EDITORIAL - The Devil included

When the United States said it is concerned about the human rights situation in the Philippines, especially summary executions that include those here in Cebu, the big temptation is for us to applaud.

After all, summary executions, whether of enemies of the state or political critics, of known criminals and criminal suspects or of journalists, are themselves an abominable crime and should be condemned by anyone.

And is this not the great America that is finally taking cognizance of a very serious yet unsolved problem here in the islands? Whose heart would not beat faster, whose liver would not swell ten-fold at such recognition?

Bo-ho-ho. Alas and alack. The great America no longer occupies the moral high ground when it comes to these things. It still wields the big stick to command grudging obedience, but it no longer carries the carrot to entice willing cooperation and togetherness.

The war that America brought on Iraq, for instance, remains to this day an illegal war. It was launched without United Nations authorization. Worse, it was launched on the basis of lies that the US president himself told the American people.

This may sound like a rabid anti-American rhetoric, but there is simply no way to put it. If the truth hurts, so be it. But that is just the way it is. America and the so-called coalition of the willing that it leads by the nose went into Iraq without enough justification.

Now, for a country that has no qualms killing people in an illegal war, what moral basis does it have to lecture anyone else about other killings, even if they happen to be also illegal and immoral?

On the other hand, why should we feel our position against summary killings strengthened now that America has condemned such killings. Is it because the one speaking is America or is it because the matter has become so desperate we welcome anyone on board, the Devil included.