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RECKONING WITH JAY LENO
by Akbayan •
Saturday, Jul. 24, 2004 at 8:12 AM
AKBAYAN (Citizens’ Action Party) strongly protests the conduct of American television host Jay Leno, who made fun of Filipinos and berated us for being “cowards,” during his show Tonight with Jay Leno. The uncalled-for remarks were made on account of the Philippine government’s to pull out humanitarian troops from Iraq, in exchange for the life of Angelo de la Cruz.
July 20, 2004
Mr. Leno has no business maligning Filipinos for the government’s decision, which is supported by a majority of our people here and abroad. Other countries – most notably Spain – have pulled out their humanitarian troops not because of cowardice, but because the governments of these countries know that their first duty is to protect their citizens, despite US pressure.
Let us not forget that the US war on Iraq had no support from the United Nations. AKBAYAN was against the Arroyo administration’s decision to send troops to Iraq in support of an illegitimate war. We warned that such a policy would only endanger the lives of Filipinos working in the Middle East. It had to take the kidnapping of Angelo de la Cruz to knock some sense into the government’s head.
As for Mr. Leno, AKBAYAN would like to give him an unsolicited piece of advice: Read up on the Philippine-American War and discover how Filipinos fought bitterly and valiantly to protect their freedom from a rampaging, brutal US Army. Then try to lecture us again about cowardice.
www.akbayan.org
