Statement
US-Led War Will Not Bring Justice
By the Initiators, Justice not War Coalition*
September 24, 2001

We condemn in no uncertain terms the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center that caused death and injury to thousands of innocent civilians of various nationalities. We join the world's peoples in demanding justice for the victims of this dastardly crime and in seeking an end to all forms of terrorism.

We however are compelled to also sound the alarm over the US government's call to war which unfortunately the Philippine government has vigorously and uncritically endorsed. We firmly believe that this so-called war against terrorism will not bring about the justice demanded by the American people and the peoples of the world. It is also doubtful that it will reduce the likelihood of future terrorist attacks especially those that are indeed state-sponsored.

It is truly irresponsible for the US government to misdirect the just anger of the American people towards a war that has no clear enemy, no clear arenas of battle and no clear prospect of victory. Unless victory means blasting Afghanistan from the face of the earth and exterminating civilian populations in those countries the US accuses of harboring terrorist groups.

In the US, concerned citizens are now beginning to move. They see that in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks, civil liberties are also under attack from police and security forces. Racism is getting stronger and a new type of witch-hunting directed at Moslems, Arabs and other peoples of color is on the rise.

In fact, the outcry for swift retaliation and the warmongering whipped up by Washington and the US media has resulted in over 200 incidences of hate crimes across America alone. The same appears to be the case in many other countries with all kinds of migrants, not just Middle-Eastern ones, particularly vulnerable. Mosques and Moslems have been attacked. Airlines ha ve discriminated against Arab-looking persons by unceremoniously ejecting them for fear that they are terrorists ready to spring to action. The PNP has become more zealous than ever in rounding up and detaining Moslem Filipinos for the flimsiest of reasons. Very recently the Belgian police simultaneously raided the homes of scores of Filipinos in Brussels and detained some of them for still unknown reasons.

The impending US-led "war against terrorism" promises to be another bloody war of aggression and intervention at a time of unrivalled US military supremacy today. The likely prospect of the use of weapons of mass destruction by protagonists will doubtless take the heaviest toll on innocent civilians and noncombatants.

How can this war of retaliation serve the ends of justice when its instigator, the US government, has still to account for its responsibility in giving Osama bin Laden a headstart as arms dealer and legendary leader of the Mujahideen in the US-backed war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

How can this war mean justice when the US government self-righteously depicts itself as an anti-terrorism champion despite its own brand of state terrorism in the various bloody wars of aggression and intervention it has undertaken.

Recall the US genocidal colonization of the Philippines that killed 20 percent of the population at the turn of the century; the "dirty wars" in Latin America; the costly and brutal Vietnam war; backing for tyrants like the Philippines' Dictator Marcos and Panamanian President Noriega; the inhumane economic embargoes against Cuba, Libya, North Korea and Iraq. Iraq lost close to a million children due to the US embargo even as US and British fighter planes still periodically bomb no-fly areas resulting in death and destruction affecting hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi people.

This list of US-sponsored terrorism should not be added to by dancing to the tune of the US in President Bush's self-righteous call for war.

On the homefront, we fear that the Philippine government's over-eager and unqualified support to the US-led war should at least be restudied if notwithdrawn. There is no legal basis to offer Subic and Clark for use by US military forces; the US has not even asked that it be allowed to use its former military bases. Is there no danger of compounding our problems with terrorist groups like the Abu Sayaff and others which may launch counter-attacks in our country?

Our migrant compatriots in the Middle East have not known the government to be so concerned about their welfare and safety especially amidst war. While it unabashedly choruses the US call for war, the Philippine government is slow in acting to ensure that the 1.4 million Filipino migrant workers are not swallowed up by the flames of war that will soon engulf the Middle East if the US would have its way.

We urge the American people to push their government to first undertake a thoroughgoing investigation of the WTC terrorist atttacks in order to identify all likely suspects on the basis of clear proof and solid evidence.
The US should exhaust all peaceful means such as diplomacy and international cooperation to track down and arrest those responsible for the attacks. The American people should urge the US government to take advantage of international multi-lateral processes and agencies for this purpose and refuse to bless any irresponsible, open-ended declaration of war by their President.

As we urge justice for the victims of the WTC terrorist attacks, we likewise demand justice and reexamination of the US government's own terrorist attacks on the world's peoples and its own coddling of terrorist groups some of which have turned against the US.

Condemn all forms of terrorism!
Justice for victims of the terrorist attacks on the WTC! Justice for victims of US-sponsored terrorism!
No to US wars of retaliation and aggression!
No to Philippine involvement in the US-led war! Junk the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Visiting Forces Agreement!
No to discrimination and racism against Moslems and peoples of color!

* CAPT. DANILO VIZMANOS PN (RET.) military consultant of the Nuclear-Free Philippines Coalition and convenor of the Junk VFA Movement; AMIRAH ALI LIDASAN spokesperson of the Moro Christian Peoples Alliances; REV. REY GELOAGAN spokesperson of the Promotion of Church Peoples Response; LEO LEGASPI chairperson of Migrante International; LANA LINABAN spokesperson of Gabriela; RENATO REYES JR. spokesperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan; ELMER LABOG secretary-general of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU); and APO ALVAREZ secretary-general of Anakbayan