When 'No' Just Doesn't Say It All
The US is really trying to deny involvement with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to hunt down a Moro Islamic LIberation Front (MILF) commander, Ameril Ombra Kato. Kato, and Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo, and Aleem Sulayman Pangalian, are Manila's latest obsession in Mindanao.
American advisers just happen to be in the right places, but never doing the right things. That is, until reporters produce photographs. This time, those photos show Americans with aerial drones.
Rebecca Thompson, US Embassy information officer, in a text message to the Inquirer said:
«All activities of temporarily deployed US forces respect sovereignty of RP and comply fully with the VFA. Again, US troops are not involved in actual combat operations.
«When requested by the AFP, US military provided aerial surveillance assistance to support AFP operations such as determining conditions of roads, terrain association, and general visibility of an area, such as for future civil-military projects.»
More ominous than Thompson's belief that anyone actually cares about her hairsplitting are the threats. The leftist National Union of People's Lawyers said Tuesday American soldiers who are involved in intelligence gathering are deemed combatants under international law and subject to attack by rebel groups they are spying on. «This makes US soldiers legitimate target by the MILF, New People's Army or other rebel groups,» said NUPL secretary general Neri Javier Colmenares.
I wonder if in Thompson's mind it matters what a dead American is called in these varying circumstances. I'm sure no one else would care but her.
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