Friday, August 17, 2007 Editorials: Hard decision for war
A HEADLINE in a national daily the other day said that widows of soldiers who recently died in the war against terrorists in Basilan and Jolo called on President Arroyo to stop the war.
Aligned with the widows are certain elements of the political opposition.
The call places a burden upon the shoulders of the President who, as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, must decide whether or not to send our soldiers to war and place their lives at risk.
Daunting task
The process of decision making in a democracy like ours is one of the most daunting and exacting tasks a president has to face.
And the decision to go to war or not is one circumstance that no president worth his or her election to the post should ever dodge.
Thus, our diminutive President Arroyo now finds herself with a most painful decision in the midst of the tearful and heart-rending voices of the widows.
She should range the widows’ interest against that of the nation.
And it is not just the interest of the republic, really, that must be considered but also our nation’s diplomatic responsibility with the rest of the globe.
This is especially so with the countries whose concerns with global terrorism we share and with whom we have existing agreements against the incursion and development of terrorist enclaves in the country and letting them gain a strong foothold on our soil.
Opposition
Certainly, the President faces cold opposition to her warlike moves in Basilan and Jolo.
If the President should give in to importuning of the opposition, and the “terrorists” elements should take heart and use to advantage her reluctance to do battle, then she would only have herself to blame for the consequences.
Cost
The President should face the reality that the decision to go to war against the identified terrorists in our southern backdoor is a hard decision to make.
For one, it would be a costly one in terms of our soldiers’ lives and war materials.
Throwing more troops into battle in Sulu and Basilan in an all out war would cost P1 billion a month, so the opposition senators claim.
But would it be less when compared to a possible terrorist victory?
