Supporters of a Filipino hostage in Iraq cheered Manila’s life-saving decision to withdraw troops from the war-torn nation, but the move was criticised by Washington and its allies, who said the United States-led coalition will suffer.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer called the Philippine ambassador in Canberra, Cristina Ortega, to say he was ”extremely disappointed” with Manila’s decision to pull its 51 soldiers and police from Iraq, Downer’s spokesperson Chris Kenny said.
”He said countries cannot give into the demands of terrorists because we would all pay the price,” Kenny said.
Downer said South Korea ”did the world a favour by saying that they wouldn’t be bullied by terrorists”. Iraqi insurgents killed a South Korean hostage last month after Seoul refused to bring its troops home.
US State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher, speaking shortly before the withdrawal announcement, said any pull-out ”sends the wrong message” to hostage takers ”at a time when Iraq is fighting for stability and peace”.
But in the Philippines — where the fate of truck driver Angelo de la Cruz, father of eight, has gripped the nation — people praised the government’s decision to withdraw the troops as demanded by the hostage takers before August 20, when their deployment had been scheduled to end.
”That’s good. The sooner the better,” said Teddy Casino of the left-wing Bayan Muna party, a strong opponent of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s decision to send troops to Iraq in the first place.
”The only long-term option is really the complete pull-out of Philippine troops, and ideally the pull-out from the ‘coalition of the willing’,” he said.
He said there will be fewer threats from anti-US forces to the 4 000 Filipino contract workers in Iraq if the troops are brought home.
De la Cruz’s family celebrated the announcement with a hearty breakfast of fish and fried chicken in their northern home province of Pampanga.
”We are happy that they are pulling out the troops already in exchange for my brother’s freedom,” said Feliciano de la Cruz, brother of the captive. ”We’re thankful to the president if they will indeed be pulled out. And once they complete the pull-out, [the captors] should give my brother to the president.”
His sister, Beth Reyes, said the report of the pull-out has ”eased our worries”.
”Since the news [of the abduction] broke out, we have not been able to eat well,” she said.
The family twice celebrated news that De la Cruz — taken hostage last week — had been freed, but ended up frustrated and disappointed after learning the reports were based on wrong information.
Chat Dimaano, spokesperson for Migrante International, a group helping Filipino workers abroad, said the government made a ”good decision”.
”They should have done this a long time ago,” he said. — Sapa-AP