MULA SA PATNUGOT
Wrong Direction

Frankly speaking, I felt like slamming my guitar into the television set as I watched US President George W. Bush speak in a mixture of Messianic and Wild Western language of the need to combat the latest terrorist attack. Only the fact that it would probably take me at least ten years to replace both, with my limited income, prevented me from doing so.

I fully sympathize with the victims of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, especially the Filipinos among them.

But I cannot comprehend how the terrorist attacks against the US could be construed as attacks against "everything that is just and right." The US has never been a paragon of justice and righteousness--we only need be reminded of the Balangiga massacre, the execution of Macario Sakay, and the shabby treatment of the brave soldiers who fought ahead of them--no, not by their side; while our soldiers were dying one by one, those Yankees were hiding behind!--to see that this is true.

I cannot comprehend how the US plans to combat terrorism without combatting itself. It was the US that started the whole thing sometime during the last century by grabbing, with the assistance of Israel, land which properly belongs to the Arab peoples. Of course the acts of terrorism that were visited upon those innnnocent lives are condemnable, but we would do well to ask ourselves why they have been resorted to. Is it because the perpetrators could think of no other way to combat the imperialistic intrusions of the US? Before the US and Israel started intruding into Arab land, there were no terrorist activities by Arabs.

Mr. Bush is excited about getting into a fight, but his guns are pointed in the wrong direction. Going to war would be a massive waste of resources for the US. All it has to do is to look in the mirror and beat its reflection up.
-- Alexander Martin Remollino