-Caveat Lector- http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-764886.php
WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Troops move equipment into Philippine training area By Jim Gomez Associated Press Special Forces soldiers and their Philippine army counterparts congratulate each other during a ceremony at Fort Magsaysay, north of Manila on Friday, Feb. 15, 2002. — AP Photo ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — American soldiers began moving motorcycles, bedding, rockets and other gear to a jungle-swathed island here Friday. The troops are in the country for a 6-month counterterrorism training exercise that is rife with risks and complicated by political and cultural sensitivities. The 21 support staffers headed for the island of Basilan, in the far southwestern Philippines, to bring equipment to an army camp in the capital city of Isabela. The camp is being used as a staging ground for the Philippines’ months-old assault against separatist guerrillas holding hostage an American couple and a Philippine nurse. The Abu Sayyaf guerrillas have been linked in the past to the al-Qaida terror network, and the exercise is part of the U.S.-led global anti-terrorism campaign. The U.S. military deployment in the Philippines is the second biggest after Afghanistan in the campaign. The first 32 of 160 Special Forces will begin arriving on Basilan on Sunday, Philippine military officials said. That will usher in a more dangerous phase of the six-month maneuvers called Balikatan, or “shoulder to shoulder.” The rest will arrive in two batches next week. While fewer than 100 Abu Sayyaf members are believed to be remaining on Basilan — several hundred others operate on nearby islands — they know the mountainous jungles well enough to have eluded thousands of Philippine troops for more than eight months with hostages in tow. The Americans have to worry about further ruffling feathers. Just their presence is sensitive in a former U.S. colony, and the rules of engagement took weeks to iron out. U.S. troops will accompany their Filipino counterparts into combat zones but will be armed only for self-defense. All of the Americans take a short cultural sensitivity course after arriving in the southern Philippines. The Americans who went Friday met military and police to map out security, said Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Teodosio, Philippine director for the military exercise. As the soldiers unloaded crates from one helicopter, another hovered around the seaside army camp, which is in Tabiawan village. One soldier kept a grip on his rifle as he struggled to move a crate with one hand. “We should take into context that they’re strangers there. They’re edgy,” Teodosio said. U.S. Charge d’Affaires Robert Fitts said the Special Forces will initially stay in the main army camp in Isabela but could travel, in a month or so, to several smaller bases. There they would observe Filipinos, Fitts said, still out of combat but with increased risk. About 500 other American troops will remain in Zamboanga, a southern port city on Mindanao, the main island adjacent to tiny Basilan, and at an air base further north for logistical support. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s approval of the training has become a contentious political issue that has sparked daily but small protests and a Supreme Court suit aiming to halt the exercise on the grounds it would violate constitutional limits on foreign troops. President Bush telephoned Arroyo on Friday to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the mission. Bush told Arroyo he appreciates her efforts to fight terrorism, and noted that she has “made every effort” to seek the release of the American hostages, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. Many in the country’s poor and violence-weary south support the U.S. presence largely because of widespread indignation over the Abu Sayyaf’s crimes. The group is notorious for kidnappings and beheadings. Gracia and Martin Burnham, missionaries from Wichita, Kan., and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap are the last of scores taken in a kidnapping wave that began last May. A California man was among several captives killed by the rebels. Others were freed, reportedly in exchange for huge ransoms. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! Write to same address to be off lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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