The United States summoned its ambassador in Manila to Washington for “consultations” yesterday as Secretary of State Colin L. Powell issued the Bush administration’s strongest condemnation of the Philippines’ decision to withdraw its troops from Iraq as ransom for a kidnapped truck driver.
Mr. Powell said the United States was “seriously disappointed” by the decision of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to bargain with terrorists.
“When you negotiate in this manner, all you do is encourage” more terrorism, Mr. Powell said.
Insurgents in Iraq yesterday vowed to begin executing seven new foreign hostages from Kenya, India and Egypt seized Wednesday if their home governments did not agree to pull their nationals out of the country and stop contributing to the postwar reconstruction of Iraq.
A Kenyan government spokesman yesterday urged all Kenyans in Iraq to leave at once. The three countries have no troops in the U.S.-led security mission, but many of their nationals are employed in critical tasks supporting the force and Iraq’s economic recovery.
“We assure [the kidnappers] that Kenya has no intention of interfering with the lives of the Iraqi people and that we are discouraging our citizens from participating in work that takes them to Iraq,” said Kenyan official spokesman Alfred Mutua.
Separately, Egypt rejected a request from Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who visited Cairo yesterday, to send troops to protect a U.N. mission in Iraq.
Egypt said Iraqi officials had to restore some measure of calm first.
The United Nations left Iraq last year after attacks on foreign missions and an Aug. 19 bombing at its Baghdad headquarters that killed 22 persons. Since then, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has sent top advisers to Iraq, but there still is no permanent U.N. mission in Baghdad.
The freed Philippine hostage, truck driver and father of eight Angelo dela Cruz, arrived in Manila to a tumultuous homecoming.
Mr. dela Cruz, who will attend a celebratory Catholic Mass with Mrs. Arroyo today, was freed two days after the last of the Philippines’ 51-man troop deployment in Iraq crossed the border into Kuwait on Monday.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher stopped short of saying there would be direct repercussions for U.S.-Philippine relations from the withdrawal, saying U.S. officials “are discussing the situation now.”
He confirmed that Ambassador Frank Ricciardone had returned to the United States for consultations on the issue and for a short personal vacation.
He said the ambassador was not formally “recalled,” a diplomatic term for a severe protest that typically signals a major re-evaluation of bilateral relations.
Mr. Ricciardone told reporters in Manila before departing that the Iraq pullout would have a definite effect on relations with what had been one of the strongest U.S. allies in Asia.
“This pullout will have an impact on how we anticipate the Philippines may act in the future,” he said. “It’s worrisome.”
Mrs. Arroyo’s government, which had to balance overwhelming popular support for Mr. dela Cruz with the effect the pullout would have on U.S. ties, has tried to put the best face on the withdrawal.
“The president does not regret her decision, but we still consider the United States as our big brother in the security area,” said government spokesman Ignacio Bunye.
The Bush administration has made no secret of its unhappiness with the Philippines’ handling of the crisis, but Mr. Powell’s remarks were some of the strongest given publicly.
Mr. Powell spoke after meeting with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, whose country has vowed to keep its troops in Iraq despite the kidnapping of two Bulgarian workers by Iraqi militants last week.
Bulgarian officials yesterday positively identified a headless corpse recovered in Baghdad as the body of one of the two men.
Another headless corpse discovered yesterday was thought to be the body of the second Bulgarian hostage.
Noting his small country has only 8 million people, Mr. Passy said the choice for Bulgaria was “whether we were to have two hostages or 8 million and two hostages.”
“We will not open the door to anybody to blackmail our principles and our values,” he said.
Mr. dela Cruz became a national hero in the Philippines during his 17-day captivity, a symbol to many of the millions of Filipinos working overseas to earn money for their families at home.
Polls in Manila showed that nearly three-fourths of those surveyed approved of the deal to free him, and 81 percent said Mrs. Arroyo was right to put the country’s national interest above good relations with allies such as the United States and Australia.
The United States has a number of bilateral options if it decides to punish the Arroyo government, which is a major recipient of U.S. economic and military training aid. Mr. Bush in October declared the Philippines one of a handful of “major non-NATO allies,” qualifying Manila for higher levels of aid and intense defense cooperation.
Philippine newspapers said it was unlikely that the United States would seek a major break with Manila at a time when the Arroyo government is battling al Qaeda-linked Islamic radical movements in the country’s south.
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.
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