Even though it involved creation of a federal state just for them.
"Peace delayed in southern Philippines," by Jeoffrey Maitem in Asia Times (thanks to Morgaan Sinclair):
COTABATO, Philippines - Two months after Manila and the Philippines' largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), agreed during mediated talks in Malaysia to a final settlement of their armed dispute, new complications have emerged that threaten to derail the deal.Government officials and Muslim leaders have expressed optimism that the decades-old rebellion in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, which has claimed the lives of more than 150,000 people on both sides of the conflict, would come to a final and peaceful conclusion through a proposed new autonomy deal.
Marking a significant government concession, officials recently said they would consider a constitutional amendment that would allow for the creation of a federal state in Mindanao. The latest proposal was nonetheless rejected out-of-hand by the MILF as a "deceptive offer", underscoring the group's lingering concerns about the terms of implementation of any peace agreement.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's mediators and MILF representatives were expected to sign early this year a final peace agreement that has already been drafted. Earlier it seemed that both camps had overcome the sticking point concerning the territorial composition of a proposed MILF autonomous region.
The draft agreement provides for the expansion of the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), first created in 1989, to also cover Muslim-dominated villages in central and western Mindanao, encompassing six provinces, two cities and a thousand Muslim-dominated villages. As part of the deal, the new autonomous region would be known as the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) and a law would be passed to repeal previous acts that more narrowly defined the ARMM.
Now the talks have hit a snag, as the MILF raises questions about whether the government is negotiating in good faith. The MILF has rejected government negotiators' inclusion of the phrase "constitutional process" in the proposed draft Memorandum of Agreement as the mode of implementation of the agreement. The government has until now demanded that the BJE be approved by a plebiscite, a proposal that the MILF has rejected.
OK, maybe it's just the juvenile side of me coming out, but I couldn't read the article without laughing at the jihad group's acronym - MILF.
ROFLMBO!!!
I atomized my morning coffee onto my screen while reading this. Muslims I'd Like to Fight in The War Against Terror. Oh, the unintended humor of acronyms. (I'm still laughing.)
Fightin' MILFS! Now that's hawt.
On a more serious note, the refusal to accept what was offered my the dhimmis in Manilla is a good development. Would they have kept the treaty obligations anyway? Accepting the offer would have provided these MILFs with the legitimacy of a state, and a sanctioned platform for further expansion.
Is the Filipino government mad - offering a separate state to the Jihadists, even if within the Philippines? They are exacerbating a Kashmir/Kosovo like situation, where the political existance of such an entity simply makes it possible for Jihadists to claim more territory at a political level. Who are the morons running that government, and where is Ferdinand Marcos when you need him?
I realize that the jihad in southern Philipines is a very serious topic, but I'm glad to see that I was not the only reader guffawing like a twelve-year-old boy over the acronym for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF),
If Spirit Airlines could get in hot water over their use of MILF (which they claimed meant "Many Islands, Low Fares"), then why should the Moro Islamic Liberation Front get a pass?
Will we see Moro Islamic Liberation Front spokesmen hanging their heads on an upcoming episode of Bill O'Reilly?
Do they really want people conjuring up images of, say, Angelina Jolie or Katie Holmes every time someone uses their acronym? I especially liked the reference to a "proposed MILF autonomous region".
Some enterprising Imam needs to issue a fatwa against MILF's acronym, toot sweet.
gravenimage - These guys are too late. There is already a MILF autonomous region centered around Severna Park, Maryland.
That didn't take long....
I was expecting rejection in three months, but they got to it in two.
They are using the 'textbook Palestinian' form of negotiating.
1. Kill, Kill, Kill.
2. Claim that you kill, because you are the victim....
3. Because you are a victim you will enter into peace if you get land.
4. Get the land, claim you are still a victim, which means you will not agree to peace, kill more, and hold out for more land.
We will be seeing them brought back to the negotiating table and agreeing to more land in less then three months. And we will continue to read this headline over and over for decades to come.
They will not honor peace and they will be rewarded with more land because of it.
heh,heh, heh, you said MILF.;)
Why, why, why won't people learn. Whatever is offered to appease the muslims is never enough. Yasser Arafat showed this as earlier as the 90's, whenever the first attempt at a "palestinian" state was made by Slick Willie. Whatever you offer, they want more. They are like the "Blob." Always consuming, needing more. Let's quit beating around the bush and cut it down already. They don't want to co-exist. Let me repeat that. THEY DON'T WANT TO CO-EXIST. The Filipinos should know this. They have been fighting this blight on humanity since they were a Spanish possession. So, to all non-muslim nations, STOP. Give it up. Quit trying to negotiate with a brick wall. It matters not how intelligent and enlightened you think yourselves to be, they aren't going to negotiate in good faith.
Time for someone to send the Filipino Defence Minister a copy of: Onward Muslim Soldiers; The PIG to Islam and the Crusades; and The Truth About Muhammad. The fact that Robert Spencer is a Catholic should count for *something* with the Filipinos.
Same to whichever General or Generals are in charge of the Filipino troops on the ground in Mindanao (and maybe a copy of Khadduri's Law of War and Peace in Islam, helpfully bookmarked).
Same to whoever is the Filipino Catholic Cardinal.
Most educated Filipinos can read English.
As I said, most educated Filipinos can read English.
Still, Tagalog translations of Onward Muslim Soldiers, the PIG to Islam and the Crusades, and Truth About Muhammad, would be - I think - a very good idea. Specially if someone then turned them into audio book form, so even the illiterate could get the message.
These memes need to be spreading beyond the Anglophone world.
Where is some smart and wealthy person who can sponsor the translation of Robert's top three textbooks (the ones I have named) into the languages of the less publicised frontlines against the Jihad - the Philippines, Thailand, Ethiopia (Amharic), East Africa (Swahili, at least)? The educated elites read English, and some of the middle class, but to really get the word out, nothing beats the mother tongue and/or in some places, the trade language.
A clever translator would provide a 'hook' by dedicating/ introducing their translation appropriately - for example, for an Ethiopian audience, the translation could have a special introduction honouring all those brave Ethiopian rulers and warriors who defended their country against Islam for 1300 years.
Yeah I googled MILF and got more than I anticipated.
Just came back to say "MILF" one more time.
Dumbledoresarmy, your idea of translating those publications is a great idea. However, as a native Tagalog speaker (and I believe many educated Filipinos would agree with this), I actually find it easier to read and write in English!
I must confess that I haven't read any of those works you've mentioned; the selections in local bookstores can be fairly limited... Still, blogs like jihadwatch are an important resource for my work. I'm actually an instructor with the Political Science department of a college here in Manila ; so for what it's worth, know that there are at least some people in the Philippines who are spreading the word...
Btw, I posted a reaction to your post from Dec. 22, and as I mentioned there, your prayers and sympathy are greatly appreciated.
marts - I'm glad you found my December posting so encouraging.
Robert's "Onward Muslim Soldiers", "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades", and especially "The Truth About Muhammad" can all be got from Amazon online, and are not very expensive.
All three would make good textbooks for a basic course on Islam. 'The Truth About Muhammad' is brilliant.
I haven't, myself, got 'Onward Muslim Soldiers', yet. I gather Robert discusses, in detail, the teachings about war, of a number of historical and contemporary Muslim theologians and jurists.
I bought the other two and have read and re-read them. If you teach Political Science, you *must* get them. Robert's writing style is lovely, plain and clear, wearing its profound scholarship lightly. Even students whose English wasn't perfect would have few difficulties.
I'm not sure how easy it would be to get the Khadduri book - I just checked a reading list that Hugh Fitzgerald gave here a while ago, and Hugh gives its title as "War and Peace in the Law of Islam". It's probably *not* cheap. By the way, Majid Khadduri was an Iraqi.
Robert's book "Onward Muslim Soldiers" also gives some attention to a little book by a Pakistani major general - S K Malik's "The Quranic Concept of War" (google it for Joseph Myers' review, which quotes extended passages).
By the way: since you are a teacher of political science, if you haven't already opened a private correspondence with Robert's friend Hugh, that is, Mr Hugh Fitzgerald, who I gather has specialised in the use of language for political purposes, may I encourage you to do so? Email Robert - if you look around this website you will find out how to do so - and ask for an introduction. I am sure Hugh could give you good advice.
I'll share with you a passage I have quoted on jihad watch many times before - from French sociologist Jacques Ellul's preface to Bat Yeor's "The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam". Writing about the institution of the Jihad, he states: "there is so much talk nowadays about the tolerance and fundamental pacifism of Islam, that it is necessary to recall its nature, which is fundamentally warlike".
If you teach a course about Islam to your students, all you have to do for the exam at the end is quote that line from Ellul at the top of the paper and tell the students - "Discuss".
Dumbledoresarmy, thank you for your suggestions, I'll definitely be looking into it.
Actually, we don't have a course dedicated to Islamic studies. We did have a subject on Middle East politics but unfortunately, that was abolished recently. However, I still cover these issues in the International Relations course that I teach.
Thanks again!