Posted on 03/19/2002 8:36:40 PM PST by Spar
Philippine Rebels Linked to al-Qaida
Fri Mar 15, 9:29 AM ET
By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The deployment of over 600 U.S. troops to the Philippines, in what has become Washington's second front in the war on terrorism, was designed to help the Philippine military wipe out the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf.
But officials say a larger Islamic separatist group engaged in peace talks with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (news - web sites)'s government also has tight links to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al-Qaida network.
According to confidential intelligence reports obtained by The Associated Press and interviews with intelligence officials, contacts between bin Laden's associates and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front date back to the early 1990s.
The Philippine reports include an overall assessment of terrorist threats in the country and transcripts and summaries of police interrogations with terrorist suspects.
One report states bin Laden sent a Sudanese man identified as Col. Ahmad Al-Gamen, along with an Egyptian and two Afghans, to train fighters from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 1998.
Working with his brother-in-law, Mohammad Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden used a network of private Muslim groups, foundations and businesses to establish a foothold in the Philippines.
"Mohammad Jamal Khalifa was the one used by Osama bin Laden in the establishment of Islamic extremist groups in the Philippines (and) bin Laden is believed to be the primary financier .... of organizations established by Khalifa in the country," according to a police intelligence report.
Meanwhile, "Khalifa posed as an Islamic missionary and a businessman establishing various Islamic organizations, charitable institutions and business organizations in the Philippines." He began investing heavily in bottled water exports, a sugar and honey enterprise and used cars, sardines and noodles exports to Albania, according to the report.
Operating from the Philippines, where he had set up a dozen corporations and charities, Khalifa's business partners and ventures stretched across 19 countries including Saudi Arabia, the United States, Syria, France, Russia, Japan and the Netherlands, the reports said.
According to officials, al-Qaida, seeking international allies, initially engaged both Abu Sayyaf and the MILF, providing both with funding and opportunities to fight in Afghanistan (news - web sites). But eventually, al-Qaida decided to collaborate more closely with the MILF, providing it with additional weapons and training.
One intelligence report and an official say Ramzi Yousef, who masterminded the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, met with Abu Sayyaf members in the southern Philippines in 1994 to provide training but backed away from the group because of its ragtag structure and narrow focus.
Robert Delfin, chief of the Philippine National Police's intelligence command, said bin Laden had sought rebels with a "strategic, long-range perspective" of the Islamic struggle.
Abu Sayyaf members largely focused on banditry and kidnappings in the southern Philippines and were not the "global-thinking" cadres bin Laden had sought, Delfin said.
The MILF has been fighting for Islamic independence for years in the impoverished south, home to about 5 million Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines.
"Operation Enduring Freedom — Philippines," the name the U.S. military has given to its counterterrorism exercise with Filipino soldiers, is taking place near where Abu Sayyaf guerrillas are holding hostage an American couple and a Filipino nurse.
But targeting Abu Sayyaf alone while the peace talks with the MILF sputter along, could complicate Washington's war on terrorism, said Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, a former military chief of staff. "This has given us and the Americans a complicated situation, one without a ready answer in sight," Biazon said.
"America's intentions will really be put to a test."
On Friday, a senior Philippine military official said Washington was considering deploying more troops to the Philippines to bolster the counterterrorism exercises. A joint agreement limits the number of U.S. participants to 660, but could he revised, he said.
"They broached to us that they may need to bring in additional training and engineering personnel," said Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Teodosio, the Filipino director of the military drills. "We're considering it favorably."
Maj. Cynthia Teramae, a spokeswoman for the U.S. troops, declined to comment but said the U.S. military has a measure of flexibility within agreed terms "to get things done."
The military estimates the MILF to have more than 12,000 armed fighters. The rebels have a presence across the southern Philippines but have built their largest lairs in the province of Maguindanao, where they once maintained their headquarters.
Unlike Abu Sayyaf however, the MILF has shown a willingness to negotiate a peaceful settlement that has led the military to halt a massive offensive against the group. The MILF forged a cease-fire with government troops last year but a resurgence of fighting prompted the government this week to downgrade current peace talks to backroom negotiations.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said that his group maintains contacts with foreign Muslim groups, but he did not say which ones. "We may have had a foreign visitor in our camps who had held one of our guns, then bragged outside that we have trained him on terrorism," he said.
Presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the MILF has shown good faith in peace talks and has openly condemned terrorism as a means of struggle. "But we can't ignore these reports and we want to know whether these reported extremist links are officially sanctioned by the MILF or not," he said.
"If they're terrorists, we can't negotiate with them," he said.
On another note.
I had made the statement as a joke but it looks like his brother may have been involved more than what was led on. See Post #88.
Mr Yesama (Mugato) Binladin.
I kept wondering why Bin Laden was sporting a Camo jacket, it must have been his brother's line of "Hitler" wear.(Smile)
Keep me on the ping list for a swiss link.
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