Philippines bows to Iraq kidnap withdrawal demand

The Philippines said today that it is withdrawing its small peacekeeping contingent from Iraq early to meet the demand of kidnappers threatening to kill a captive Filipino truck driver.

The announcement, which said the pullout was beginning immediately, was a dramatic turnaround by one of Washington’s biggest backers in the global war on terrorism.

The Southeast Asian country earlier said it would not yield to pressure to move up the withdrawal, which had been scheduled for August 20, when the force’s mandate ends.

It was a blow to the US-led international contingent in Iraq, which earlier was hit by the pullout of Spanish forces following the terror attacks on Madrid train system.

US officials had expressed displeasure that Manila was even considering caving in to the kidnappers’ demand, a position echoed by Australia and Iraq’s new interim government.

“The Foreign Affairs Ministry is co-ordinating the pullout of the humanitarian contingent with the Ministry of National Defence,” a government statement said.

“As of today, our head count is down from 51 to 43.”