Tuesday, June 29, 2004
A Message of Hope for the Iraqi People from Internationals in the Philippines
The Philippine International Forum, a network of internationals living and working in the Philippines for peace and justice, joined today's Prayer and Candle Lighting for Genuine Peace and Sovereignty in Iraq with a powerful statement by Becca and Jessica.
The statement debunks the Bush administration's claims that it has handed-over 'full sovereignty' to the Iraqi people and observes that the Iraqi people are now subjected to an oxymoronic 'handover of sovereignty' to an interim government handpicked by the United States, an interim government intended to carry-out the US agenda under a neo-colonial framework of pseudo-sovereignty.
For us internationals who play both an observer and participatory role in our work in the Philippines, the US conquest and occupation of Iraq is glaringly similar in many ways to the US conquest and occupation of the Philippines more than a century ago. Just as the soon-to-be proclaimed leadership in Iraq will remain under the management of the United States, the leadership of the Philippines has lent unrelenting support to the US War on Terrorism and served US military and economic for decades. After more than a hundred years of the US-Philippine friendship, the Filipino people still long for genuine peace, still long for genuine democracy, and are still struggling for genuine sovereignty.
The statement debunks the Bush administration's claims that it has handed-over 'full sovereignty' to the Iraqi people and observes that the Iraqi people are now subjected to an oxymoronic 'handover of sovereignty' to an interim government handpicked by the United States, an interim government intended to carry-out the US agenda under a neo-colonial framework of pseudo-sovereignty.
For us internationals who play both an observer and participatory role in our work in the Philippines, the US conquest and occupation of Iraq is glaringly similar in many ways to the US conquest and occupation of the Philippines more than a century ago. Just as the soon-to-be proclaimed leadership in Iraq will remain under the management of the United States, the leadership of the Philippines has lent unrelenting support to the US War on Terrorism and served US military and economic for decades. After more than a hundred years of the US-Philippine friendship, the Filipino people still long for genuine peace, still long for genuine democracy, and are still struggling for genuine sovereignty.
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