PLAYING WITH FIRE
Given the number of Filipinos expats working all over the world, the Philippines is asking for future trouble by giving in to terrorists in Iraq. From the A.P. report:
The Philippines said Wednesday it is withdrawing its small peacekeeping contingent from Iraq early to meet the demand of kidnappers threatening to kill a captive Filipino truck driver.
The announcement, which said the pullout was beginning immediately, was a dramatic turnaround by one of Washington's biggest backers in the global war on terrorism. The Southeast Asian country earlier vowed it would not yield to pressure to move up the withdrawal, which had been scheduled for Aug. 20 when the force's mandate ends.
Fifty-one Filipino peacekeepers can't make that big a difference, but the symbolism does. Wretchard at Belmont Club has been all over this story.