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US spying in the country constitutes foreign military interference—CPP January 18, 2007 Gregorio Rosal (Ka Roger), National Spokesperson, Party of the Philippines

Communist

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today lambasted the US for its involvement in intelligence gathering against local armed groups in the country, saying this constitutes foreign military interference that must be condemned and put to a stop.

The CPP view was in reaction to statements by Malacañang and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), citing US involvement in the reported killing of an Abu Sayaff leader. It demanded that “a complete accounting be made of US military presence and operations in Mindanao and elsewhere within Philippine territory in order to check and put a stop to foreign military interference.”

CPP spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal said statements by Malacañang and the the AFP pompously declaring that that the killing last Tuesday of Jainal Antel Sali, whom the AFP claims to be Abu Sayaff leader Abu Solaiman, was largely achieved through the intelligence efforts of the US military, “confirm the depth of involvement of US military forces in military operations in Sulu and in the internal affairs of the country.”

Rosal said that the Arroyo regime’s stressing of the point that the involvement of US military forces is limited to “intelligence gathering” is merely “a propaganda ploy to understate and cover-up the direct involvement of foreign troops in combat operations prohibited in the 1987 Philippine constitution.”

The CPP spokesperson pointed out that “intelligence operations are vital aspects of military operations and, moreover, the intelligence operations that US troops are engaged in here are not merely for general or strategic purposes but constitute tactical combat intelligence operations that go hand in hand with actual combat operations.”

Rosal said that with such intelligence information, the US military is able to virtually control and direct the operations of the AFP, telling the local armed forces when and

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where to strike. The AFP has thus become only an extension of the US armed forces operating in the country and employed against those considered to be enemies of the US. “Intelligence gathering or spying by such a foreign military force operating in the country constitutes actual military intervention and tramples on Philippine sovereignty. That this is being carried out with official approval constitutes national treachery on the part of the Arroyo regime and its top military officials,” said Rosal.

Rosal said that in the past US officials have been more forthright in describing the operations of their troops stationed in the country. Rosal recalled that in 2002, then US Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said that US military aid to the Philippines “includes direct support of military operations (against the Abu Sayyaf).” Actual involvement of US troops in local combat operations have long been confirmed by media reports and interviews with local residents who were quoted as having seen fully-armed US troops accompanying Filipino soldiers in combat operations against the Abu Sayaff.

The CPP spokesperson said that the Filipino people demand a complete accounting of the number and activities of US troops, especially those which have been permanently stationed in the Philippines, particularly in AFP camps in Zamboanga and elsewhere in Mindanao.

He urged patriotic groups, independent organizations, fact-finding missions and legislators to carry out investigations into the presence and nature of operations of the US Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P), a contingent of the US Pacific Command permanently stationed in Mindanao. “Actually, these are no longer ‘visiting forces,’ but rather ‘overstaying forces’,” said Rosal.

View this online: http://www.philippinerevolution.net/statements/20070118_us-spying-in-the-country-constitutesforeign-military-interference-cpp

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