Bullying the Philippines: For Want of a Nail, the Kingdom was Lost

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's decision to remove convicted rapist Daniel Smith, a 21-year-old US Marine, from the Makati City jail and place him back in American custody was inevitable. Unpopular as the move was bound to be, Arroyo had no choice. The Americans bullied her into taking "executive" action and overriding the judiciary, which had ordered Smith held in the local prison and not in the more comfortable confines of the US Embassy. Washington had cancelled the annual "Balikatan" joint military exercises to show its disapproval of Smith's incarceration. Once Arroyo had returned Smith, who is appealing his conviction and sentencing to 40 years imprisonment, the Americans said the exercises were back on, but did not set a date for them to begin.

The message the Americans are sending is that the comfort of a single convicted American is worth more than the security of the Philippines and the surrounding region. An exaggeration? Maybe so, but tell that to the many Filipinos who are rightly outraged by Arroyo's action. Washington was willing to put on hold useful military cooperation between the US and Philippine armed forces just because one stupid American kid, who was convicted for raping a young Filipino woman and sentenced to 40 years in prison, had been sent to a local jail. We have to conclude that the US is willing to compromise Philippine and regional security just so that Mr Smith can have a private bath and shower, a decent bed and better food for the weeks or months that his appeal may take to be heard. So much for the global war on terror! Smith should be thankful he wasn't in the US-run stockade at Guantanamo Bay!

The US says that it is a matter of adhering to the Visiting Forces Agreement between the US and the Philippines. Smith's legal case is still alive so until his appeals are heard, he must remain in American custody, Washington argues. But what's right or wrong, legal or illegal, doesn't matter. The US has gotten its way, Smith can have his comforts, and now protesters are calling Arroyo a traitor. Yet again, for want of a horseshoe nail, the kingdom was lost. The US sure knows how to win friends across the world. Even in the countries whose citizens are mostly supportive of America, the US will find a way to turn people against them. The ghastly hanging of Saddam Hussein was yet another reminder of how inept the US is at winning the hearts and minds of those who would normally be pro-American. Will they ever learn?