From: "Magnus Bernhardsen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Peoples War] Communist Party warns US troops they are targets (OK, here is the full story. MB) this story was taken from www.inq7.net URL: http://www.inq7.net/nat/2002/jan/30/text/nat_1-1-p.htm Communist Party warns US troops they are targets Posted:0:15 AM (Manila Time) | Jan. 30, 2002 By INQ7.net, Inquirer News Service and Agence France-Presse THE COMMUNIST Party of the Philippines warned Tuesday that its New People's Army (NPA) would target American soldiers if they go to NPA territory. "Should these so-called US military experts wander into an NPA territory, our comrades may not possibly resist the temptation to seize them," said CPP spokesperson Gregorio Rosal, alias Ka Roger. About 600 American military advisers and troops are expected to join in six months of "training exercises" with t Philippine troops in the southern Basilan island, the stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim bandit group, with both government link to the al-Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden. The "Balikatan" training exercises are scheduled for formal launch on Thursday after a day's delay. The NPA is said to operate in various parts of the country, in varying numbers. Exiled CPP leader Jose Ma. Sison said, however, that Filipino-American members of the US contingent visiting their relatives in the country would not be harmed. "The NPA will not fire at or seize my province mates, who joined the US armed forces, if they are just visiting relatives and are not in combat gear," said Sison, chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front. Sison also advised militant groups not to rely entirely on the Supreme Court to resolve the constitutional issue being raised against the presence of American troops in the Philippines. "Mass action should still be the preferred option. A petition with the Supreme Court could just result in complacency on the part of those against the presence of US troops. "This is the real intention of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and his spokesperson Bobi Tiglao," Sison said in a reply to questions e-mailed to him. The Macapagal administration maintains that the coming of US forces for military exercises with Filipino soldiers in the Philippines is allowed under the Philippine Constitution, and Presidential spokesperson Rigoberto Tiglao has suggested that the only way to end the debate is to take the case to the Supreme Court. Protesters could resort to both mass and legal actions, Sison said, as militant groups vowed to continue their mass protests. The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said it would intensify protests until US troops withdraw from Mindanao. Bayan spokesperson Renato M. Reyes Jr. said his group, the youth group Anakbayan and the League of Filipino Students would hold protest actions this Wednesday in front of the US embassy in Manila. After a last-minute hitch over how many US troops would be involved in the "Balikatan" exercises, Philippine officials announced Tuesday the formal starting date and some of the ground rules. Filipino training director Brigadier General Emmanuel Teodosio said US troops would be allowed to fire on the rebels "primarily" in self-defense once they moved to Basilan island. "They (Americans) will be under the command of a Filipino officer, but it's an inherent right of an individual to defend himself if threatened," he said. "They can fire back primarily to defend themselves." The campaign will see one of the biggest deployments of American troops since the United States began its campaign to wipe out the al-Qaeda terrorist network, which is blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Ground rules for the campaign were laid out at a meeting in southern Zamboanga City Tuesday between Teodosio and his US counterpart, Brigadier General Donald Wurster. Teodosio said American troops would train with Filipino units in Manila in the first week of the campaign before moving in on Basilan island. The campaign was initially due to start Wednesday but it was delayed after the US and Philippines negotiated on how many US troops would be involved. Teodosio said the Americans were "apprehensive" that setting a fixed number of US participants would cause them to "lose some flexibility", Teodosio said. Both later agreed to stick to the previously announced number of "more or less 600" including 160 Special Forces, "plus or minus 10", he added. Wurster, special operations chief of the US Pacific Command, did not speak to reporters. There has been some public anxiety here over the exact role of the US advisers, as well as concern that the Americans could be killed or taken captive by the Abu Sayyaf. The Filipino Muslim gunmen operate in small units on a number of heavily forested islands around Zamboanga City. In Basilan, roughly the size of Los Angeles, the Abu Sayyaf is holding a US Christian missionary couple and a Filipina nurse hostage. An independent polling firm, Social Weather Stations, said Tuesday that its November nationwide survey found that 84 percent of Filipinos approved of the US military assistance in fighting terrorism here. US preparations gathered pace here Tuesday with the arrival of more military equipment and personnel from a US base in Okinawa, Japan. Some 159 American troops are already in Zamboanga, all of them logistics personnel, southern Philippines military chief Lieutenant General Roy Cimatu said. ©2002 www.inq7.net all rights reserved ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE credit report with a FREE CreditCheck Monitoring Service trial http://us.click.yahoo.com/ACHqaB/bQ8CAA/ySSFAA/XcSolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PEOPLES WAR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Peoples_War ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A people who want to win independence cannot confine themselves to ordinary methods of warfare. Mass insurrections, revolutionary warfare, guerilla detachments everywhere - such is the only way." F Engels "A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past." Fidel Castro "There is no revolution without violence. Those who don’t accept violence can cross out the word revolution from their dictionary." Malcolm X "The Marxist-Leninist doctrine on class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat affirms the role of violence in revolution, makes a distinction between unjust, counter-revolutionary violence and just, revolutionary violence, between the violence of the exploiting classes, and that of the masses." General Vo Nguyen Giap "Without a Peoples Army the people have nothing" Mao Tse-Tung Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
