A rchive Date
[ 22-02-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Philippines ]
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[http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/world/1790031
U.S. faces struggle in designs to deploy troops to Philippines
By PAUL ALEXANDER
Associated Press
Feb. 21, 2003, 9:33PM
MANILA, Philippines - Philippine leaders battled Friday to quell growing political turmoil triggered by Washington's disclosure that hundreds of U.S. special operations troops are on the way to fight alongside the Philippine military against Abu Sayyaf rebels.
Unlike previous arrangements in which U.S. troops played advisory roles out of the line of fire, American troops this time will join Philippine soldiers in direct combat on southern Jolo island, U.S. defense officials said.
Another 1,000 U.S. Marines will be stationed off the coast of the jungle island, ready to provide military and logistical support in the campaign against the al-Qaida-linked terror group.
Street protests, likely led by the vice president, and a legal challenge seem certain in this former American colony, where the Supreme Court already had ruled that U.S. troops only can shoot in self-defense and the constitution prohibits the presence of foreign military facilities and troops unless covered by treaty.
Philippine officials chose their words carefully Friday when asked about the reports from Washington. "I am categorically saying that anything that they say that contradicts the constitution and the laws will not materialize," Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said.
Pressed on whether it was possible for U.S. troops to have combat roles in the country, he replied, "That is a matter for lawyers to decide."
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo did not comment, but said last year that she believed a combat role for U.S. troops in the Philippines was legal.
In 2002, protesters gathered almost daily outside the U.S. Embassy while American troops conducted six months of counter-terrorism training with the Philippine military near a southern combat zone.
The underfunded, underequipped Philippine military claimed it decimated the Muslim extremist group on Basilan island during the massive U.S.-supported offensive coinciding with that training.
But the military recently conceded it underestimated the remaining strength of the Abu Sayyaf, whose campaign of mass kidnappings and hostage killings since 2000 has scared away foreign tourists and investment.
Pentagon officials say they have information indicating that a link between the Abu Sayyaf and the al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist network Jemaah Islamiyah of Indonesia may be stronger than earlier believed.
The Philippine military estimates that 208 Abu Sayyaf guerrillas are on Jolo, with 1,070 allies belonging to a large faction of the Moro National Liberation Front, a Muslim separatist group that abandoned a 1996 peace accord.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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