Statist lapdog Marc can lick all the boots he likes now...U.S. to Send
3,000 Troops to Fight Militants in Philippines
By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 ? The United States will send about 3,000 troops to
Philippines in the next few weeks to fight Muslim extremists in the
southern part of the country, Pentagon officials said today.
Unlike a six-month training mission that involved 1,300 American forces on
Basilan Island last year, this will be a joint operation with the
Philippine military that has no fixed deadline. It marks a significant
escalation in the war against terror even as the United States builds up
for a possible war against Iraq and continues to hunt for Al Qaeda and
Taliban fighters 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, 2,200 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 the Islamic
militant group Abu Sayyaf within a month, a Pentagon official said. The
American forces will be led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Webber, the commander of
marines in the Pacific.
The deployment culminates months of planning and coordination between Adm.
Thomas Fargo, the commander of American forces in the Pacific, Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and top Philippine officials, including
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Mr. Rumsfeld briefed President Bush on
the operation last week, Pentagon officials said.
"The Philippines have a terrorist problem, and we have offered our
assistance," a senior Pentagon official said. "Over time, that assistance
takes different shapes and forms. The Philippines have invited us to expand
our role with them."
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.
Only one principal Abu Sayyaf leader was killed during that operation, and
the group's other leaders have since reorganized in Sulu Province,
principally on Jolo Island.
While the American-led mission effectively drove Abu Sayyaf from Basilan
and parts of southern Mindanao, the American-trained Philippine forces have
not sustained the momentum. Abu Sayyaf has been tied to a string of recent
bombings and attacks in the southern Philippines, including an explosion
last November that killed an American Green Beret, Pentagon officials said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/20/international/21CND-FILIP.html?ex=1046408400&en=543805f30fa563c0&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
