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U.S. Soldiers Arrive Philippines, Stir Debate on Future Role
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| U.S. troops
arriving in southern Philippines |
MANILA, Jan. 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. soldiers on Thursday scouted out locations on war-torn Basilan Island and to train Filipino troops battling groups there, as Philippine senators questioned the U.S. presence.
U.S. military advisors - at least one of whom was carrying a pistol - also visited a Philippine military base on the island and met with commanders supervising more than 7,000 troops fighting the Abu Sayyaf, said Capt. Charlemagne Batayola, of the Philippine southern military headquarters.
With the United States extending its declared "war against terrorism" to the islands of the southern Philippines, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the mission to train Philippine troops against the Abu Sayyaf was not a precursor to an U.S. combat presence.
The Abu Sayyaf, which has been linked to Saudi exile Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, is on the U.S. State Department's list of alleged terrorist organizations.
"It's quite different. This is nothing like Vietnam," Powell told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday. "There is no intention for them [U.S. troops] to become active combatants. They are trainers. That's what the Philippines asked for, and that's what we provided."
Still, the Philippine defense minister said U.S. President George W. Bush had offered to send U.S. soldiers to fight - an offer Manila turned down.
The U.S. soldiers were flown Thursday by Philippine Air Force UH-1H choppers to the base in the town of Isabella on Basilan, a remote island covered with jungles and mountains where the Abu Sayyaf have been fighting the military. Batayola did not say how many U.S. soldiers went to the base, but a television news station that filmed some of them said there were at least seven.
"I'm working here with my counterparts in the Filipino army and we're going over logistics issues and things based upon the upcoming exercise," U.S. Army Maj. Charles Van Auken, a logistics officer, told ABS-CBN television.
In February, about 660 U.S. troops, including 160 U.S. Army Special Forces, are to start training Filipino soldiers in the Balikitan military exercises. While barred from fighting by the Philippine Constitution, some of the Americans will be in combat zones and carry weapons for self-defense.
U.S. forces will include elements of the elite Navy SEALs, Green Berets, Marines and Air Force personnel. They will provide technical advice and accompany Philippine troops in operations against the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan.
The government has maintained that the presence of American troops in the country is justified under the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). There are criticisms that they would ultimately be engaged in a shooting war with the Abu Sayyaf.
The Abu Sayyaf, thought to have about 800 fighters on Basilan and nearby Jolo islands, is holding three hostages, including two missionaries from the U.S., Martin and Gracia Burnham, and Filipino nurse Deborah Yap.
The Abu Sayyaf has denied the military victory for a decade, staging attacks and disappearing into the jungle. They have grown to infamy in recent years for kidnapping dozens of foreigners and beheading some of their victims - including Corona, Calif., resident Guillermo Sobero, who was kidnapped along with the Burnhams last May. Abu Sayyaf claims it is fighting to carve a Muslim state out of the southern Philippines, but the government regards them as mere bandits.
The possibility of U.S. soldiers shooting at Filipinos has angered many Muslims, nationalists, leftists and mainstream politicians in the Philippines.
Senate President Franklin Drilon, a supporter of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, filed a resolution Thursday seeking an inquiry into the controversial exercise, focusing on whether the arrangements were constitutional.
Philippine media outlets reported that Arroyo's government and U.S. defense officials would sign soon a military arrangement that would allow U.S. armed forces to store armaments in the country.
An unidentified source said the purported agreement would be signed soon.
"As soon as possible, maybe within a week's time, or six months. Definitely before all this is over," the source said.
He explained that both Manila and Washington are rushing the agreement to catch up with the offensives against al-Qaeda and its cells elsewhere in the globe.
"We have to rush this if it's going to be any use to the U.S.," the source said.
Another source in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was quoted elsewhere in the Philippine media as saying the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) is primarily designed to back-up combat missions. That would leave it open to criticisms about the true role of U.S. forces due to arrive in Zamboanga and Basilan for war games there.
The logistics support deal allows the U.S. to store armaments and equipment in Philippine territory.
There were concerns raised during initial negotiations that the logistics support pact sets the stage for another basing arrangement with the U.S., which is banned under the Constitution.
The source said, however, that the defense department has apparently addressed the reservations about the pact posed by the justice department.
Vice President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona - whose anti-U.S. sentiments are known to Malacañang - had reportedly been trying to convince Arroyo to submit the agreement to Congress for ratification, considering the questionable provisions.
With memories of U.S. abuses during the time they maintained bases in Clark and Subic still fresh, civil society has been suspicious of any military arrangement Manila and Washington negotiate.
Philippine and U.S. authorities had been considering an "acquisition and cross-services agreement", but plans were scrapped after loud protests from Muslim groups.
Former senator Francisco Tatad charged that allowing U.S. troops to participate in the rescue of the Abu Sayyaf's three remaining hostages sets the stage for Mindanao as Washington's next target in its global anti-terrorism campaign.
House Minority Leader Carlos Padilla Wednesday challenged the Arroyo administration "to come clean" and give the nation the real lowdown on the presence of U.S. troops in Basilan.
"It is intriguing for the administration to claim that the close to 600 U.S. soldiers are mere 'advisers' and yet says in the same breath that they will participate in hunting down the Abu Sayyaf bandits," Padilla said.
"We don't want another Afghanistan to happen in Basilan," said Amirah Ai Lidasan, secretary-general of MCPA, referring to the effects of the war games on Muslim residents in Basilan.
Lidasan said there is no guarantee that the rights of Moro civilians will not be violated since the objective of the joint military exercise is to train the armed forces for the U.S. war on terrorism.
Opposition Senator Rodolfo Biazon also said the Senate could start an inquiry into the exercise as early as Tuesday.
At a meeting with Arroyo at the White House in November, Bush offered to send U.S. troops to join in combat against the Abu Sayyaf, but the Philippines rejected the offer, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said Thursday.
Instead, the Philippine government accepted a $100 million package of military equipment and training to help fight the group, he said.
"In the event that somebody on their side would get injured - or worse, killed - first, they are willing to accept," Reyes told DZRH radio. "Second, to respond to the situation, the Philippine forces will be the ones in charge. They cannot tell us: Wait a minute, we want to pursue. The response will be by the Philippine forces, commanded by Filipino commanders. That is clear."
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