US said to play key role in ill-fated counterterror raid in the Philippines

WaPo, via Stars & Stripes ^ | March 18, 2015 | Craig Whitlock

[Timber Rattler]

U.S. counterterrorism personnel played a hidden but key role in a bungled commando operation in the Philippines that resulted in dozens of deaths and a political scandal, according to a government investigation released Tuesday in Manila.

At least six Americans were present at a Philippine command post during the ill-fated January raid and supplied Philippine forces with surveillance data collected by U.S. aircraft, the investigation found. One of the Americans went so far as to order a Philippine army general to call in artillery fire, though the general angrily refused, investigators found.

[Timber Rattler]

This was the poorly planned cluster fark raid that got 44 Filipino policemen killed back in January.

[AU72]

All these senior officers being cashiered are having the desired effect.

[Tijeras_Slim]

U.S. counterterrorism personnel

Any more specifics?

[Rainier1789]

Perhaps one of the sensitive people in the chain of command had the thoughtful idea to inform a Respected Muslim Leader beforehand that the raid was not about their Great Religion of Peace.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Success has a thousand fathers.

Failure just has Barry Obama.

[Theoria]

JSOC. We cannot help do raids or plan. But, drone and sigint, relay to the Philippine military to do the raids.

JSOC has been really phasing out of the Philippines, and I suspect that might have been a factor.

Very common in various theatres, Killing Pablo comes to mind.

[McGruff]

The FBI had no prior knowledge of a police raid in the Philippines last Sunday to arrest wanted militants that went awry and left 44 police dead, an FBI spokesman told Reuters on Saturday.

Philippine media had reported that the FBI helped orchestrate the raid, which targeted Zulkifli bin Hir, an Islamic militant on the U.S. law enforcement agency’s list of “most wanted terrorists.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/31/us-philippines-rebels-fbi-idUSKBN0L40UX20150131

Odd.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Thank you.

[molson209]

Americans went so far as to order a Philippine army general to call in artillery fire

what, no Rockets for the Red Glare

[DCBryan1]

We really whipped them in 2003 during Operation Freedom Eagle. I learned that CIA SAD/SOG+Devgru+Phillipino Rangers are the only sure way to take out the trash around Zamboanga and Mindanao areas without resorting to tactical nukes or 16” shells from a “should-be” reactivated Iowa Class BB.

[McGruff]

One of the Americans went so far as to order a Philippine army general to call in artillery fire, though the general angrily refused,

Was John McCain there?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

One of the targets of the raid, Zulkifli bin Hir, a leader of a Southeast Asian militant network affiliated with al-Qaida, was killed.

"Bungled"???

[gr8eman]

hmmm...no artillery and the raid was a complete failure...hmmm...

[DCBryan1]

Good OSINT here: They came at us pintakasi style (free for all).

[McGruff]

One of the Americans went so far as to order a Philippine army general to call in artillery fire, though the general angrily refused

Kinda sounds like the Incident at Pristina airport

[EQAndyBuzz]

Failed raid huh...

We’re they battling communists or Islamists?

[xone]

From the article: 'The military fired white phosphorous into the hilly area around 6 pm shortly before the Army extracted them to safety. White phosphorous creates a loud bang that can scare away enemies, but doesn’t kill. It only serves as a marker before the explosives are fired."

That is news.