HOWEVER MUCH the United States makes of it, there can be no denying
that its "handover of sovereignty" to Iraq on June 28
is, as Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente
recently put it, just "like make-up."
There are strong shades of the July 4, 1946 "grant of independence"
by the US to the Philippines in the "handover of sovereignty"
to Iraq.
In 1898, the US sent troops to the Philippines purportedly to help
the Filipino freeedom fighters in their struggle against Spanish
colonialism. But while our ancestors were valiantly shedding their
blood in the fields, Uncle Sam was buying the Philippines from Spain
for $20 million under the Treaty of Paris.
In no time at all, the US would wrest the Philippines' hard-earned
freedom, which its sons and daughters--as Richard Brinsley Sheridan
showed in his book The Filipino Martyrs--would have won even without
its "help." In the process Uncle Sam's "defenders
of freedom and democracy" killed 1.5 million Filipinos--including
ten-year-old boys in Balangiga, Samar.
Thereafter the US bred a small clique of "Filipino" leaders
from the elite classes under the guise of "tutelage in democratic
governance," at the same time securing an economic stronghold
in the country. The process was briefly interrupted when, in 1942,
the Japanese Imperial Army attacked the Philippines.
It must be remembered that Gen. Douglas MacArthur, at the most
critical hour, took most of the US troops along and abandoned the
Philippines, returning only when the Filipino freedom fighters had
almost wiped out the Japanese occupation forces--at a great cost.
And they had the gall to pose as liberators.
The US "granted" independence on July 4, 1946 in the
wake of decades of popular campaigns for freedom--both armed and
legal. However, it made sure that only those loyal to its hegemonic
agenda would occupy the highest seat of power, working mightily
against such nationalist statesmen as Claro M. Recto and Lorenzo
Tañada, and even against the moderately nationalistic Carlos
P. Garcia. It allowed Marcos to declare martial law in 1972 and
kept silent while his government violated the most basic human rights
with the most grotesque impunity, and abandoned him only when the
people's armed and legal resistance to his rule had weakened him
so much as to render him unable to defend US interests in the Philippines.
Despite the fanfare accompanying the June 28, 2004 "handover
of sovereignty" to Iraq, the Iraqi people can expect no less
than what happened to the Philippines. The experiences of the Allende
and Aristide governments in Chile and Haiti, respectively, speak
well for themselves.
Any Iraqi leader who would act independently of US wishes will
be met with force.
This early, there are reports that the US will be maintaining at
least 138,000 troops in Iraq, effectively confining the said country
within its military network.
The June 28, 2004 handover of sovereignty to Iraq is a sham, as
was the July 4, 1946 granting of independence to the Philippines.
Those opposed to the US war of mass murder against the Iraqi people
have no recourse except to support their continuing struggle for
freedom.
