sure, I think they are a little nation anyways.

Yes. I'd do the same thing. F*ck Bush and his reasoning that it's giving in to terrorists.

Now they know all they have to do is make threats and everyone will do it

Purported Threat to Italy and Australia Over Iraq

How do you like that... a country that cares enough about it's citizens that they would do something like that.

I'm pretty sure there are other reasons, but it at least looks honorable.

yeah, it must have taken a lot of thought in deciding to remove 9 soldiers...

Hmmmm...well, I wouldn't do it for one hostage.

Terrorists do not respect or learn from weakness. They will just do it again.

deffinately! its a person's life we are talking about!

No, all of those nations signed up for a fight and didn't carry it through. Leaving all of those dead for what? They died in vain? I doubt if the US would have went into the fight without all of those countries. The troops should come home when the job is done. Giving into terrorism promotes it and a part of this was was supposed to eradicate terrorism.
We have done so much for the Phillipines including anti-terrorism training. My mother is from there. I'm sorry but that man shouldn't have been in Iraq, they put in the papers that they should all leave. Let the Iraqui people have the jobs.

The Phillipines contingent was due to be withdrawn from Iraq 4 weeks after that anyway, i think it was the proper thing to do.

I would be proud of my country for showing such concern over one person.

It's kind of a "leave no one behind" vs. "take one for the team" scenario.

Iraq does not have the might to force the allied troops out of the country simply by using their military. They want the forces out and sadly this is a desperate measure to try and ensure we leave. I see nothing wrong in the Phillipine Govt removing it's army to save this man. The terrorists kept their word too, the troops went and the man was freed.

yes

Since they just invited more terrorism on themselves from their homegrown islamics, no I think it was a terrible decision.

What kind of message does this give to the terrorist losers around the world? It tells them they can get what they want - us civilized nations need to present a solid immovable stance of intolerance of these inhuman acts.

I think it was the right thing to do, even though it gives terrorists the notion that making threats will work, no nation has any business harboring soldiers in Iraq anyway. I'm going there on the 15th, the Philippines that is.

I wouldn't really cite Japan as an example here. The last time they sent an occupation force overseas, two of their cities went up in mushroom clouds. (Not that they didn't deserve it, but still, you'd think they would have gotten the message.)

^ To Bracchion. Yeah, over 200,000 innocent civilians deserved to die as a consequence of their government's actions.

At least terrorist know that they have a friend in the Phillipines.

And all this time I thought it was in Pennsylvania.

You make it sound, Tetuso (Iron Man) as though the Japanese people were innocent bystanders to their evil emperor's madness. This was not the case. One need only examine the Japanese people's attitudes today toward such things as the Rape of Nanking (the Japanese don't deny that they occupied Nanking, only that they did anything wrong while they were there) and the attack on Pearl Harbor (most Japanese refuse to acknowledge that they were in any way the aggressors) to see that the Japanese were quite content with the actions of their government.

By the way, which would you prefer; 200,000 dead civilians, or 5-6 million? I've said before in other posts that the atomic bomb was a last minute Plan B. Plan A was the use of several thousand tons of phosgene gas, mustard gas, and various other chemical weapons on Japanese civilians prior to a beachhead assault.

This will just encourage them to take more hostages.

63% agree with giving in to terrorists demands? thats interesting.

yes leave no one behind and he should not be their in the first place driving a truck it should be for the Iraq people drive their own trucks