#Operation Phoenix

[punkrockmixtapes]

Listen/purchase: Letters Home by Good Riddance

[elixir]

Anyone else a CIA asset here or just me

[whatisonthemoon]

LA Times: Philippine Vigilantes Reflect U.S. Strategy for ‘Low-Intensity Conflict’ (1987)

by Peter Tarr October 11, 1987

NEW YORK —  Some weeks after retired Army Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub told the Senate-House Iran- contra committees about his fund-raising activities on behalf of the Nicaraguan “freedom fighters,” I went to the Philippines to research that country’s communist insurgency.

My travels in the southern islands of Negros, Cebu and Mindanao turned up evidence that the counterinsurgency strategy advocated by Singlaub and other private American citizens on the far right for use in Central America now had taken firm root in the Philippines.

The tactics are used in what Pentagon strategists call “low-intensity conflict” or LIC. They emphasize an “integrated” approach in the fight against communism combining rural civic action and humanitarian aid programs with methods of “unconventional warfare” that Singlaub and others--including the U.S. government--have covertly employed in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

Singlaub’s credentials in “unconventional operations” are well known. A former chief of the Joint Unconventional Task Force in Vietnam, he participated in “Operation Phoenix,” the CIA’s notorious assassination program that resulted in the murder of an estimated 40,000 supposed Viet Cong sympathizers. More recently he served on President Reagan’s Special Warfare Advisory Group, to offer recommendations regarding LIC strategies.

There remains much speculation throughout the Philippines about the purpose of his several recent visits, spanning a period from July, 1986, to this past February. The former commander of U.S. forces in South Korea insists that he went to the Philippines to search for buried treasure. A number of his critics say the general’s real mission was to help organize civilian militias to be employed in the fight against guerrillas of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

Many questions have yet to be answered, but one thing is certain: Vigilante justice has captured the imagination of the mass of Filipinos. It is a development that has disturbing implications.

In the theory of low-intensity warfare, the establishment of paramilitary groups is a key element in the battle for the sympathies of people living in rebel-contested areas. Their proliferation is thought to deprive communists of “mass-base” support, and thus contributes to a broader effort to isolate and demoralize insurgent forces.

Several commanders of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) assured me that most vigilante groups were unarmed. But at every turn I saw deadly weapons: M-16 automatic rifles, fragmentation grenades, homemade pistols and shotguns and a bewildering variety of machetes and bolo knives. And at every turn, the men, women and children who wielded these weapons were eager to tell me that they were “prepared to die” to defend themselves against communism, which many of them called “the godless ideology.”

On a street in downtown Davao, a sprawling city of 1.2 million on Mindanao’s southeast coast, the bolo-toting “Midnight Attack Commandos” of the “Far Eastern Democratic Restoration Bureau” boasted about dismembering captured communist guerrillas while one of their leaders supplied me with leaflets published by an evangelical ministry in Arkansas that posed these burning questions: “Are the IRS, FBI, U.S. Dept. of Labor, the Mafia and labor unions part of the Vatican? Is the Pope the superboss of all government agencies as well as the Vatican?”

How did this literature get to Davao, 10,000 miles from its point of origin in Alma, Arkansas? Did the vigilantes have American contacts? Were they acting in concert with the Philippine military, or on their own? Where did their weapons come from? What were their sources of financial support?

Lt. Col. Franco Calida, police chief of Davao and the acknowledged “godfather” of the first and most successful vigilante group, the Alsa Masa, insisted that his and other paramilitary groups had arisen spontaneously. Their popularity, he said, reflected widespread dissatisfaction with the communists’ urban terror campaign conducted in the city between 1981 and 1985. Indeed, Davao had been the “murder capital” of the Philippines in those years, a city where more than 5,000 people had met violent deaths. Many of the murders were “insurgency-related,” although the activities of criminal gangs also accounted for a good deal of the carnage.

Alsa Masa, which in the local dialect means “Masses Arise,” was organized by the leader of one of those gangs early in 1986. But the movement went nowhere until Calida assumed his Davao command in July, 1986. It was at that time that Calida received a visit from Singlaub. They “chitchatted,” Calida said, but did not discuss Alsa Masa. Nevertheless, in the months following Singlaub’s visit, Alsa Masa grew exponentially. It now claims 10,000 members. “The Alsa Masa was never a CIA project,” Calida told Filipino journalists several months ago. “It is the product of abuses of the communist New People’s Army. The people were left with no choice but to band together to protect themselves.”

In Davao, virulently anti-communist radio announcer Jun Porras Pala admitted that the vigilante groups lumped together all manner of riffraff, from members of criminal gangs to adherents of fanatical religious cult groups.

In Negros, Cebu and Mindanao there were ominous signs that anti-communist fanaticism was putting innocent people in danger. In Davao, the houses of people who did not join or make financial contributions to Alsa Masa (a practice one member called “extortion for democracy”) were marked with the letter X. Anti-communist broadcasters threatened supposed sympathizers over the airwaves.

In all three islands, liberal members of the Catholic Church had been threatened both by vigilantes and military officials. During my stay in Negros, 35 clerics and newsmen were accused of being NPA sympathizers by a local military commander, and had received death threats in the mail. A similar scenario was simultaneously unfolding in Cebu. And in Davao, the Redemptorist Church was strafed from a passing truck late one August night. Earlier, Catholic members of the congregation had been called “redemterrorists” by broadcaster Pala. Redemptorists in Cebu had been similarly branded.

Why did President Corazon Aquino, an uncommonly religious woman, agree to endorse the vigilante movement? The answer lies partly in a meaningless distinction she makes between armed and unarmed vigilante groups. Aquino favors the mobilization of unarmed citizen patrols, called Nakasaka, that warn the military of NPA activity. She favors these groups, but does not proscribe the activities of armed groups.

American officials may have influenced Aquino’s policy. On March 16, 1987, she ordered a government-trained militia, the Civilian Home Defense Force, “and all private armies and other armed groups” to disband. The CHDF, with 70,000 members nationwide, had been active since the 1970s in the fight against the NPA, but its ill-disciplined members had been blamed for many of the military abuses committed against civilians in counterinsurgency operations.

A phase-out of the CHDF was mandated in the new Philippine constitution, adopted in February. But soon after Aquino issued the order to disband paramilitary groups, she rescinded it. The Philippine military, led by Gen. Fidel Ramos, was lobbying hard for retention of the CHDF. So was Local Goverment Secretary Jamie Ferrer, slain in August. Aquino and her military had been repeatedly lectured, directly and indirectly, by high-ranking U.S. officials on how to fight the communists. One such lecture was delivered on March 19, 1987, by Richard L. Armitage, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. He offered a blunt critique of AFP tactics in testimony before the House subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Armitage’s remarks clearly indicated American impatience with Aquino’s policy of reconciliation, in effect during her first 12 months in office. Even after the failure of peace talks with the radical left and the collapse of a cease-fire in the AFP-NPA war that had held for only 60 days, Aquino continued to offer an olive branch to the left. On Feb. 28, she proposed amnesty and rehabilitation for rebels who would lay down their arms, in the interests of “healing the wounds of our nation.”

On March 18, a time bomb exploded at the Philippine Military Academy. It was apparently intended to kill Aquino, who was to address the academy’s graduating class four days later. When commencement day arrived, the Philippine president unveiled a new strategy--one that might have gratified Singlaub himself. “The answer to terrorism of the left and the right is not social and economic reform, but police and military action,” she said, turning her back on a philosophy she had espoused since coming to power.

It was in this climate that Aquino rescinded her order to disband the paramilitary groups. In keeping with her new policy of “total war” against the communists, and in light of her growing reliance on Ramos, who repeatedly put down attempts by disgruntled AFP officers to take over her government, Aquino found herself, by the end of March, implementing the very counterinsurgency policies she had resisted for more than a year. She was now prepared to wage low-intensity warfare.

Her shift to a hard-line policy is likely to encourage a similarly militant response from the radical left. But even more important, the legitimation of vigilante “justice” will most likely serve to accentuate a culture of violence that has prevailed for decades in the Philippine countryside. At the core of the vigilante movement are incompetent CHDF commandos, religious cultists and members of private armies that flourished during the Marcos years.

The Philippines needs more than civic action and “humanitarian” aid programs carried out by civilian and military authorities waging low-intensity warfare. The country needs structural reforms, the most important of which is land reform. As Aquino often noted during her first year in office, the insurgency has economic and social roots. It will continue to flourish--no matter how many vigilantes are mobilized--unless the root causes are addressed.

Source: LA Times

Links and notes below

Moonies Support Vigilante Violence in the Philippines Around 1986/1987 - excerpts from Belina A. Aquino’s “The Philippines in 1987: Politics of Survival”

Marti found that the Reagan administration sought the help of CAUSA International to support US policy in Nicaragua. It might be mentioned that the Moonies and CAUSA have conducted expense-paid seminars and conferences in Washington, D.C.; Manila and other places, inviting well-known names in academic, religious and political circles. Among the CAUSA’s top brass are Cleon Skousen, a Mormon Church leader, Douglas MacArthur II, and Bo Hi Pak, the chairman who has acknowledged CIA funding. This is just another form of counter-insurgency, but it tries to minimize direct military intervention in favor of small “grassroots” efforts combining socio-economic, civic action, psychological & political objective.

In 1985 the Washington Times sponsored a fund for the Contras who committed atrocities, and trafficked drugs to the US The WACL and CAUSA’s Role in the Ruthless Violence of US-Philippines Counterinsurgency

CounterSpy: Moonies Move on Honduras (1983)

The UC should be held responsible for supplying weapons that killed young Filipino activists

How has the Moon network played a role in the post-9/11 U.S. Imperialist strategy?

The Unification Church and KCIA: Some Notes on Bud Han, Steve Kim, and Bo Hi Pak The Unification Church and the KCIA – ‘Privatizing’ covert action: the case of the UC The Broad Counterinsurgency Strategies of the US in the 80s, and a Glimpse into the UC’s Role

[stellar-collective]

personally i don’t think that ieytd will be a full-fledged spy series until Agent Phoenix is forced to team up with Zoraxis/a former enemy thought to be dead bc the most important person in their life is being threatened. just my opinion

[icecreampizzer]

Wish I could give them some fashionable hats, but alas...it would ruin the spikes in their hairs

[neurotonic]

some more silly bitty doodles.. baby swag and also the cozy sleeperrrrsssssss

[sml8180]

Phoenix has a new mission following their recovery after Operation: KBOOM; Zor has yet another plan to take over the world, and it's their job -as usual- to stop it. Along the way, they encounter a number of familiar faces from two very different times in their life. ========== Friendly reminder that comments and reblogs fuel me to continue writing!

>Chronic pain tried to prevent this one from going up, but a bath and some Aleve helped me get it out!

This one ended up pretty Ghost/Megan-centric, and I'm pretty pleased with that. She's turning out to be an interesting character to write.

[ot3]

iirc you've said your comic will cover up to the end of the original trilogy (which means no trucy), so i was wondering what u think mia's relationship w trucy would be like? and also how the whole thing might've gone down differently w mia there in general

the exact circumstances surrounding phoenix's disbarment/adopting trucy would have some pretty different Flavor to it in this AU for reasons that will become blatantly obvious at some point* but i don't want to fundamentally change anything about it. the weird thing about being in a place where i'm essentially doing a full rewrite of a story i already think is good is that for as much as anything deviates we will ultimately be ending up in more or less the exact same place.

i think mia and trucy could have an interesting relationship... definitely in this situation i think mia has primary custody over pearl so i could see some sharing of parental duties stuff happening there just out of proximity. but whereas mia is doing this out of obligation phoenix has fully opted into it which i think would actually bring some strain to the relationship between the two of them. i also think they probably have pretty different ideas about how to raise a kid.

anyway considering mia's mom just fucking Ditched her in the same way trucy's dad ditched her i think mia would feel some kinship there and trucy is much more precocious than pearl so i think that paired with the fact that mia doesn't actually have to be her surrogate mother would make it decent enough for them to get along. the sort of backbone of the characterization i've settled on for mia is someone who has a rebellious/defiant streak against the expectations that have been placed on her as a child but simultaneously relies on those expectations for structure and guidance. so i think she'd chafe a bit at seeing trucy be so zealous about pursuing the family trade seemingly uncritically. i don't think she'd really be able to wrap her head around the fact that trucy actually does just love it despite the familial baggage and not really because of it. i could see this progressing into things being kind of weird between them when trucy is a teen because i think mia would be much more paternalistic in most ways than phoenix is, without Actually having any kind of parental authority over her.

there would definitely be a ton of fun stuff i could get out of these situations and in a world where i have infinite time and desire to draw i would show Everything. but im definitely going to die before i even finish the stuff i have already mentally committed to being part of the main arc. so we'll all just have to imagine it for now.

[blueorchid-95]

setting the stage

[lsy11111]

A sequel to Al Compás (In Sync), but can be read as a standalone.

After getting revenge on Don Eladio, Lalo became the new cartel boss, with Nacho as his second-in-command. A year of dealing with the fallout in Mexico leaves them both craving an escape, so they head to Hong Kong for a Valentine’s Day getaway. But what they thought would be a simple vacation turned into something much more, bringing them unexpected revelations and connections.

[punkrockmixtapes]

Listen/purchase: Self-Fulfilling Catastrophe by Good Riddance

[female-buckets]

DT gave some standard basketball analysis during the final four and the internet turned it into a rivalry...

The entire internet has been obsessed with this rivalry narrative all week long...

...meanwhile Diana is just living her best life and giving moving speeches about women running vegan cookie companies 💜🍪

[confessionsrickandmorty]

i liked unmortricken but i'm sorta disappointed they didn't explain prime's regeneration or go into his motives for doing what he did

[phoenix-and-found-family]

How do you kill a Phoenix?

That's the question, isn't it?

Guns don't work. At least, not for long. They just come back.

Lasers? No.

Bear turrets? It was fun designing them, but no. They set my bears on fire. For no reason!

What about fire? That would be ironic, wouldn't it? Alas, no.

It took me forever to realize what could end them. Honestly, I'm slightly embarrassed. It was right there the whole time!

The only thing that can kill a Phoenix...

...is a downpour.

Ma'am? Who are you talking to?

No one, Deluge. Just the wind.

[End of recording]

I've got an au in the makes mother frackers

I'll make a separate post going over more details but in the meantime it's called Operation Deluge so look for that in tags

[definitelyunhingedagentphoenix]

[wyvchard]

Phoenixes can't be warm, can they?

Reginald watched as his agent casually place down their debrief files on his desk with a slight frown.

"Agent? What is going on?" He held out his hand for them to surrender their lighter to him. "I can't let you set anything on fire here. Hand the lighter over."

Phoenix suppressed their muttering as they gently handed the lighter to their handler.

"Thank you. What seems to the reason you're crabby this morning?" He looked at them, watching them fidget in their pocket to get a plastic tube. "Agent, what is that?"

They snapped it in half, the crack echoing through his office as they shook the contents until it showed a dim yellow light.

"I see R&D made something new." He observed the chemiluminescent tube, passing the notepad and pencil to his agent while he hovered his hand over it, before grabbing it and noticing it didn't feel as warm as he assumed.

"Handler, the only thing I consider 'blackmail material' is what happened back in Russia."

"We agreed to never mention that again. Wait. Blackmail?" He raised a brow as he saw his agent flip the notepad, as if anticipating his reaction.

"Yeah. They think I'm threatening you or something."

"That's nonsense. I am not that easy to threaten."

They merely stared at him before sighing, looking down at their notepad before starting to write once again.

"I'll see what I can do about it."

"I'm just informing you in case I add an entry to an incident report."

He can only sigh at this response. Why did he expect any other response?

Context:

@phoenix-and-found-family

I wasn't sure if I should reblog the continuation of this post in the same thread but I added something new.