Military intelligence—indeed, a contradiction in terms
There had been so many allegations about corruption in the military. These were used by so called reformist soldiers as cause for trying to topple ruling administrations. Remember the seven coup attempts led by then Col. Gringo Honasan (now a senator) with the backing or the brainchild of then Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile Jr. (now also a senator who is temporarily out of jail by posting bail in the criminal cases of corruption against him)? How about the one led by Trillanes (now also a senator) during the time of GMA?
With the big budget of the military, it becomes tempting among the generals to get some of it for themselves. A favorite target is the intelligence fund. Being discretionary in nature when it comes to its disbursement, it is so difficult to strictly audit it. Or it is very easy to come up with justifications on how it was disbursed.
The result, very bad or unreliable intelligence, if at all.
As one foreigner commentator said on TV right after PDu30 declared Martial Law in Mindanao, a must to win the war in Mindanao is high value intelligence. But how can that be had if the intelligence fund is being filched by high ranking military and police officers?
Really, how come there was no intelligence about the plans of the Maute Group to stage a “rebellion?” That was an unforgivable failure of the intelligence community. This time is not the only time this thing happened. It had been happening since time immemorial. So there is blood in the hands of the military’s leadership. How do the generals feel when they are looking at those coffins of dead soldiers being unloaded from military planes?
Admittedly, the best military intelligence agency in the world is the Mossad of Israel. Anything as big an attack as the one launched by the Maute Group would have been known by the Mossad as soon as it was hatched if it happened in the Middle East. The Israelis would have been waiting for the attackers. And they would have responded with precision and nobody would have died due to friendly fire.
As of now, here in the Philippines, the military is being rebuffed again and again by the Maute Group. The saddest fact, however, is that almost half of the military’s casualties were due to friendly fire. This means gross incompetence.
So, military intelligence? That is a contradiction in terms.**