Saudi-born Osama bin Laden established Maktab al-Khidimat (MAK) in the '80s during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and recruited Islamic fighters to join the mujahideen resistance movement.  From this grew an international network that is now known as al-Qaeda.

Funds from various sources were channeled for the training and recruitment of these fighters.  In 1991, bin Laden left Saudi Arabia for Sudan.  At the time, he was already staging a relentless campaign against the Saudi government for refusing to employ his mujahideen warriors as protectors of the royal family.

On February 1998, bin Laden and al-Zawahiri issued a fatwa calling on every Muslim to kill any American that they could find around the world, including their civilian and military allies.  He challenged the United States on a nationwide ABC News interview and warned that thousands of Americans would be killed.

Ironically, the Philippines was part of the puzzle because of bin Laden follower Ramsey Yousef, an engineer who had apparently been going in and out of the Philippines during the 1990s.  After his failed attempt to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993, Yousef and another terrorist traveled to the Philippines where they looked at possibilities of hijacking US-bound 747s and crash them into key buildings in the US.  He and Abdul Hakim Murad were in Manila in 1995 to plan the assassination of Pope John Paul II when he accidentally started a fire in his apartment. Yousef escaped but files deciphered from his computer led to his eventual arrest in Pakistan.  He reportedly used Mindanao as a training ground for the Abu Sayyaf in bomb making and other terrorist activities.  He and his uncle, suspected 9-11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, lived lavishly in the Philippines and distributed funds from bin Laden.

In 1996, now retired CIA agent Michael Scheuer was tasked to trace the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.  Scheuer and Robert Blitzer, who headed the FBI's counter-terrorism and Middle East unit, were able to identify a mosque in Sudan that was then being used as a front by the al-Qaeda.  The mosque was actually the al-Qaeda headquarters that bin Laden frequented.  The CIA was able to identify it as the perfect target where they planned to trap Osama bin Laden.  However, CIA headquarters at Langley recommended through Clinton's National Security Adviser Samuel Berger an alternative plan to terminate bin Laden with "extreme-prejudice" instead.  The CIA's recommendation to terminate bin Laden was confirmed by our friend Mike Malinowski, who was then head of the State Department's Counter-terrorism unit in Afghanistan.  Mike later served as the acting US Ambassador to the Philippines from July 2000 to September 2001.

In the meantime, Washington was raging with the Monica Lewinsky affair scandal, Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr's investigation of Clinton and the subsequent impeachment proceedings.  The funny thing is the Philippines played a minor role in the Lewinsky scandal with the now famous "Philippine cigar."  Because Clinton was so distracted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal, he junked the CIA recommendation.  Just maybe if there was no Monica Lewinsky and the impeachment, the death of 3,000 Americans in what is now known as 9-11 could have been averted.  No matter how much George Bush and the Americans say that Osama bin Laden and his gang would not be able to change the American way of life—the fact of the matter is, freedom in America has dramatically changed.  A clear case of politics, sex and terror curtailing freedom.

Today, the United States is like a police state.  High technology is used to watch virtually everyone.  Ordinary American citizens just have to learn to live with the idea that Big Brother is always watching.  And if you are an immigrant, heaven help you especially if your skin color has a Middle Eastern shade.  There is no doubt that there is again a growing racial discrimination in the United States.  For people like Michael Ray Aquino, it is very likely his goose is cooked.  Mere possession of classified documents constitutes a serious crime in the United States especially after 9-11.  And once you have been branded as a terrorist like retired Gen. Rey Jarque, it's almost impossible to get into the US.  And if by some stroke of luck you get a visa for the US like Jarques despite being on the terrorist list, then you can expect to get detained for 15 hours or more before you're eventually put on the next flight out.

Here in the Philippines, terrorist activities are real.  The focus of attention is on politics and deploying most of the military, intelligence, and police resources to securing Malacañang and stopping rallies.  Instead of urgently passing the Anti-Terrorism Bill, it's politics as usual in the Senate and Congress.  In the meantime, the crime rate is going up, and more importantly, terrorist activities are on the rise in Mindanao.  As a matter of fact, the London bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan was reportedly trained in Mindanao just like the Bali bombers.  It is clear the Philippines is still at the center of all these terrorist activities, Joe Mussomeli (who is not such a great fan of GMA) predicted that Mindanao could be the next Afghanistan if the political leadership in this country continues to play politics.  If that happens, then those who are crying out against EO 464 and CPR will see what it is really like to have their freedom curtailed.

It is not too far-fetched for a country like the United States to take control of a country like the Philippines just like what they did in Afghanistan and Iraq to protect their own country against terrorists.  The US has learned its lesson in spending over $800 billion (and still counting) in Iraq and Afghanistan with 2,000 American soldiers killed so far.  They would probably opt to take the easier route this time by preempting a country from becoming another terrorist haven.  Just think, the Philippines will once again become a colony of the United States.  If it happens, then hopefully, we would have learned our lesson and not wish for what Manuel L. Quezon wanted.  This time, we'll pray for "a government run like heaven by Filipinos."

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