

These suspicions stem from a bizarre incident on May 16 2002, in Davao. Michael Meiring, a US citizen, allegedly detonated explosives in his hotel room, injuring himself badly. While recovering in hospital, Meiring was whisked away by two men - who witnesses say identified themselves as FBI agents - and flown to the US. Local officials have demanded that Meiring return to face charges, to little effect. BusinessWorld, a leading Philippine newspaper, has published articles openly accusing Meiring of being a CIA agent involved in covert operations "to justify the stationing of American troops and bases in Mindanao".

Yet the Meiring affair has never been reported in the US press. And the mutinous soldiers' incredible allegations were no more than a one-day story. Maybe it just seemed too outlandish: an out-of-control government fanning the flames of terrorism to pump up its military budget, hold on to power and violate civil liberties. Why would Americans be interested in something like that?

--snip--

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1019169,00.html

I swear that while the mutiny was happening, I heard on faux news that the mutineers said there had been US gov "approval" or "involvement" in the scheme, Op Greenbase.

Nothing else on this since that day, and admittedly the faux "news" guy (Twit Hume?) was sight-reading from scraps of paper being handed to him on live air, initial reports blahblah. Still, my current fantasy is that a little truth leaked out. And, I can certainly believe at least US "knowledge" since we have plenty of spooks and spec ops guys there. Like, they wouldn't know, when knowing is part of their job description?

but I remember reading it in Philippine gov't pages earlier this year, then it was in reference to an internal memo talking about a plan for the army to kill Sheikh Salamat Hashim, head of one of the main Moros national groups. The Philippine gov't denounced the memo a forgery at the time. He's dead now.

:kick:

Should this Philippines situation be revisited vis-a-vis possible US complicity in the murder of Sergio Vieira de Mello?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=73068#73340