U.S. sends teachers to join war on terror<\/p>\n
Agencies, Manila<\/p>\n
The United States is sending English-language teachers to the
\nPhilippines and Indonesia to open a new front in the war on
\nterrorism in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
The U.S. ambassador here, Francis Ricciardone, said he was
\nscheduled to meet with Philippine President Gloria Arroyo's
\nspecial adviser on education later on Monday.<\/p>\n
Teaching English to more Filipinos, and promoting democracy
\nand the rule of law, could contribute in the war on terrorism,
\nRicciardone said.<\/p>\n
\"We'd like to see whether we could help revive an English-
\nteaching program that your government is operating here. That's
\nanother way of fighting terrorism,\" he told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"Education is very important in promoting and strengthening
\ndemocracy and defeating the forces of radicalism that want to
\nundermine democracy,\" Ricciardone said.<\/p>\n
Washington sent volunteer teachers aboard the USS Thomas to
\nthe Philippines when it became a U.S. colony in the early 1900s.<\/p>\n
The Americans, dubbed the Thomasites, introduced the concept
\nof American public education that eventually became the basis of
\nthe Philippine system.<\/p>\n
Ricciardone said a similar program had been underway for some
\ntime in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country which
\nhas been identified as a potential breeding ground for Islamic
\nextremists.<\/p>\n
Ricciardone said English-language teaching officers were key
\ncomponents of U.S. diplomatic missions abroad \"throughout the
\nCold War.\"<\/p>\n
Aside from teaching the language, they spread \"materials that
\ntaught of course democracy, the history of democracy,
\nconstitutional issues and so forth.\"<\/p>\n
He told the Foreign Correspondents' Association of the
\nPhilippines that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network was
\ntrying to undermine Southeast Asia by supporting local Muslim
\nradicals.<\/p>\n
\"It's ... some kind of a franchising operation ... by having
\npeople come here, training people outside or providing funds or
\nproviding knowledge on how to make bombs and place them,\"
\nRicciardone said.<\/p>\n
He cited the arrest in the Philippines of suspected members of
\nthe Jemaah Islamiyah, a group accused of links to al-Qaeda and of
\nplotting to blow up U.S. and other Western targets in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Ricciardone said, without elaborating, that \"outside forces\"
\nhave tried to promote intolerance and extremism among the Muslim
\nminority in mainly Roman Catholic Philippines.<\/p>\n
Philippine police officials worry foreign Muslim radicals
\ncould be using some religious schools to recruit al-Qaeda
\nsympathizers.<\/p>\n
He further said Washington believes the program \"helped us
\ndefeat communism, which was the threat against the previous
\ngeneration. Now we face a new threat, an extremism of a
\ndifferent sort.\"<\/p>\n
The strategy was adopted worldwide by the U.S. government to
\ncounter communism during the Cold War, he said.<\/p>\n
\"Now, we face a new threat of extremism,\" he said, where
\nMuslim radicals \"teach hate, they teach that if someone is
\ndifferent, you should hate them and kill them.\"<\/p>\n
About 1,000 U.S. troops are nearing the end of a six-month
\nmission in the southern Philippines to advise Filipino troops
\nfighting Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, described as local proxies of the
\nal-Qaeda network.<\/p>\n
\"You tend to think of special forces out there as anti-
\nterrorism Rambos,\" the ambassador said.<\/p>\n
\"But Rambo isn't what counter-terrorism is all about. (It's
\nabout) strengthening democracy.\"<\/p>\n
The counterterrorism exercise ends July 31.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/us-sends-teachers-to-join-war-on-terror-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }