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chegitz guevara
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Ft. Lauderdale, FL Communist Party of Apolyton
Jun 2000
time: 00:26
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quote:
US Elite Units to Fight Philippine Rebels
Feb 21, 11:36 am ET
By Charles Aldinger and John O'Callaghan
WASHINGTON/MANILA (Reuters) - About 1,750 American troops including elite units will go to the Philippines for joint ground operations with local forces in a stepped-up bid to destroy Muslim rebels, U.S. defense officials said on Friday.
In a major strategic shift from training to fighting, the U.S. officials said some 350 elite Special Operations soldiers well be among the American troops sent to the southern Philippines to help subdue Muslim separatist groups that have been fighting the mainly Roman Catholic nation for three decades.
The 350 Special Operations troops would head for troubled Jolo Island in the Sulu archipelago and be supported by another 400 troops stationed at Zamboanga. Meanwhile about 1,000 U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit would remain offshore on ships to provide emergency back-up and air support.
The Manila government ardently backs the U.S.-led war on terror.
Complaining of "leaks" concerning the shift in U.S. strategy, the Philippines refused comment on Friday on whether the Americans would fight side-by-side with their forces.
Officials in Manila said, however, they would not break a constitutional ban on foreigners going into combat. The U.S. military has been giving the Philippine army counter-terrorism training and modern hardware. The United States closed its last military base in the Philippines in 1992.
CONSTITUTIONAL PROHIBITION
The country's constitution bars foreign troops from any combat role, but officials in Washington signaled on Thursday that U.S. soldiers would be given a new and far broader mandate to help Philippine units in their fight against Muslim guerrillas.
"In this effort, the U.S. soldiers will work side-by-side in an offensive effort with the Philippine military," one Pentagon official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Asked whether U.S. ground forces would be involved in combat, the official said: "They are going to conduct joint operations to disrupt and defeat the Abu Sayyaf group."
Washington has blacklisted Abu Sayyaf, mainly a kidnapping gang that claims to fight for an Islamic state, as a terrorist organization with links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
U.S. special forces are due to begin a round of training for local units on the southern island of Mindanao on Monday. Another set of exercises in Sulu, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold, is expected to start soon.
Philippine Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes declined to confirm or deny the reports about a combat role for U.S. troops.
"What we have in Washington are leaks. We will not comment on leaks," he told a news conference. "We will not do anything that violates the constitution."
Reyes said he would leave Manila on Sunday for a week-long visit to the United States that would include a meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
PANDORA'S BOX
Bombings by Muslim rebels and battles with troops have killed at least 200,000 people, mostly civilians, in the last 30 years.
But even if Manila intends to find a way round the constitutional ban to allow U.S. troops to fight Abu Sayyaf and other groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the move could snap back in the government's face.
Leftists are already up in arms over the presence of U.S. troops for the training exercises and a bilateral military resupply pact signed in November. Many Filipinos fear that the close ties will drag the country into Washington's wars.
Pentagon officials said the American troops would be under U.S. command and an advance military assessment team would begin laying the groundwork for the operation.
The training exercises due to start in Mindanao on Monday will take U.S. troops to the heartland of the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF, the largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines.
Ignacio Bunye, a spokesman for Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, said on Friday new "terms of reference" would be drawn up for the exercises but they would be similar to last year's conditions.
Bunye, speaking on government radio, said the role of U.S. troops "would be purely training and advisory" and "their other services would involve civic and humanitarian projects."
The terms of reference during exercises in 2002 said U.S. soldiers "shall not engage in combat, without prejudice to their right of self-defense."
Last year, U.S. troops accompanied Philippine units into the field to hunt for Abu Sayyaf rebels but stopped short of fighting, hanging back in makeshift camps behind the front lines. |
It's not just Abu Sayef. It's also the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and other groups. AFAIK, it's only Abu Sayeff which has been targetting outsiders. I need more information, but I really don't think we should be getting involved in someone else's civil war if the other side has been leaving us alone.
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21-02-2003 22:09
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