Lying for one's country

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
11/9/2007



"The [US] tests are negative because when the US experts arrived at the blast site, they swabbed the exterior portions or the portions that were not directly at the center, or at the seat, of the explosion. … when the PNP Crime Laboratory personnel conducted their swabs, it was in the general vicinity of the seat of the explosion." PNP Chief Avelino Razon said in a newspaper report just a week after the Glorietta blast. Anyone analyzing the continuing Glorietta II blast controversy must not forget this statement on record, especially in light of what U.S. Ambassador Kenny is doing throwing the weight of her office behind the bomb cover up.

This columnist gave an inkling of the role of elements of the U.S. embassy in on going campaigns in the strategy of tension in the country when we wrote on October 24: “Even Ambassador Christie Kenney may have some explaining to do too, as her embassy still has to explain in the 2002 Michael Meiring case.” We have information that evidence will soon come out of the operatives involved in the strategy of terror in the country tagging the U.S. embassy handing out funds to them. We mention the Michael Meiring case, headlined in the Web’s libertyforum.com as “CIA agent blows his own legs off faking terrorism” which happened in 2002 in Davao as a case in point.

“Diplomacy is a disguised war, in which states seek to gain by barter and intrigue, by the cleverness of arts, the objectives which they would have to gain more clumsily by means of war. -- Randolph Bourne” The Filipino-American war never ended and the singular aim of U.S. diplomacy in the Philippines has been to continue suppressing the sovereign aspirations and economic impulse to independent development and control of its patrimony. When the U.S. ambassador gives such inordinate interest and argumentation to defend a factually indefensible “gas” theory in the Glorietta II blast, something is really afoot.

Many would recognize the following Ambrose Pierce quote: Diplomacy: The patriotic art of lying for one's country.“ This quote is especially relevant at this time when U.S. Ambassador Kenny investing the prestige of her office in the Glorietta II case, and her statement attempts to subvert the basic fact which we reiterated above – Kenny’s FBI swabbed for RDX far from the seat of the blast while the Filipino investigators on the scene at the first instance picked up the RDX from the “seat of the blast”. Up to this time nothing erases the fact that Razon admitted RDX was found and the evidence sits in the PNP crime laboratory apparently deliberately being downplayed and forgotten.

The ambassador’s word is taken as gospel truth by some shallow people, like the main anchor of the program “Karam-bola-bola” (pun mine) who said on air: “Mukhang tapos na ang isyu, nagsalita na si Amb. Kenny.” (The issue seems settled, Amb. Kenny has spoken.) When the self-confessed liar (remember his self-assassination for martial law) and U.S. toady Juan Ponce-Enrile joins the chorus behind Amb. Kenny, skepticism increases. What makes the U.S. Ambassador and others fudge facts so aggressively in this case? One probable reason: is a witness ready to attest that operators in the recent strategy of tension projects have been funded, wittingly or unwittingly, by the U.S. embassy.

De-politicizing the Glo II bombing would negate that testimony when it comes. Other analysts see other reasons: “They’ve gotten what they wanted (watch for multibillion privatization of hydro and other power projects to the U.S. interests taken away from the Chinese contracts like ZTE, or bases in Mindanao) from Gloria and are now loosening the noose.” Hence, the brokered ceasefire between Gloria and the FVR-JdV faction backed by the U.S. over their war for plunder from government projects. To keep on track, just stay with the essential facts of the Glorietta II blast in mind: RDX was found and no rational explanation how it got there has been given by the PNP.

In sum: Amb. Kenny covers up the RDX findings using the FBI’s sampling from places where it is not expected to be found. Before that, RDX was found at the seat of the blast; on the second day government claimed it was a terror attack by the Rajah Soliman Movement - a balik-Islam convert, Ruben Omar Lavilla, phoned in claiming responsibility - but leads on that path led to cell phone numbers of opposition members in a clear attempt to pin the blame on them. Then talk of a witness surfaced, suddenly the story changed to the “gas” accident. It doesn’t add up, hence, Binay, the Ayala group and some chambers of commerce call for an independent investigation.

More satisfactory answers could be had if independent probers were facilitated, but the PNP bans them from setting foot in the mall blast site, allegedly to prevent disturbing the scene of the incident and evidence thereat. Instead of the ban, they could instead accompany independent investigators and strictly monitor them. But no, the PNP is wants to obstruct all attempts at an independent investigation - which reflects its fear of its questionable findings refuted by a cold, disinterested third party investigation. My final question for Kenny: who told the FBI to swab for explosive residues at the wrong places?

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