Word: arroyos
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Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo hasn't suffered much from her recent decision to withdraw 51 troops from Iraq to save the life of Angelo de la Cruz, a Philippine truck driver kidnapped by insurgents in Fallujah. Despite a rebuke last week by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer?"If we start caving into terrorists," Downer boomed, "our foreign policy, our international relationships will be determined by terrorists"?Arroyo has been flaunting her decision to grant the kidnappers' demands and bring home the soldiers as a badge of honor. She crowed about De la Cruz's homecoming in her annual State...
...Breaking ranks with her international allies certainly hasn't hurt her status at home, where Arroyo is enjoying an unexpected boost in popularity following a narrow win in May's presidential election. To consolidate support, Arroyo has scheduled weekly town-hall meetings for the next four weeks, during which she promises to rub elbows with the common folk, many of whom have viewed her as ?litist. Says Ellen Tordesillas, a political analyst and newspaper columnist: "By saving Angelo de la Cruz's neck, President Arroyo saved her own neck...
...Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last week chose a different route. By recalling her country's troops a month before they were scheduled to leave, she may have saved De la Cruz, 46, a father of eight. But she damaged relations with Washington and may well have encouraged more kidnapping of foreign nationals. "This kind of action cannot be allowed to succeed anywhere in the 21st century, above all not Iraq," chided U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell...
...Arroyo negotiate with the terrorists? (According to diplomatic sources, the government offered a $1 million ransom for De la Cruz but the insurgents turned it down.) Arroyo's own presidency may have been at stake just weeks after she won re-election to office. After De la Cruz was kidnapped, protests and prayer vigils calling for troop withdrawal were held all across the Philippines. Some 4,000 Catholic priests and bishops released a petition urging Arroyo to do everything in her power to gain his freedom. Rallies in the capital, Manila, were getting rowdier by the day. "The only logical...
...Cruz was kidnapped by insurgents outside Fallujah on July 8 and threatened with decapitation unless the Philippines' 51 peacekeepers were pulled from Iraq, Manila was presented with an all-too-familiar dilemma. (Similar demands have been made of Japan, South Korea and Italy.) Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last week chose to recall her country's troops a month before they were scheduled to leave, and may have saved De la Cruz, 46, a father of eight. But she damaged relations with Washington and may well have encouraged more kidnapping of foreign nationals. "This kind of action cannot be allowed...