Row heats up over U.S. role in Philippines

Row heats up over U.S. role in Philippines

Reuters
Manila

A political storm over the role of U.S. forces in the
Philippines' war against Muslim extremists intensified on Sunday
after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo slammed those opposing
American help as "lovers of terrorists".

Leaders from both sides of politics expressed outrage on
Sunday at Arroyo's remarks and said late dictator Ferdinand
Marcos seemed more measured than the current president.

Arroyo, an admirer of Britain's "Iron Lady", former Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher, has denounced those who oppose her
decision to accept U.S. help in vanquishing the Abu Sayyaf
guerrillas as "a protector of terrorists, an ally of murderers
and an Abu Sayyaf lover".

"You are not a Filipino if you are against peace...You love
the terrorists more than your own soldiers," Arroyo told a news
conference on Friday in her strongest attack yet on her critics.

More than 400 American soldiers have arrived in the
Philippines for military exercises aimed at upgrading Filipinos'
skills in fighting the Abu Sayyaf.

A separate group of 160 U.S. special forces troops are to join
local soldiers in patrols on the southern island of Basilan,
where the Abu Sayyaf has been holding an American missionary
couple hostage for over eight months.

The United States has linked the Abu Sayyaf to Osama bin Laden
and his al Qaeda network, alleged masterminds of the September 11
attacks on New York and Washington.

Critics said the U.S. military presence violated the
Philippine constitution, which bars foreign troops from operating
in the country, unless under a treaty.

Officially, the Americans will only train Filipinos. But they
will be armed and can fire in self-defence if attacked, and a
U.S. Air Force general supervising the American troops has said
his men know they could be killed or wounded on Basilan.

"No president of the Philippines had ever dared to say that
any Filipino who happens to disagree with the president is not a
Filipino," Senator Joker Arroyo, a member of the ruling coalition
but no relation to the president, said in a statement. "Not even
Marcos denied any of his opponents their birthright."

Opposition Senator Edgardo Angara said Arroyo's statements
were "reckless", while independent congresswoman Etta Rosales
condemned them as "the height of arrogance".

Analysts said Arroyo's remarks could further inflame an
already heated political atmosphere marked by nearly daily
protests by leftist groups against the U.S. presence.

Presidential aides said a recent survey showed more than 80
percent of Filipinos backed Arroyo's decision.

"You have to realise that the president is not going to back
down from a fight, specially when she knows that she has public
opinion on her side...But this could boomerang," political
commentator Manuel Quezon III said on local television.

Pro-administration Senator Loren Legarda said: "At the end of
the day, what is important here is everybody loves a winner. If
within six months, this problem brought by the Abu Sayyaf is
solved, everyone will be happy," Legarda said. "Nothing succeeds
like success."