and, oh, one more conspiracy theory: the aborted 'operation merkeda' that led to the jabidah massacre may have happened when it became clear that the quixotic quest to annex sabah to the philippines did not have u.s. backing. in case we have gone to war with malaysia, that country will be backed up by britain and the u.s. would have expectedly taken britain's side and not the philippines's.
interesting. during the time of Marcos, the Armed Forces of the Philippines was the strongest military power in South East Asia. even without american backing, the Army, Navy and Air Force could have eliminated any opposing Malaysian military units.
As during the time of marcos, the Philippine Air Force ruled the skies in the region, we boasted fleets of F-8 Phantom air superiority fighters.
the philippines should have coordinated with Indonesia during the Konfrontasi back in the 1950's in destroying malaysia. Philippines should have sent its air force, navy, and battle-hardened army to coordinate a pincer move with indonesia's armed forces to pulverize malaysia. Sabah and Sarawak could have gone to us, and the Indonesians could have taken peninsular malaysia.
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