AT the opening of the Senate probe on the Mamasapano Massacre, an idiot argument was floated that taking out the Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir was a mistake. It imperilled the one-sided peace talks and the Bangsamaoro basic law agreement which gave away a portion of Mindanao as a homeland for terrorists within the ambit of Malaysia. Now, as the well-educated know, taking out terrorists is always a good thing, especially when they come from so close by.
In principle taking into custody, or taking out terrorists altogether, is an international obligation of every civilized state. It commits the President to discharge that duty whatever the price his countrymen must pay. This is above argument.
Taking out terrorists is just the sort of thing that civilized people do. To be sure in the time of Cory Aquino, Tamil Tigers came over here for rest and recreation.
They had no issue with us and we had no idea what do with them. So we asked a neighboring state, a very successful state I might add, for suggestions. They said we have them, too. They come for rest and recreation, and we look the other way or they will do to us what they do in their country, which is to wear garlands of grenades, stand beside government officials and detonate themselves.
So we, too, over here left them alone. But Noynoy could not treat Malaysian terrorists that way. Tamil Tigers were operating far away while Malaysian terrorists were living in our backyard. They were preparing terrorist actions that would leave half a million dead. That was told to us after 9/11 by a homeland security expert. A container of Muslim explosives parked even at the edge of a parking lot will flatten a giant mall like pancake. That is why we cannot dilly-dally, not to mention pussyfoot, when it comes to terrorism, be the threat of it imminent or a bit remote but it is never far-fetched at all.
Malaysian-backed Muslims have, over four decades, killed tens of thousands of our soldiers, burned communities and slaughtered innocent men, women and children whose torn bodies and shattered bones cry for justice like those of the 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF). So how could we forego taking in or taking out Zulkifli bin Hir? How stupid are these people? It is equally stupid to suggest that we should have cleared the operation with the very people hiding Zulfee. If we did that, sure the SAF would not be killed, but they would be frustrated.
Coming to Zulfee’s hiding place, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would have told the SAF, “Zulkifli’s been here, but he’s gone already.” By now, Zulfee will have detonated a mall. It was earlier suggested that the peace panel should have been informed so they could alert the MILF of the SAF mission and to leave them alone.
Well, someone alerted the MILF, and they left just one SAF alive and not for want of trying to kill him. It is sheer idiocy, nay it is treason, to suggest that we should have shirked our bounden duty to take out a murderous Malaysian, all for the sake of a territorial giveaway backed by equally-idiotic foreign diplomats whose countries do owe Muslims a huge historical debt, for everything they stole from them including Palestine.
If Noynoy did anything right, it was that he boldly went ahead with his duty as a civilized head of state to take out a terrorist hidden by the friends of his peace panel. That alone is evidence that whatever the peace panel, the terrorists, and their foreign sponsors had in mind, our President never contemplated giving away and withholding the reach of our laws from a part of our sacred land. On top of which, his critics today were his sycophants yesterday when they kept silent over Mamasapano, because they were still the charitable objects of his political patronage. Keep well.
