US envoy: No neutrality in terror war

Thanking the Filipino people for their contribution as a member of "a mighty coalition of civilized nations," United States Ambassador Francis Ricciardone stressed Wednesday night there can be no neutrality in the fight against terrorism.

Speaking at the Cultural Center of the Philippines during a concert commemorating those who died during the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the US last year, Ricciardone urged unity against terrorism.

"We face an enemy that preaches murder and hate, unconstrained by the laws of God or man," the envoy said.

"The terrorists who attacked on Sept. 11 have defiled and perverted what, in their ignorance, they claim is their religion. And they despise the religions of others.

"Filipinos know better than others that the terrorists that targeted New York and Washington have acted in, and from, other countries worldwide, and continue to target other centers of civilization. They are determined to expand the scale and scope of their murder," he added.

"Against such an enemy, there is no immunity and there can be no neutrality. A mighty coalition of civilized nations – with the Philippines under President Macapagal-Arroyo in the first rank – is now defending our common security," he said.

Ricciardone made the remarks to open a "global event" where artists across the globe performed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem to mark the terror attack’s first anniversary.

The US envoy also cited the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and other security services "that work most often unseen" to guard Filipinos’ democracy and freedoms and protect foreigners in the country.

On the eve of the ceremonies marking the Sept. 11 attacks, police were deployed at the Israeli and British embassies as well as airports, seaports and vital installations across the country amid reports that Islamic terrorists planned to attack the US and Israeli embassies in Manila.

The Cable News Network quoted investigators who attributed the threats to Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, a Kuwait-born Canadian arrested in March, now under US custody.

According to the report, the plot was hatched by operatives of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network.

The Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia are considered the second front in the US-led global war against terrorism.

Although a staunch supporter of the US campaign, President Arroyo said the Philippines was "not committed to any war" by the US against Iraq.

But she did offer Philippine airspace, ports and facilities for use by the anti-terrorist coalition.

A thousand US troops ended anti-terrorist military exercises with Philippine forces in July in a campaign against the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic bandit group operating in Mindanao considered a "terrorist" group by the US.