And not without incurring political disparagement. From the U.S., of course, and also from Australia. Actually, though, many Filipinos who had been holding protest vigils for the release of the hostage and pulling out of Iraq are quite happy about it. And happy that their president has been responsive to them. Considering the popular revolts that ousted a couple of presidents before her, she may have measured her chances of popular backlash against her chances of U.S. displeasure to arrive at her decision.
Is there anything O'Reilly can boycott from the Philippines?
The whole thing is totally symbolic anyway. The Filipino troops were scheduled to be withdrawn in August. They would be sacrificing one of their citizens for a month's time just to make a point that terrorists can't be allowed to call the shots. Only, in their case, the other choice was to let the U.S. continue to call the shots, by pressure, as it has been doing to the Philippines for decades - is that not a form of terrorism? The Philippines was between a rock and a hard place.
"Analysts" think it was a biiiiiiig mistake.
Not only has President Gloria Arroyo hurt the country's international standing by caving in to threats, she also puts a million Filipinos working in the volatile Middle East at risk from terrorists who now know they can pressure the government by victimizing Filipinos, the analysts said.
article
It's more likely the coalition who's going to be the source of trouble for Philippines president Arroyo. And I expect she will get it in spades.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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