[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/17/feedback.jpg caption="Christiane – all ears for the feedback."]

Amanpour’s discussion with two of the most eloquent observers of engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan touched many viewers.  The common perception of the dialogue among the participants was of support.  Many viewers cited the quotes of famous peace leaders as part of their reactions, while others looked into the possibilities the future of the world may hold.

Below, you will see some opinions from viewers like you. Feel free to continue the dialogue and respond to the comments below:

Quame Nakhony Boakye-Yiadom

Obama need not b political just do what's right for the military..

Keira Rodriguez

Obama's in a VERY tough position b/c of the mess he inherited. Regardless of what he does he'll make someone unhappy. Ironically, his decision to go into Afghanistan will gain a lot of support from Republicans & alienate his own party.

FULL POST

The Massacre in Maguindanao in the Philippines

By Maria A. Ressa
Head, ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs
Former CNN Jakarta Bureau Chief

You can’t escape the laws of physics.  Newton’s third law of motion states: “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”  In the world of governments and their security forces, it’s called blowback – a term first coined by the US Central Intelligence Agency in classified documents to describe US and British covert operations in Iran in 1953.  They helped overthrow the government of Mohammed Mossadegh, setting in motion a chain of events which inspired the revival of Islamic fundamentalism around the world.

Blowback happened again in Afghanistan in the late 80’s when the US funneled more than $3 billion, through Pakistan’s intelligence service, ISI, to build up the Afghan resistance against the Soviets.  That sowed the seeds for 9/11 and the major terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia from 2001 to 2009.  Among the key beneficiaries was Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, who helped train Osama bin Laden and thousands of Southeast Asian militants including the founder of the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, some of the Bali and JW Marriott bombers.

Blowback happened in Maguindanao in the southern Philippines – where warlords with private armies funded by the state wield political power.

It’s a complex situation: the power structure of government is a thin overlay on top of a complex social hierarchy based on families or clans.  These clans periodically clash – feuds known as rido, which can be ignited by the flimsiest of reasons – a quarrel over women or a verbal slight.  Clans became the foundation of electoral politics and determined the distribution of power and resources.

Add the fight against Muslim insurgents, first the MNLF or Moro National Liberation Front.  Now it’s the Moro Islamic Liberation Front of MILF, which provided training and sanctuary to numerous Islamic militants, including members of Jemaah Islamiyah, Al-Qaeda’s arm in Southeast Asia.

The Ampatuan family’s rise to power began in the Marcos era, when it closely allied with the military to fight the Moro National Liberation Front or MNLF.  When the MNLF signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996, the enemy changed to the MILF, now the largest Muslim insurgency in the country.

In the late 1990’s, Andal Ampatuan, Sr., avowedly anti-MILF, was handpicked by the military to run as governor against a rival who was supportive of the MILF.  Ampatuan won in 2001 in an election that was largely seen to have been manipulated by the military.  He was described as a “military-sponsored warlord.”

He gained even greater power after he helped Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo win the 2004 presidential elections.   She won by such a large margin in his areas of influence, including all the votes in three Maguindanao towns, that her victory became suspicious.

In exchange, the Ampatuan family asked for money, guns and power.  In July 2006, President Arroyo overturned a clause in the Philippine Constitution that banned private armies.  She issued Executive Order 546 giving local officials and the Philippine National Police or PNP the power to create “force multipliers” in the fight against the MILF.  In reality, the Ampatuans converted their private armies to the legal and more elegant euphemism – CVO’s or civilian volunteer organizations.

The military has its own term for members of this private army: Civilian Armed Force Geographical Units or cafgus.  These are men who are paid by the local government and trained by the military – all deployed under the command of Ampatuan.  Unofficial estimates of the men under Ampatuan’s command reach 800, including cvo’s and cafgus.

Reports of violence, abuses of power, and murder increased through the years, but little was done.  People were too afraid to speak.  Shortly before the 2001 elections, one of his political rivals was murdered inside a restaurant.  Ampatuan was the primary suspect and was even charged, but nothing happened.  In another instance, police said the nephew of a rival was killed with a chainsaw.  The body was never found.  Another rival was burned alive.  In every instance, suspicion fell on Ampatuan, who created and exploited a culture of impunity.

This is the story of how the government and its security forces used the Ampatuans and their private armies to fight a proxy war against the MILF, and how it all horrendously backfired. After the main suspect, Andal Ampatuan, Jr., was brought to a Manila jail cell, he protested his innocence. "I didn't do it," he said, "it was the MILF."

Blowback.  In biblical terms: “we reap what we sow.”

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/11/30/obamainner.jpg caption="Tuesday, Obama will announce his strategy for Afghanistan"]

By: George Lerner

President Barack Obama has waited too long to address the instability in Afghanistan, putting at risk the efforts to stabilize the troubled country, two leading writers said Monday.

Historian Simon Schama and journalist George Packer told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that U.S. policy toward Afghanistan had drifted as the Obama administration had tried to focus on domestic priorities. The president is scheduled to unveil a new policy toward Afghanistan with a much anticpated speech at West Point on Tuesday night. He is expected to address recommendations for an additional 40,000 U.S. troops, on top of the 68,000 already in Afghanistan.

"Obama has to make the case that we need 100,000 American troops in Afghanistan, which is what it will be after this surge, in order to protect our own streets from Al Qaeda," said George Packer, staff writer for The New Yorker magazine and author of the "Interesting Times" blog. "That is the case he tried to make in March, and he's going to have to make it again, because that is his strategy.  It's not going to change very much."

Packer faulted the White House for concentrating on domestic issues, like health care reform and U.S. economic stability, and for failing to give a major speech on Afghanistan since March 2009, a silence that allowed public attention to slip.

"It's as if the White House thought one speech and then we can turn our attention to other business, because we don't really want our first year to be about Afghanistan.  We don't want the president out there continually, you know, beating the war drums when we've got all these other important issues, which are the issues that got him elected. But Afghanistan didn't care about the White House's communications strategy, and the war went downhill very fast."

Packer, said that the United States should look for success, rather than victory in Afghanistan, with "success" being defined as a relatively stable government in Kabul capable of preventing extremists from taking over or making the country ungovernable.

Columbia University professor Simon Schama, author of the multi-volume "History of Britain," urged President Obama to return to the multi-faceted role he had achieved as a candidate, willing to address many issues at the same time.

"He can't quite ever decide whether he's Mr. Focus or Mr. Multitask.  He was actually elected to be President Multitasking, I think," Schama said. "And there are certain moments in the life of our great republic, actually, when no matter what the health reform is, no matter how much in deep doo-doo the economy is, the - the nation really is hungry for the utterance of a commander-in-chief."

Schama called on the U.S. president to aspire to one of the country's greatest leaders, Abraham Lincoln, a figure who has served as a kind of touchstone for Mr. Obama. The Obama presidential campaign actually began on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, where Lincoln made his "House Divided" speech.

"Barack, you've got to be Abraham Lincoln tomorrow night," Schama said. "You've got to tell the story beautifully, truthfully, honestly and bravely.  You could do that."

Everything Christiane and Queen Rania of Jordan said during the interview on the Amanpour program.

Using: Wordle.net

A crime scene investigator stands near the bodies of some of the victims

By: Tom Evans; Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.

The Philippines this year has been the world's most dangerous country for journalists, an official of the advocacy group the Committee to Protect Journalists told CNN's "Amanpour" program Wednesday.

The killing of at least 18 reporters in a massacre that claimed the lives of almost 60 people this week means the Philippines is now even more hazardous than Iraq for journalists, said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia Program coordinator

The massacre in the Philippines is the single worst mass killing of journalists in history, according to the CPJ.

The reporters were part of a group of more than 50 unarmed civilians traveling to register a candidate in an upcoming gubernatorial election in the southern province of Maguindanao.

Authorities in the Philippines have now declared a state of emergency in the south of the country and disbanded a government-backed militia suspected of having a role in Monday's massacre. The militia is linked to a powerful clan leader who has ties with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

FULL POST