Posted by Dayuhan

This to me raises some questions about US aid to and cooperation with the Philippine security services... we talk about "capacity building", but what capacity are we talking about? Not saying that every apple in the barrel is rotten, but until the ones that aren't rotten stop looking the other way and and take action against the one that are, I can't see how progress is going to be made.
This is a point several have made, especially Bob's World. In many cases our assistance, both training and financial aid, simply reinforces bad behavior, but if our goal is retain access and influence then maybe we get what we actually want (realpolitik), then progress is made? If we want to actually address corruption I suspect we would have to step back and completely re-evaluate how we provide assistance.