Was caving to the terrorists the right thing?
July 20, 2004The Filipino hostage was freed today, after the Filipino troops withdrew as promised earlier this week. Of course I’m happy for him and his family, I do wonder what long-term damage this has caused.
On the one hand I’m angry at the US government–they keep saying the Philippines should not cave in to terrorists. Yet it’s the US that cannot provide civilian safety in Iraq. Why should any coalition partners be there at all when the US hasn’t stabilized the country? It was out decision to invade, it’s therefore our responsibility to make Iraq a safe place for our partners.
I’m also angry at the Philippines because you should just never negotiate with terrorists. It will only encourage more kidnappings. But I completely understand the position of my fellow Filipinos–they only had 50 troops in the country anyway, and they were due to withdraw next month. Why not withdraw them a bit early if it can save one man’s life? Seems like a sensible bargain, especially in a highly religious and devout country like the Philippines.
And naturally I’m angry at these terrorists. They cannot be allowed to succeed–something has to be done to bring an end to these kidnappings and terror. There’s just no easy solution to this problem, but the US is now deeply entangled so we’re gonna have to find some kind of solution that won’t make matters worse.
If it means granting amnesty to what we would normally consider to be criminals, putting an end to this escalating violence by turning the other cheek, maybe that’s the way to go. I don’t know–it just doesn’t seem like upping our attacks is gonna work. Certainly hasn’t worked for the Israelis–they escalate their attacks on the PLO and the intifada only seems to get stronger.