The US-GMA regime should act with dispatch – Pull out the Filipino Troops from Iraq NOW! : QC IMC

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle-Philippines Chapter today condemned the US-Macapagal-Arroyo regime for spending more time in negotiating to save the fate of Filipino worker Angelo de la Cruz who is now in the hands of the group called the Khaled ibn Al-Walid Brigade that is linked to the “Islamic Army in Iraq”.

“Instead of negotiating, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should act with dispatch. She must now pull out the 51 Filipino troops before the less than 36 hours expire and Angelo is beheaded,” Danilo Ramos, Chairperson of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle – Philippines Chapter, stated today.

“But we are no longer surprised by this reaction of the US-Macapagal-Arroyo regime to this situation, where a tearful and terrified Angelo de la Cruz, a truck driver for a US company, is kneeling down in front of the Iraqi militants who are reading their demand to the Philippine government to pull out its 51 troops from Iraq,” Ramos stated further. “

“President Gloria’s puppetry to the US is legendary, and what she is doing is merely for show to appease the anger of the Filipino people at this imminent tragedy while at the same time she is not backing down in her commitment with the ‘US’ Coalition of the Willing’ in its war on and occupation of Iraq, “ Ramos continued.

The ILPS-Philippines Chapter together with the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and other allied anti-war groups like the Justice not War Coalition, Anib Manggaggawa, Cry Out Now, Pilgrims for Peace, etc. had led series of protest actions in front of the US embassy since the US-led war against Afghanistan in 2001 and the attack and occupation of Iraq in 2003.

The ILPS-Philippines Chapter and the allied anti-US war groups likewise protested the sending of Filipino troops to Iraq by the US-Macapagal Arroyo regime.

“It is laughable when apologists of the US-Macapagal Arroyo regime say that since there is now an Iraqi Governing Council in place, then they can appeal to it to save the life of Angelico. The current Iraqi government is under the thumb of the US, and therefore, the Iraqi militants who are now holding Angelo will not definitely listen to said appeal,” the chairperson of the ILPS Philippines Chapter, said.

“We are thus calling on all the members of ILPS-Philippines Chapter to join vigils and protest actions to demand that the US-Macapagal Arroyo regime immediately withdraw the Filipino troops from Iraq, “ Ramos continued.

“We likewise reiterate our solidarity for the people of Iraq in their struggle and life and death resistance against US imperialism in its plunder of the vast oil resources of Iraq, its war of terror on and the continuing occupation of Iraq, and the building of military bases in and around Iraq in order to further strengthen its dominance as the sole superpower in the world today,” Ramos concluded. ###