US anti-war leader lauds Duterte for noting US role in ME crisis

From InterAksyon (Jul 10): US anti-war leader lauds Duterte for noting US role in ME crisis

For linking the origins of Mindanao's conflict to the crisis spawned by US intervention in the Middle East through its campaign against terrorism, President Rodrigo Duterte has drawn praise from a leading US anti-war activist.

"It is not that the Middle East is exporting terrorism in America. America imported terrorism," Duterte said on Friday to an audience of Muslim Filipinos during the Mindanao Hariraya Eid'l Fit'r 2016 celebration in Davao City.

Duterte cited the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein as an example of war and destabilization.

The anti-war activist also noted the US' intervention in Libya and Syria, and its ironic role in practically encouraging the very forces that now threaten to Balkanize the region.

“Thank you, President Duterte, for having the courage to tell the truth,” Chicago-based Joe Iosbaker of the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) said in a statement shared with media by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), which is holding a conference in the Philippines from July 16 to 24.

"It is indisputable the US government created Al Qaeda, created the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS),” Iosbaker continued.

“Osama bin Laden was trained by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda in Syria was provided training and weapons by the US to wage a war against the legitimate government in Damascus. Turkey, a US puppet, has facilitated ISIS flow of weapons and recruits in Syria. Saudi Arabia, a US puppet, armed Al Qaeda in Iraq, and they armed Al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria. If the US did not want Al Qaeda and ISIS to get this support, they could have ordered their puppets to stop. The order never came,” he added.

The Bush administration had in 2002 declared the Philippines' South the so-called “Second Front” of the Global War on Terror, alleging that groups such as the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah have links to Al Qaeda and ISIS.

He pointed out that Moro groups in Mindanao still pursue an armed struggle for self-determination and to keep out corporate interests from the mineral- and oil-rich territory.

The Philippine Statistics Authority said 11 of the 20 poorest provinces in the Philippines are in Mindanao, with the highest poverty incidence in the Bangsamoro territories.

Iosbaker is among over 100 US activists attending a conference in Davao City sponsored by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) from July 16 to 24.

He will join a fact-finding mission to Zamboanga City, where the US has stationed its special forces for 13 years as part of the Global War on Terror.

In Iosbaker's view, “The US invasion of the Middle East and continuing military presence there is about US control over the world’s largest oil deposits and other minerals. It’s the same in Mindanao, home to over $1 trillion worth of untapped minerals and oil, making the Philippines the 5th most mineral-rich region in the world.”

Iosbaker continued: "Just like the Filipino people, the American people want peace and genuine development in the Philippines. Right now, at the root of the socio-economic crisis and unrest in the country is impoverishment resulting from US economic policies and militarism, funded by US tax dollars.”

Finally, Iosbaker hailed Duterte’s push to resume formal peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF), which has waged an insurgency for four decades. "Americans don’t want our tax dollars funding crisis and bloodshed in the Philippines," Iosbaker said.

http://interaksyon.com/article/130183/us-anti-war-leader-lauds-duterte-for-noting-us-role-in-me-crisis