The regular publication of Sahiyfah has met with some delays.  This issue, therefore, is intended to take up the slack, so that the publication can go back to its original schedule.

On the whole, this issue highlights the events and activities organized and participated in by the IIS.  Among these was the centennial commemoration of the Battle of Bud Daho on March 3, 2006.  The celebration was capped by the presentation of a song titled “Battle of the Clouds” written by Atty. Mehol K. Sadain and performed by band, Cube.

The Battle of Bud Daho, a hundred years ago (March 1906) speaks mostly of unequal forces, the Tausug defenders against the occupying Americans. Today, similar scenarious occur all over the globe where native defenders struggle against the night and superior fire-powers of their enemies.

The idea of natives defending their freedom clashes with the idea of foreign occupation to liberate the same.  Yet, this contradiction has become the operational paradigm for promoting democracy especially in the Middle East and has led, as expected, to greater destabilization in that area.

From this point in time, it appears that there is little difference in the action of powerful nations, then and today, except that the language has changed.  Now as never before has the world seen the use of forces arrayed not only against combatants but also against defenseless civilians euphemistically termed as “collateral damage.”

A hundred years ago, battle was joined at Bud Daho, one of many other battles fought on that small island, in the name of freedom.  Similar contests are taking place elsewhere in the world today. 

Will “Cry Freedom” continue to reverberate perhaps for another century hence?∆