Word: bosworth
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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There was a competitive edge to the White House analysis. Some staffers apparently felt that the State Department, and in particular U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Stephen Bosworth, had prejudged the Philippine election. Said a White House official: "They in effect told us that unless Aquino won, that would be proof positive of widespread vote fraud. That falls into the realm of prognostication and outside diplomacy...
When Habib returns next week, the shift could pick up speed. U.S. aid could be reduced, Ambassador Stephen Bosworth recalled or Marcos urged to arrange his own succession or to share power with the opposition...
...important thing, as Ambassador Bosworth told a Philippine audience last year, is that the U.S. recognizes that its permanent interest in the Philippines lies not with any particular government but with the values the two countries have come to share during their long and intimate association. Said Bosworth: "We will be judged--and we will judge ourselves--by the fate of democracy in this country and by the success of your national efforts to strengthen your democratic institutions and to ensure that they function effectively. We have a moral and political stake in a democratic Philippines, which transcends...
...kind of democracy Bosworth was talking about is not a matter of authoritarianism decked out with consultative rituals and slogans. It clearly involves the removal of the deformations that Marcos has introduced to the Philippine political system. No matter who wins the election, Washington seems to be willing to adhere to that position, a fact that is not being lost on Filipinos. As Richard Holbrooke, a former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, puts it, "The only way Marcos can reform is to dismantle his regime...
...Washington, pessimism has given rise to disturbing speculation by some analysts that the Philippines could go the way of Iran. Ambassador Bosworth dismisses the possibility, arguing that Filipinos, unlike Iranians, support "change through elections." Also, there is no mass movement in the Philippines that parallels Iran's Fundamentalist Muslim wave. Marcos, analysts say, has only one thing in common with the Shah: a fear that Washington may pull the plug on an old friend. The Reagan Administration has thus far held firm to its strategy of coaxing reforms from Marcos by rewarding steps toward moderation. Given the mounting resistance both...