Category: bangsamoro

“actionable intelligence”

feb 11 i caught US president barack obama on CNN explaining his admin’s draft resolution to the US congress for authority to use force against ISIL.

OBAMA: If we had actionable intelligence about a gathering of ISIL leaders, and our partners didn’t have the capacity to get them, I would be prepared to order our Special Forces to take action, because I will not allow these terrorists to have a safe haven. [emphasis mine]

actionable intelligence!  it rang a bell.  i was sure i heard president aquino use the very same words to justify the mamasapano ops.  googled it and, yes, the very same words, when he addressed the nation for the first time 29 january re mamasapano.

“[N]ang nalaman ng ating kapulisan ang tutok na lokasyon nina Marwan at Usman, nagdesisyon silang kumilos upang ipatupad ang mga warrant sa mga ito. Actionable intelligence po ang nakalap ng ating mga awtoridad: Hindi lamang rehiyon, o probinsiya, o munisipyo ang natukoy nila, kundi ang mismong mga bahay na pinagtataguan ng dalawa. Kung hindi aaksiyunan ang kaalamang ito, maaaring makatakas sina Marwan at Usman, at kakailanganin na namang simulan ang mahabang proseso ng paghahanap sa kanila.

and just last wednesday feb 11, the very same day obama talked “actionable intelligence” vis a vis ISIL, palace spokesman edwin lacierda invoked the same to explain why presidential bff purisima remained in the loop despite his suspension from office by the ombudsman last december 2014:

“He (Purisima) had the actionable intelligence. That was the role that he had,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing.

“actionable intelligence” was first used by presidential candidate obama in august 2007  amid debate in Washington over al qaeda and taliban resurgence in  northwest pakistan that president pervez musharraf was unable to control.

“If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won’t act, we will,” Obama said. 

upon the killing of osama bin laden by US operatives in may 2o11, a senior administration official said in a press briefing:

I would also just add to that that President Obama, over a period of several years now, has repeatedly made it clear that if we had actionable intelligence about Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts, we would act. So President Obama has been very clear in delivering that message publicly over a period of years. And that’s what led President Obama to order this operation. When he determined that the intelligence was actionable and the intelligence case was sufficient, he gave us high confidence that bin Laden indeed was at the compound.

it would seem — given obama’s words to the effect that the US is prepared to take action should a “partner” prove incapable of acting on actionable intelligence — that president aquino really had no choice but to allow the mamasapano ops when he did, with purisima in the lead, since it was purisima with whom the americans were sharing the actionable info.  if the prez and purisima had waited too long, at naka-eskapo ang mga terorista, nagalit tiyak ang amerika, and who knows  how that would have affected our foreign and political and security affairs.

naka-eskapo nga si usman, pero patay naman daw si marwan, and the americans may be seeing the glass as half-full, but which brings us back to the finger.  i suppose that by now congress is privy to napenas’ story about why and how it was turned over to the americans almost immediately, it would seem, defying all protocol.  i suppose, too, that our senators and congresspeeps will not be sharing the transcript of those executive sessions with us ordinary citizens, which would mean that these allegedly honourable ones would be complicit in the cover-up.

a cover-up na nakaka-offend because it’s like they’re saying that we can’t handle the truth about america and our lopsided “special relations.”  as if we haven’t known all along.

they think we’re all idiots.  no actionable intelligence for us.

truth commission nominees, full disclosure, please

today’s news on the senate’s proposed truth commission:

Those being eyed as members of the Truth Commission are former Senator Wigberto Tañada, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, and Ateneo School of Government Dean Antonio La Viña.

hmmmm.  bakit nawala si reynato puno who was on an earlier list?  because he’s known to be an oppositionist?  better him, methinks, than davide, whose son, the current governor of cebu, is a liberal party stalwart.  as for tañada, umm, the last i heard, correct me if i’m wrong (or if it’s no longer true), he was with the legal dept of a powerful media conglomerate that owes the aquino family big time and is quite protective of the status quo.  la viña sounds good though, unless he’s connected directly or by family or some affinity with the executive department or the police or the military.

and i so disagree with speaker belmonte that congress is the proper party to conduct the investigation.

“…The Congress has inherent powers… We have the process, rules, everything is in place. We are the proper party, not some retired justices,” Belmonte said in a chance interview with reporters.

…Belmonte said the House leadership is now amenable with the House Committee on Public Order and Safety conducting a probe on the incident. He reiterated, though, that he would prefer that the committee conduct a joint probe with its counterpart committee in the Senate headed by Sen. Grace Poe.

excuse me, mr. speaker, and senator poe na rin, congress has no credibility to speak of.  but the speaker is right, let not the truth commission be composed only of lawyers.  let all sectors of society, left, right, and center, be represented by free agents — beholden to no one in government — and known for their intelligence, independence, and probity.

one people, one probe #mamasapano

MANILA – An expert sees problems with the many investigating bodies formed to shed light on the bloody Mamasapano clash last Sunday which left 44 elite cops and 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters dead.

Julkipli Wadi, dean of the University of the Philippines (UP) Institute of Islamic Studies, said the several bodies tasked to investigate the deadly clash must be able to come up with coherent reports.

… ”Ang napansin ko eh tila dumadami ang mga bodies na kine-create para mag-imbestiga. Maliban sa board of inquiry, meron pang MILF na may sarili nilang investigation, meron pang truth commission,” Wadi told dzMM.

”Ang problema eh paano kung iba-iba ang mga findings? Sino ang paniniwalaan?” 

divide-and-rule ba, as usual, ang strategy?  but we are already so divided — mamasapano only added to the cracks in our brittle sense of “nation”.

let us heed prof. wadi’s warning.  too many probes is problematic.  we, the people of the philippines, should demand that the findings of the PNP board of inquiry, the MILF’s special investigative commission, the International Monitoring Team’s and the Commission on Human Rights’ independent investigations be submitted to an independent Truth Commission whose sole mandate would be to satisfy the people’s thirst for the truth re the mamasapano debacle.  one people, one truth.

the senate’s peace, reconciliation and unification committee chair tg guingona has nominated hilario davide sr., reynato puno, and wigberto tanada to head or compose such a truth commission.  i would add the names of carol pagaduan araullo, joey ayala, and prof. wadi himself.  let them put their heads together, ferret out the incontrovertible truths, so the people may know who are criminally responsible for the 64 dead.  the sooner the better.  until then, all talk of peace is just talk.

Security Forces, Muslim Rebels Should Protect Civilians

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

(Zamboanga City) – Philippines security forces and Muslim rebels have committed serious abuses during fighting in the southern city of Zamboanga. After taking over five coastal villages on September 9, 2013, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) took dozens of residents hostage, though many have since been released. The Philippine military and police have allegedly tortured or otherwise mistreated suspected rebels in custody.

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