Rebels of Mindanao by Tom Anthony Page A

he’s coming around to supporting our foreign policy. That’s part of your mission. Otherwise we wouldn’t need you: we’d just let those guys at the other end of this table get it. Keep it away from them too; keep it away from everybody.”
    Thornton was silent and stared at Hargens while the wheels turned, then said, “OK. I got it. Until we meet again.” Thornton broke off his quiet discussion with Hargens before the others could realize they were talking about more than football. Then he noticed another civilian at the conference table.
    A State Department employee far down the chain of command, John Robert Mundy had been assigned to the local embassy staff a month earlier, sent to Manila after working the Philippines desk at State as an area specialist for the last five years. Mundy moved into a chair around the curve of the table to sit beside Liu and watched the game for a full quarter and a few Navy touchdowns before he thought it would be a good time to get involved with the men seated near him. He had overheard their political discussions, and politics was his profession. During a time-out on the field and after some social chatter, Mundy made his move and asked Liu, “Colonel, how is our war against the Muslims going on down there in Mindanao?”
    Colonel Liu did not answer, but asked, “Is that an official question, Mr. Mundy?”
    â€œNo, not yet, but I’m interested in any news from down there, where the action is, and you may call me John Robert, Mundy answered.
    Thornton left Hargens to listen to the new guy who liked to be called bytwo first names and kept saying “Down there in Mindanao,” unintentionally supporting the impression of the Mindanao separatists that Americans saw Mindanao as just another piece of geography, “Down there, somewhere,” not really an important part of the Republic of the Philippines.
    Thornton could not keep quiet, and in a low and controlled voice told Mundy, “Mindanao is big enough to stand alone as a nation. And many down there want it that way. Mindanao could become another Afghanistan or Iraq. Instead of making the hajj to Mecca, Muslim warriors will go on jihad ‘down there’ in Mindanao. Let me tell you, Mundy, the rebels will get the same credit from Allah for dying ‘down there’ as dying anywhere else in the world, fighting Americans here in the Philippines, or wherever they find us.
    â€œIf you would please, either John Robert or Mr. Mundy if you want to be formal. My experience and information assures me that we will, with the cooperation of the Philippine people, win this war against terrorism. We have a political environment here within which we can help create real peace in the Philippines.” It sounded like stale rhetoric to all the veterans around him.
    â€œMundy,” Thornton answered-and John Robert Mundy took Thornton’s intentional affront to his name preference in silence—“when our government sends a novice like you here, and you make statements like that, it just forces the Moros to choose up sides, with the other side, with the Communists.”
    Thornton thought this Mundy guy was a jackass, not because of what he had just said, which revealed his ignorance, but because he had said much the same thing in a widely quoted TV interview. His public statements about Mindanao on behalf of the ambassador sounded simple-minded. It seemed to Thornton that the most creative the State Department could be was to send out representatives to shake hands with children and pass out Bibles. All they got were photographs of poor tribesmen smiling into the cameras for press releases about cooperation.
    Liu entered the discussion in a more tactful way. “I saw this article in the
New York Times
. It shows you in words from one of your own newspapers what you are getting into,” Liu passed the
Times
article around the table. When it reached Thornton, Hargens moved