Aquino Defense Pact with Washington 'Unconstitutional' (Manila
Times, The Philippines)
"For this 10-year agreement security agreement, which binds
our country beyond his term and conscripts the nation as a cog in imperial
America's global defense network, and obviously not without risk, President Aquino
didn't even bother to consult the Senate, even though the Constitution requires
Senate approval of all treaties entered into with other nations. ... Nice job,
President Aquino. We just raised the tension a few notches between our country
and China. I hope we get something out of it."
Former Philippines President Corazon Aquino: By circumventing the Philippine Senate, has her son, President Benigno Aquino, done what she failed to do - get the United States military to return?
What
the Senate stopped his
mother from doing 20 years ago, President Aquino has
managed to do today: Incorporate the Philippines into the global military
strategy of the United States.
In
1991, President Cory Aquino tried hard to reach a new security treaty with Washington
allowing it to maintain its military bases, primarily the one in Subic Bay which
had been one of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's strategic bases. The Senate, however,
despite Aquino's overwhelming popularity and political power at that time,
rejected her demands, after which she even tried a mini-People Power street
action.
Her
son Benigno the 3rd, now president, didn't even bother
seeking Senate approval, instead having his defense secretary sign what's
called the "Enhanced
Defense Cooperation Agreement" with the U.S. ambassador.
For
this 10-year agreement, which binds our country beyond his term and conscripts
the nation as a cog in imperial America's global defense network, and obviously
not without risk, Aquino didn't even bother to consult the Senate, even though the
Constitution requires Senate approval of all treaties entered into with other
nations.
As
of this writing, the treaty hasn't even been made public. What the Department of Foreign
Affairs has released is merely sanitized "question and answer"
material with references to provisions of the treaty that don't even support
its assertions.
It's
mostly a propaganda sheet, and we can't be sure if it accurately interpreted
the agreement's provisions. For example, the Q&A emphasized, as if to say
the people want it: "A recent Social Weather Station survey showed at
least 7 out of 10 Filipinos support measures to strengthen the country's
defense capabilities and that the Philippines may ask its partners in achieving
this objective."
It's
no wonder Senator Miriam
Defensor-Santiago, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was
irked and exclaimed, "The Senate has not been given the courtesy of being
furnished a copy. I feel as if I have been slapped or ordered to melt into the
wallpaper."
If
she were told who undertook the negotiations with the U.S., the senator would
go ballistic.
Second rate negotiators
The
Philippine panel was headed by Defense Undersecretary Pio
Lorenzo Batino, who appears to have had such a
mediocre career that other than the fact that he was appointed to the post
weeks after Aquino assumed office in 2010, there isn't any background on him on
the Internet.
The
other members of the negotiating panel were Ambassador Lourdes Yparraguirre, Ambassador Eduardo Malaya, Justice Undersecretary
Francisco Baraan 3rd, and defense assistant secretary
for strategic assessments, Raymund Jose Quilop.
Ambassadors
Yparraguirre and Malaya are mere fixtures. Yparraguirre is our current ambassador to Austria, and
Malaya to Malaysia. They were given the additional task as members of the panel
when Assistant Foreign Secretary for American Affairs Carlos Sorreta was suddenly yanked off the panel last month.
Having
scant expertise in military affairs or treaties, and joining the panel only
several weeks ago, the two ambassadors were obviously mere rubber stamps for
the pact.
Widely
known to be sympathetic to the United States, having been educated and assigned
there, Sorreta, though, is known to relish going over
things with a fine toothcomb.
Was
he yanked away to speed up the pact before Obama's scheduled arrival the
following month? Indeed, U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg had to deny to the
press that Sorreta's axing was to get the draft pact finalized.
So
these are the people who negotiated a military treaty with a superpower?
In
contrast to the Philippines, the U.S. negotiating panel was headed by Ambassador Eric John, who
is the State Department's Senior Advisor for Security Negotiations and
Agreements at the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. John is known as America's
principal officer for international security arrangements and treaties. U.S.
Ambassador Goldberg, a former state undersecretary for intelligence with a
reputation for playing hardball, was rushed in to add muscle to the U.S.
negotiating team.
The
fact that the agreement was rushed for President Obama's visit tour is obvious since
as of yesterday, the Defense Department's Web site still had only one piece of
news on it: "PH-U.S. to resume talks on enhanced defense cooperation."
The
most important part of the treaty - at least going by the verbal calisthenics of
Aquino and his officials and the "Q&A" issued by Foreign Affairs,
is that the U.S. military will be permitted to build facilities within
Philippine military camps to warehouse supplies and war materiel (except for
nuclear weapons) to "pre-position" it and for the troops. As the
Q&A put it, to enter the country "on a temporary and rotational basis
that will be held in Armed Forces of the Philippines' facilities."
Aquino
officials claim that crucial provisions like these show that the U.S. has bent over
backwards to respect our Constitution, which bans foreign military bases. That
is complete hogwash.
No
wonder Obama was so defensive in claiming that the pact isn't designed to
contain China. This is part of the America's new global war strategy: Perhaps
the enemy is North Korea, but then it could also conceivably be China.
The
features of the pact are essential elements of America global war strategy,
which has been altered in large part due to the lessons of the Gulf and Iraq
wars. One lesson is that America's military might require massive
pre-positioning war material and supplies. It's the old lesson of Napoleon
Bonaparte: "An army marches on its stomach."
Helping fill the
stomachs of American troops
As
part of this new U.S. global strategy, to which Aquino's military pact closely
hews, the Philippines will help fill the stomachs of American troops, as it
were, by being a territory where its supplies could be pre-positioned. This is
the new buzzword in America's global war strategy.
America's
former global superpower strategy, with its network of military bases around
the world, was designed during the Cold War. Those plans involved massive
nuclear strikes on the USSR and China via submarine-launched missiles (think "Subic")
and bombers (think "Clark"). That kind of war among nuclear powers would
obviously have been short.
In
contrast, the lessons of the Gulf War and the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions
was that wars America wages in the 21st century will be long conventional wars
that would require long and massive supply lines. From the Vietnam war, the U.S.
learned that the longer the war takes, the more likely public opinion will turn
against it, forcing U.S. leaders to end it quickly.
The
Turkish Parliament's refusal to allow the U.S. to attack Iraq using its air
bases in 2001 became a major logistical problem for the Americans, and was
purportedly one of the reasons for a delay in its invasion.
Posted By
Worldmeets.US
As
explained by the U.S. Government Accountability Office [GAO] in September 2007:
"With fewer
troops permanently stationed overseas, prepositioned stocks of equipment and
supplies have become an integral part of the Department of Defense's ability to
project forces into conflict areas faster. The importance of prepositioned
stocks to the U.S. military was highlighted during recent operations in Iraq.
The military used equipment and supplies stored at land sites in the region and
offloaded much of the stocks from its prepositioning ships.
"The
availability of the sites gave the United States the facilities it needed to
assemble forces for combat.
"Recognizing
the importance of the department's prepositioning programs, Congress has made
significant investments in these programs. In recent years, the services have
collectively used over $1 billion each year to operate and maintain their
prepositioning programs; by fiscal year 2005 this amount had declined to about
$724 million, since a large portion of these stocks were used to support
military operations in Iraq. However, billions of dollars in future investments
will be needed to recapitalize equipment and develop future programs. The
recently published National Defense Strategy indicates that prepositioning will
continue to be an important aspect of DOD's defense posture in the future."
Obama's
"pivot to Asia," its calibrated stance vis-à-vis China's expansionist
claims in the South China Sea, and Aquino's "enhanced" defense
agreement with the U.S. are all derived from this March 2008 document.
The
document even identified as one of the U.S. military's four "forward
regions" - areas where its military might must be felt - "the East
Asian Littoral," which is where China claims a huge swathe of territory,
covered by its infamous 9-dash line, also called China's "Ox's Tongue"
territory.
I'm
sure the Chinese are avid readers the new U.S. global defense strategy, and it will
be obvious to them what Aquino's military pact with the U.S. fits in with it.
Nice
job, President Aquino. We just raised the tension a few notches between our
country and China. I hope we get something out of it, as there isn't any
mention that the agreement requires monetary compensation for the use of land
and facilities of our armed forces.
What
Obama just said at their joint press conference was that he'll ask his
officials to organize a U.S. business contingent to the Philippines at some
time to come. Great, and thank you, Mr. Obama!
I'll
explain more about the new U.S. global strategy and how Aquino's pact is a mere
execution of it on Friday, with verbatim quotes from U.S. military literature.
