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Jolo is the capital of the Island of Sulu, one of the three principal Muslim-inhabited islands of southern Mindanao, where US troops are now. The three islands are: Basilan (capital Isabela), Sulu (capital Jolo) and Tawi-tawi (capital Bongao). They are the ancestral home of the Tausug, a pirate people. This is where the Special Forces will fight.

Jolo is a dusty little town about a mile square. What little business or services exist is provided by ethnic Chinese or Christian Filipinos. The locals just sit and stare sullenly, when they are not drinking.

When I was there last, the Vice Governor of Sulu (Kimar Tulawie) was engaged in a feud with the Jolo Mayor (Saud Tan). Tulawie's men seized the hospital, drove the patients out (who ran through the streets carrying bottles of dextrose) and opened fire with mortars on Saud Tan's house. Being as they were not very good mortarmen, they peppered the shantytown between the hospital and Saud Tan's house with rounds (the Mayor's house was never hit) and burned out six or eight blocks. They then launched an infantry assault through the smouldering ruins and fought to an indecisive conclusion in this cindery no-man's land. The hospital itself (where I slept, after the combatants had left for more drinks, figuring it was still the safest place in town), has chicken wire on all the windows because of the nasty practice of the local Islamists of throwing hand grenades into the wards. And oh, yes. They smuggle drugs into Luzon to earn the living which they believe everyone owes them.

They smuggle drugs into Luzon to earn the living which they believe everyone owes them.

It is truly amazing how alike these islamic terrorists are around the world, as if they had been cut from one cutter. Doesn't matter if it is Bosnia, Chechnya or the Phillipines. Having only known the european flavor until recently, I am actually impressed with their degree of synchronicity. Kidnapping, beheading and drug running. Who can question that these people are indeed the earthly servants of the evil one?

Am glad you were safe on your journey.