With none of the important moving parts anywhere near
under our control and the United States largely uninterested
in spite of Sobero’s murder, I headed back to Washington,
D.C. It seemed like there was little we could do.
Then 9/11 changed everything.
Once a minor terrorist outfit, the Abu Sayyaf was
suddenly linked to Al Qaeda. And then a Philippine TV
reporter named Arlyn dela Cruz got into the Abu Sayyaf
camp and videotaped Sabaya as he taunted the American
missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, who were so
emaciated they looked like concentration camp survivors.
The video hit the U.S. news media like thunder. Suddenly,
the case became a major U.S. government priority.
THERE IS ALWAYS A TEAM ON THE OTHER SIDE
The FBI sent me back in. Now I was sent in to make sure a
deal got made. It was all very high profile, too. Some of my
contacts reported that FBI director Robert Mueller was
personally briefing President George W. Bush every
morning on what we were doing. When Director Mueller
showed up in the U.S. Embassy in Manila and I was
introduced to him, a look of recognition came over his face.
That was a very heady moment.
But all the support in the world won’t work if your
counterpart’s team is dysfunctional. If your negotiation
efforts don’t reach past your counterpart and into the team
behind him, then you’ve got a “hope”-based deal—and
hope is not a strategy.