Escaping into a nightmare

The United States’ tagging as a "terrorist group" the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), doesn’t tell us anything new. We’ve been fighting them for decades as terrorists, without a by-your-leave from the US or any other allies.

But US Secretary of State Colin Powell and the American government designating the CPP-NPA as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization" (FTO) at least enables the US to take material measures against the Communist insurgency here – such as moving to cut off any foreign funding for them, or barring their membership from entering the US – which, ironically, has for many years been one of the havens of choice for our local Communists and other radicals. Sanamagan – many of yesterday’s fire-breathing revolutionaries have become American citizens.

So, back to the "war". As Joma Sison snarled from his safe bolthole in Utrecht, Holland, the Communist insurgents intend to do their worst. In turn, we must resolve to do our best.

* * *

Sus, the Americans haven’t even attacked Iraq yet, but already Caltex and Petron have raised their prices at the corner gas pump. This will inevitably have an effect on the cost of everything.

It’s true enough that right now, six or more anti-Saddam Hussein groups are meeting with top officials in Washington (while President George "Dubya" Bush golfs with dad in Kennebunkport, Maine, or wilts in the summer heat while commuting to and from his ranch in Crawford, Texas). On the other hand, those dissident groups – composed of Shias, Kurds, and a mixed bag of former military and political leaders, including the remaining militants of the late Shah-in-Shah – have never been able to get along with each other, much less combine forces to topple the Iraqi dictator. If Washington, DC hopes to mount an "insurgency" inside Iraq and thus, more conveniently, bring about a change in regime in Baghdad, it can dream – but translating that fantasy into reality doesn’t seem plausible.

The militants claim that the "entire" Iraqi military is ready to revolt against Saddam. Such bombast may resound well within the Beltway, but in Baghdad, surely, many Iraqis will view with skepticism any "leaders" who so fulsomely proclaim they’re being backed by the USA. Let’s face it: Uncle Sam has been dunned by the Muslim – ergo, the Arab – world as the cousin of Uncle Shylock and the defender of Israel. It’s an inescapable label, no matter how fervid the shuttle diplomacy of America’s peace-pushers.

In the end, Bush and company may have to punch in, after all – without the help of European "allies" who have their own domestic troubles, skirmishes within the European Union, and some with sizeable Muslim populations of their own (from North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey), or are otherwise inclined by tradition to suck up to the Arab world. Poor Dubya may find himself and his Texas Rangers having to saddle up and go after the bad guys and bearded owl-hoots all by their lonesomes – as the old Wild West expression goes.

* * *

I really wonder why President Bush started sabre-rattling too soon. To begin with, Vice President Dick Cheney’s earlier trip to whip up support among America’s imagined "Arab friends" was a bust. He found there are none, even in Egypt, which gets $1.9 billion a year in "aid" from America – I won’t say as a bribe – and doesn’t even export tuna. This failure didn’t deter Cheney from continuing to lead the pack of Hawks, who remain in full cry.

Then, Bush himself tried to elicit support in a whirlwind tour of imagined European allies. He discovered that America didn’t have friends there, either. (The Europeans appreciate Americans only during World Wars when they themselves need help – then they yell for help. After and in-between World Wars, the European continent is the capital of America-bashing.)

Next, this month and part of the next are the worst periods in which to attack Iraq, or – for that matter – fight any war in the Middle East. It is too hot. Temperatures soar to past 40 degrees Celsius. The US forces would only collapse from heat-stroke.

Nor can Americans, even when back from their August vacations, be sent to war until after November – which is when US Congressional elections are held. You don’t send boys to fight and die in a country most Yanks mispronounce as Eye-rak when you’re counting on the ballots of the folks at home.

And, by golly, after the elections, suddenly it’s Christmas. You’re supposed to bring the boys back (not send them "off"), so they’ll "be home for Christmas".

January? After the New Year hang-over? February? Why, that’s Valentine’s. When then can Bush and his forces strike? Of course, I oversimplify things – but you get my drift.

The problem is that America’s economy, in the wake of so many corporate scandals (there’s an additional $3.8 billion in losses unreported in WorldCom, etc.), is in trouble. Is the US headed for a double-dip recession? Where will the funds come from then with which to wage war? (Sorry, in Manila, facing our own horrible deficit, we can’t afford to lend them money.)

America, indeed, is a superpower – but even superpowers need gas. As for all that sabre-rattling, I fervently hope that when Mr. Bush does draw it, it won’t have shrunk in the scabbard to a letter opener.

Don’t get me wrong. The world would be well-rid of despots and terrorists like Saddam Insane, as I’ve always called that blood-stained Braggart from Baghdad. The question is: How? Is this the time?

And what if America wins? Then the US will have another Afghanistan on its hands. It has been calculated that, given the fractious state existing in Iraq, "after victory" no less than 75,000 peace-keeping troops will be required in that troubled land.

I’m glad, in this light, that the Philippines is not a superpower, but is closer to the opposite – power failure. For at least nobody is expecting us to solve the problems of this planet.

Alas, we can barely cope with our own.

* * *

We’re still in the news – bad news at that. The last issue of TIME Magazine (August 12) ran a lurid three-page article, cleverly entitled "Base Instincts."

The subhead revealed that "Filipina and Russian women are being sold into sexual slavery in the seedy bars and nightclubs that serve US military bases in South Korea."

TIME correspondent Donald MacIntyre reports from Tongduchon, some 20 kilometers from the DMZ – the demilitarized zone separating South from North Korea – in Camp Casey, a US military base. "Barely 100 meters from Camp Casey’s main gate, there is a seedy mile of sleazy bars, greasy-spoon restaurants and shops hawking everything from American-size bomber jackets to see-through lingerie. But it’s the bars that rule the strip: dimly lit dives with names like USA, Las Vegas and Sexy Club, and signs warning that the premises are off-limits to Korans."

In those clubs, on the other hand, "Filipinas and Russians in micro miniskirts idle in the doorways, trying to coax G.I.s inside."

TIME quotes an unnamed American sergeant, "chilling out" in a pizza joint, as liking the Army and being "proud to be up here," ‘protecting democracy’ from North Korean aggression."

"But that concern, "the article goes on to say, "doesn’t extend to the Russian and Filipina women who work the bars where he spends his free time: they’re just part of the landscape."

‘"The women are here, because they’ve been tricked,’ the sergeant adds with a knowing look. ‘They’ve been told they’re going to be bartending or waitressing, but once they get here, things are different’."

The exploitation apparently didn’t bother the military brass at the bases, "but now a US Senator and 12 members of Congress are demanding action." The alarm bells started ringing, it seems, when Fox Television news ran an exposé after "casing brothels where trafficked women were allegedly forced to prostitute themselves to G.I.s…"

The lawmakers sent a letter to the Pentagon in May, asking for an investigation. "If US soldiers are patrolling or frequenting these establishments, the military is in effect helping line the pockets of human traffickers," the indignant legislators told US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

It seems that the US lawmakers are embarrassed because in 2000, US Congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, putting Washington at the forefront of moves to "combat the growing worldwide trade in women." Republican Congressman Christopher Smith, chief sponsor of that law, and one of the legislators bellowing to the Pentagon to clean up its act, declares he was shocked to learn about the goings-on at Tongduchon. "There needs to be a very aggressive ending of this outrage," Smith told TIME. "We need to lead by example."

"A good place to start the campaign might be Club Y," the newsmagazine suggests, describing it as "a sleazy haunt that Filipinas working on the strip call ‘a bad bar’."

Recounted writer MacIntyre: "Rosie Danan found out just how bad the week she started working there in 1999, at the age of 16. Back home in Manila, a recruiting agency had promised Danan the job would require her merely to serve drinks and chat with customers. After she arrived in Korea – on a false passport – Club Y’s mama-san took her papers away and told her the rules: she would be serving up her body as well as booze. She would get no days off for the first three months. And later, she could earn days off if she sold enough drink and sex. She would live in a room above the club and, unless she was with the mama-san, would not be allowed outside except for three minutes a day to make a phone call. The penalty for coming back late: $8 a minute."

"At least 16 Filipinas have escaped from bars near Tongduchon since June, bringing with them similar horror stories. Official statistics show 5,000 women have been trafficked in Korea since the mid-90s, but human rights groups say the real figure is much higher," TIME revealed. The article pointed out that more than 8,500 foreign women entered Korea last year on "entertainment" visas, "mostly Filipinas and Russians".

In the years I’ve covered Japan and South Korea, such terrible tales have been retailed, but the "trafficking" doesn’t stop despite repeated exposés. The Japanese Yakuza treat their Filipina Japayuki slaves no better (and some even worse) than their Korean counterparts.

As for victims like Rosie, they continue to go – despite warnings – in a desperate effort to escape poverty and hopelessness. They escape, needless to say, into a nightmare.

If we can’t halt this ill-starred exodus, we can mount a more determined operation to rescue our women, even from their own folly. This should be looked into by the new Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople, who’s already in Japan.

We must never give up, even if the exploiters, traffickers, and slave traders continue to outwit us and hoodwink our girls.