Terrorists are emboldened by any signs of weakness in their enemy... Bruce
Terrorists emboldened by coup fears, House says http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news03_mar31_2006 COUP concerns within the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police (PNP) have emboldened terrorists to launch new attacks, lawmakers said yesterday. "These recent bomb attacks in Jolo and Davao del Sur showed that terrorists only waited for the right time to strike," said Eastern Samar Rep. Marcelino Libanan. "They knew this was the right time to strike because the AFP and PNP have been distracted by the adventurism [of] several of their officers." Cebu City Rep. Antonio Cuenco, for his part, said the recent Jolo bombing, which killed five people, the Weena bus bombing in Davao del Sur, which wounded 22 people, and the lingering threat posed by the alliance of communists and rebel military officers should be a wake-up call to the AFP and the PNP to "shun politics and adventurism now and respond to their call of duty to secure the republic from terrorists and other enemies of the state." The two lawmakers, who are pushing for the quick passage of an antiterrorism bill, also expressed alarm over the claims by George Madlos, a spokesman of the National Democratic Front in Mindanao, that communist rebels are still in talks with Magdalo officers who are at large. The Palace, meanwhile, said Madlos statement buttressed government claims of a rightist and leftist conspiracy to overthrow the civilian government. "The admission by a communist spokesman that they maintain contact with the rightist conspirators only confirms what we have known all along. There is an unholy alliance between communists and rightists that threatens our democratic system," said Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye. Earlier this week, Madlos claimed that disgruntled junior officers as well as some high-level officers were in contact with leaders of the underground communist movement. He said he himself had his last contact with a military officer this month. In his remarks yesterday, Bunye said a rightist-leftist conspiracy would fail because of a lack of popular support and because the Armed Forces chain of command is firmly entrenched within the Constitution. "A rightist-leftist alliance will not benefit the people. Rather, it's a pitiful attempt to put into power two groups with conflicting ideologies and have no love for democracy," he said. Bunye said the Arroyo administration would not waver nor soften its resolve to impose punishment on the coup plotters and those who seek to destabilize the government. "Military and civil justice will come down hard on traitors who are condemned by the great majority of the officers and soldiers," he said. Joel M. Sy Egco and Fel V. Maragay [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
