Gebran Tueni

David Ignatius on the assasination of Lebanese journalist Gebran Tueni:

This is the time of the assassins in the Arab world. On Monday they killed a brave Lebanese journalist who dared to tell the truth about Syria. This week in Iraq they will try to kill people who want to vote. They kill wives to intimidate their husbands. They kill children to frighten their parents into silence. Their power is the ability to create raw fear.

The shame for America isn't that we have tried to topple the rule of the assassins but that we have so far been unsuccessful. We thought we were cracking the old web of terror when America invaded Iraq in 2003, but it's still there, in the shadows of the shadows. George W. Bush gets a lot of things wrong, but he knows that he's fighting the assassins. On days like these, I'm glad that he is such a stubborn man.

Of course sa Pilipinas, marami ring pinapatay na journalist because of their exposes and reports against the police and powerful politicians, but I'm glad hindi pa ganyan kalala ang situation natin. Well, not yet at least.

But the tactic of going after the relatives of potential witnesses and whistleblowers to silence them (aka "soft touch", "state-sponsored abductions") is a common tactic used by our administration... although imbes na patayin sila on the spot-- either kini-kidnap sila ng ISAFP, ini-intimidate sila, or binabayaran sila para mag-recant.

The headline atop the newspaper's front page said this: "Gebran didn't die and an-Nahar will continue." For a paper that had already lost its fearless columnist Samir Kassir to a car bomb in June, it was a defiant statement to the assassins: Kill us all. We aren't going to stop publishing the truth.

I spoke yesterday with Hisham Melhem, the paper's Washington bureau chief. His voice was cracking with emotion as he spoke of his colleagues: "I shudder when I think of the courage of Gebran and Samir. They knew they were dead men walking. But they were never intimidated."

Matapang talaga ang mga journalist ng Lebanon. Sa Pilipinas naman, siguro sila Ellen Tordesillas, Conrad de Quiros at yung mga taga PCIJ and a few others lang ang iilan sa nakikita kong mga matatapang at credible na journalists. Marami pa ring pro-Arroyo journos kasi dito eh, katulad na nung mga nagsusulat sa PHILSTAR, Manila Standard, Manila Times, Manila Bulletin. Just like marami pa ring pro-Syrian journalists sa Lebanon.

I don't know if PCIJ, Ellen and Conrad have received any death threats because of their articles against Arroyo (well, ISAFP called PCIJ "enemies of the state"), but I'm pretty sure they (like the opposition) are being spied on by the Arroyo admin and their phones bugged. Magkano ba ang "intelligence fund" ng Arroyo admin this year... P1.2 Billion? Heh. Money well spent yan.