3,000 Troops to be Sent to Combat Muslim Militants in the Philippines

Washington Post ^

[RCW2001]

Thursday, February 20, 2003; 6:41 PM

The United States is sending about 3,000 troops to join with Philippine forces in a major new combat offensive in the southern Philippines aimed at wiping out the militant Muslim group Abu Sayyaf, Pentagon officials said today.

The move marks the second time in less than a year that the Bush administration has committed a significant number of U.S. forces to try to root out the extremist group that has continued to unsettle the Philippines and target Americans in the islands.

Last year, nearly 1,300 U.S. advisers and support personnel participated in what was billed as a six-month training mission to bolster the counterterrorism capabilities of Philippine forces. That effort, which focused on the island of Basilan and concluded on July 31, was credited with killing or capturing some Abu Sayyaf members, but it also ended up scattering scores of rebels to other islands.

This time, Pentagon officials are describing the mission not as a training exercise but a combat operation with no pre-set termination date. Although Philippine forces will have the lead, they will be accompanied in the field by American troops that will remain under U.S. command and be at some risk, defense officials said.

[aimhigh]

Philippines, Viet Nam...jungles are bad news

I agree. But, you either fight them there, or you will eventually fight them here.

[Thunder 6]

Amazing the parallels between the dawn of the 20th Century and the dawn of the 21st. Well, except for the fact we haven't decided to build a canal anywhere or send the Great White Fleet around the world...very tough fighting for our Marines/soldiers for several years in the Philippines.

[ScholarWarrior]

I expected this one. Hammer time, world wide.

[Burkeman1]

I don't know about tough fighting. I am against a war in Iraq but for "containing" in the Phillipines. I don't think these criminals who hide behind Islam are that tough. They are brutal cowards who like to kill tourists. But fight against American marines? I bet they fold fast. Criminals are not good guerillas.

[ScholarWarrior]

It makes a big difference if you don't have orders to attack and pursue the enemy and if the Red Chinese are actively supplying trained guerrilas. This is not Vietnam.

We will hunt them down like dogs in that jungle. Ain't no big mountains, ain't no thousands of caves. Islands, maybe a few tunnels. Nowhere to go.

[Thunder 6]

My mistake, I meant that the fighting during the insurrection was tough for our guys. I think you are correct about these folks, they appear to be more bandits and pirates than committed fighters.

regards,

[Jumper]

The PI has deforested approximately 80% of the trees since 1982, accroding to a Philippino Girl I know, and this tracks with one of the tree-hugger reports last year as well (hear say at this juncture). Most of this Islamic behavior is confined to different areas; one sure sign they are present if the rag-heads in villages in the sweaty jungle.... don't need armor pearcing rounds for snipers who normally content with combatants wearing helmets:)

[luv2ndamend]

GLOBAL JIHAD
U.S. troops headed
for Philippines fight
Terrorists say they prepare 'welcome party' for soldiers

---

Posted: February 20, 2003
9:16 p.m. Eastern



© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com


WASHINGTON – On the day Pentagon officials announced the U.S. will send nearly 2,000 troops to the Philippines to fight Muslim extremists in the southern part of the country, the Islamic terrorist group Abu Sayyaf said it was preparing a "welcome party" for American soldiers.

The U.S. troops will take part in a joint operation with the Philippine military in what appears to be a significant escalation in the war against terror even as a full-scale war on Iraq appears imminent and the search for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters continues in Afghanistan.

The plan calls for 750 American ground troops, including about 350 Special Operations Forces, to conduct combat patrols in the jungles of Sulu Province with Philippine forces. In addition, about 1,000 Marines armed with Cobra attack helicopters and Harrier AV-8B attack planes will stand ready on ships offshore to act as a quick-response force, provide logistics and medical support.

A military assessment team, the vanguard of the larger combat force, is expected to arrive in the Philippines in the next few days, and the full American force could be conducting combat operations against Abu Sayyaf within a month, a Pentagon official said. The American forces will be led by Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Weber, the commander of the Third Marine Division in Okinawa.

Meanwhile, Abu Sayyaf says it is ready for the troops they assumed were coming to the Philippines to take part only in war games on Sulu Island, according to Abu Soliman, who spoke to the local press, according to IslamOnline.

"We will welcome them in our little way ... and that could be big," he said.

The U.S. is now linking Abu Sayyaf to Jemaah Islamiah of Indonesia, a group believed to be responsible for the bombing of Bali in October that left some 200 people dead.

In a phone interview with IslamOnline, Soliman warned of a "sure surprise" awaiting the American troops.

He did not give details but said the group was prepared for combat with U.S. troops.

"The facts of history are on our side, and we don't mind being branded as terrorists," said Soliman, who intelligence reports say serves as Abu Sayyaf's operation officer.

The deployment culminates months of planning and coordination between Adm. Thomas Fargo, the commander of American forces in the Pacific, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top Philippine officials, including President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Rumsfeld briefed President Bush on the operation last week, Pentagon officials said.

The combat operation, which goes well beyond a continuing set of training missions throughout the Philippines, reflects the Pentagon's growing concern that militant Islamic networks pose an increasing threat to Americans and American interests in Southeast Asia. It also indicates that the training mission with Philippine forces last year on Basilan failed to quell the Muslim guerrilla movement.

Sixteen people were killed in a series of violent episodes in the southern Philippines the past two days. In one incident, about 50 armed men raided a remote village in the dead of night and massacred 14 civilians, three of them children, the military said.

Officials said armed men entered a village in Mindanao Wednesday night and, without warning, raked at least 10 houses with gunfire and set them ablaze. Investigators said the suspects had rounded up the residents and opened fire at them, killing many on the spot.

Aside from the 14 casualties, three civilians were wounded and three remained missing, a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero, said. The massacre took place in Tubod, a village in the Zamboanga peninsula 465 miles south of Manila. Lucero said the military had yet to establish the identities of the victims.

Yesterday, an explosion in a public market in the town of Kabacan, about 500 miles south of Manila, killed one man and injured five people. Officials said the bomb might have exploded prematurely, killing the bomber.

In the afternoon, a bomb went off outside the airport in Cotabato City, 548 miles south of Manila, killing one person and wounding six inside a restaurant. Officials said the bomb was in a car parked in front of the restaurant about 55 yards from the airport's entrance. The blast also started a fire that gutted the rest of the restaurant and a row of establishments.

No group has taken responsibility for the massacre and the bombings. The military was quick, however, to blame the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim group that has been fighting for a separate Islamic state for 25 years.

[kellynla]

are you asking or telling?

[kellynla]

Maybe you should read my post again...don't have a problem fighting them...just that I don't like doing other peoples' fights for them...Korea, Viet Nam, France etc...and jungles are MF...if you were ever in one you would know what I am talking about...

[onedoug]

Let's just remember the Philippenes are islands, and drain their islamist swamps accordingly.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Someone must have opened your cage.

Falsehoods galore. Raving falsehoods.

[ScholarWarrior]

I am telling.

There are a number of vets who don't want to get into this series of wars because they think it will be like Korea or Vietnam. There are differences, and there are wars that need to be fought, and better fought sooner than later.

If we don't go in, there are terrorists who will continue to give us serious problems in the Spratly Islands and the Straits. The Chinese have to counter us to maintain their territorial integrity and potential ability to attack Taiwan.

China could fall as a result of the next few years actions, together with Iran, Iraq and N Korea.

And the world will be a better place.

[Faith65]

what is false?

[justshutupandtakeit]

It is false that
1) "all" our troops will be gone;
2) NATO planes watched over us after 9/11;]
3) the end is near.

[r9etb]

This is interesting because it's gotten little publicity up to now. The switch to accompanying the Filipinos on combat operations is a very big deal -- this is not just us helping our pals, it's us going after Muslim rebels. Why would we do that?

The reasonable explanation is that they're involved in global terrorism -- most likely in the sense of providing various forms of terrorist training to Al Qaeda.

[kellynla]

Did you fight in the Philippines in WWII or in the Viet Nam War? Do you have any combat experience at all? As I stated earlier, jungle warfare can be very messy. I walked point for the Fifth Marines in '69 and '70 in Nam. And besides the thick jungle, caves, heat, diseases and monsoons; determining the "good guys" from the "bad guys" is mind boggling. I have serious reservations about going into foreign countries and fighting "civil" wars. The Philippinos should be able to handle their own problems within their borders without our troops. I have no problem going into Iraq. That is unfinished business. The Philippines is a totally different situation. But since our Commander in Chief has sent my fellow Marines to the Philippines, I will support them, pray for a successful mission and their safe return. Semper Fi

[ScholarWarrior]

No, I was too young for Vietnam and too old for the Gulf War. I have, however, spent time in the Philippines, including the Muslim south. I had machine gun bodyguards and bulletproof glass cars to get around. I saw the holdups of tourists, the assassinations, and the kidnappings.

These Muslim rebels are financed by the Chinese. They will take the Philippines without our help. If they take the Philippines, they can effectively block the supply of oil to Japan.

I am happy to avoid military adventures that are not in our national interest. I would put Vietnam, Korea, Bosnia and Somalia in that category. Gulf I, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and maybe Korea this time are important.

I would also submit that the problems in Vietnam were more based on the command strategy, lack of real objectives, and more primitive combat support technology than green, leafy, soggy and hot terrain.

[Faith65]

1. Almost "all".