The egregious lie: we are too far away from that war
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.”
—Leo Tolstoy
—o0o—
The cruel war in West Asia has been raging for the 7th day as we write, and by now this United States-Israel misadventure in Iran has failed to achieve its avowed goal of a regime change in Iran, despite the assassination of that nation’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
While diplomats from both sides were still negotiating in Oman for a nuke-reduction deal, Israel and US forces on February 28 launched sneak coordinated attacks on key targets inside Iran.
The first wave of ballistic missiles killed Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei, members of his family and key military leaders and clerics. This was followed by the deadliest single incident that occurred in the city of Minab in southeastern Iran, where a strike on a girls’ school killed about 180 young children.
It pains the heart to note that the extent of loss to lives, property, economies and growth in the countries directly involved in the conflict has been tremendous. And this is only the first week of the war.
As of the latest count, some 1,230 persons have been killed in Iran and hundreds were injured. American and Israeli missiles continue to rain over the capital Tehran and Qom, and across the country from as far north as Tabriz and Umia, in central Isfahan and as far south as Minab and Chabahar.
Weeks before he died, Khameini had surmised that “the next war would engulf the region” as the Islamic Republic does not possess enough missile interceptors in the mode of Israel’s Iron Dome to blow up the enemy’s missiles in the air, bu t this is more than compensated by Iran’s surfeit of ballistic and hypersonic missiles and thousands of drones that it can use in engulfing the whole Middle East region in a fiery conflagration.
Khomeini’s prophetic words described accurately what is happening on the ground and in the air these days.
As of March 5, here’s the list of places where Iranian missiles, bombs and drones struck:
Israel—Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beersheba and Beit Shemesh; 11 officially killed, but surely it is more. Among those killed in Tel Aviv was Filipina—Mary Ann Velasquez De Vera, 32, from Pangasinan, a caregiver and her elderly Israeli ward.
Cyprus—Raf Akrotiri. Jordan—Amman, Azraq, Suwayda and Irbid; 5 injured. Iraq—Erbil; 2 killed, 7 injured.
Saudi Arabia—the US embassy in Riyadh, Ras Tanura, the petroleum refineries in Aramur and Aramco. Kuwait—the US embassy and US military base in Kuwait City; 4 killed, 35 injured.
Bahrain—Headquarters of the US Navy 5th Fleet in Manama, the capital; 1 killed, 4 injured.
Qatar—the US Al Udeid Airbase in Doha, the capital city, Ras Laffan and Mesaieed; Qatar’s natural gas facilities; 16 injured.
United Arab Emirates—Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Ras-Al-Khaimah; Burj Al Arab Hotel, Fairmont Hotel, Dubai Airport and Jebel Ali Seaport. 3 killed, 78 injured.
Oman—Duqm. Fuel tanker hit at Duqm port; 1 killed, 5 injured.
Lebanon— Beirut, Sidon, Ghobeiry and Haret Hreik; 77 killed, 527 injured.
While direct losses in lives and property are being suffered by West Asia residents, we here in Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines, have reason to be concerned, too. For one, there are currently 2 million Filipinos in the Middle East, working in both blue collar and white collar jobs. President Bongbong Marcos has advised them to stay put and seek shelter, as the government tries to rescue some 1,500 Filipinos who have decided to return home. Some 299 Pinoys composed the first batch of repatriates from the UAE.
This mass evacuation of more OFWs from the Middle East means additional problems for the Philippines’ labor market as the country suffers from downward pressure, along with high inflation rate and a weakening economy, what with pruned government spending and lack of investor confidence following the shameful raids on government coffers by corrupt high officials. With the return of the OFWs, remittances from abroad and their new job contracts will necessarily decrease, again to the detriment of the PHL economy.
Here’s where the egregious lie gets interesting, sadly. The government knows that with the concomitant setbacks for the country that the US-Israel-Iran war brought, the question about the nine EDCA military bases of America across the country will resurface.
The National Security Council (NSC) and the foreigner-led Department of National Defense (from Malta) were quick to light the gas. Both denied the presence of US military bases in the country. They said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) remains fully in control of all military sites and they warned against fear mongering amid the conflict in West Asia.
They want to appear that we are too far away from that Middle East conflict. Some 7,500 kilometers away from trouble, and that the EDCA sites are here to help us in disaster mitigation, although no rescue boats were sent during the big floods last year.
Now, here’s the challenge. If the AFP is fully in control of the nine EDCA bases, invite the Philippine media for a peek/coverage of the US Typhon missile system now deployed in Northern Luzon (I bet you wouldn’t know if in Naval Base Camilo Osias, Camp Melchor dela Cruz or Lal-lo Airport) and transfer it to Fort Magsaysay. If you can do it, then we will believe that the AFP under General Brawner is fully in control of the US military magnets—err, bases—in the country.
In a way, inasmuch as Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump and the MAGA cabal have started to put in a religious flavor to their military aggression, it would appear as godly providential that this war happened, as it removed the veil of deception on the real character and purposes of all US military bases all over the world.
These global bases, including the Nine under EDCA, are there not for the defense of the host country but for the provision of military cover to American and Israeli hegemony. The Gulf states now reeling under attacks from Iran have realized this, as have the countries of Europe who are supposed to be allies of the US but have now shifted to being independent. Spain is one example.
Secretaries Año and Teodoro and General Brawner and their boss in Malacañang should not dance around and should tell it to the face of the Filipino people that the EDCA sites are US facilities and Iran, Hezbollah and whoever are America’s enemies have the right to consider them as legitimate targets. In which case, thousands of Filipino lives, homes, livelihoods, etc. are in danger of being obliterated.
