They Bravely Ran Away!

I was waiting to post on the Philippine withdrawal, until I got confirmation that the Filipinos did really intend to pull a Sir Robin and bravely run away. I was hoping that they were just talking up the terrorists, since they had already scheduled their withdrawal in August before the kidnapping.

Now we see, however, that they are serious about withdrawing. This troubles me because of the horrible illogic their position entails. There are Filipino expats all over the world, working all sorts of jobs. The government of the Philippines can't possibly extend any protection whatsoever to all of them. But they've made their case for withdrawal on the premise that they will make foreign policy decisions based on threats to the safety of even one of the expats. If they're going to use that kind of logic, maybe the U.S. should find the nearest Filipino cook, take him hostage, and demand that the Philippines maintain a presence in Iraq. Any country that wants the Philippines to swing their way in a vote in the U.N. need only imprison a single Filipino maid, nurse, etc. to get their desired result. Need a nice fat trade agreement? Why, simply capture the nearest Filipino.