Picture shows the back of a Muslim woman was hit by shrapnel from an M203 rifle grenade during U.S.-Philippine military exercises in Tagbak village in Indanan town on Jolo island Sept. 4, 2006. Incidents such as this have prompted progressive organizations to denounce the Balikatan exercises being held this month in Sulu. “There may be more similar incidents that have not been documented yet,” said Carol Araullo, the chairperson of the leftist Bagong Alyansang Makabayan. (Photo courtesy of the Imagination for International Solidarity/Davao Today)DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 21 Feb) Communist rebels on Wednesday accused the United States of using the Balikatan 2007 to justify the presence of American troops in the Philippines.
Balikatan 2007 is the codename of an annual joint RP-US anti-terror drill in the Philippines.
Thousands of US and Filipino soldiers have begun three-week training in the southern island of Jolo in the Sulu Archipelago, where local security forces are battling Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants.
A similar training would be held in Tawi-Tawi island near the Sabah border and in the main island of Mindanao.
"This is nothing, but US military interventionism's standard doublespeak. As they have done in the past, the US is using the 'joint military exercises' to justify its military presence and induce conditions for higher levels of intervention and eventual outright military aggression.”
“They intentionally let its troops become targets of hostile fire and once hit, they unleash all their forces and superior weaponry on the pretext of self-defense and launch all-out aggression from then on,” said rebel spokesman, Gregorio Rosal.
Philippine military officials said the US troops would not be involved in actual combat operation against terrorists in the troubled region. They said the Constitution prohibits foreign troops from participating in combat, but are allowed to defend themselves from armed attacks.
Rosal also criticized Maj. Gen. Stephen Douglas Tom, head of the US contingent in the Balikatan 2007, for saying that American soldiers participating in the joint training can use firepower to defend themselves from attacks.
"In the first place, the US military has no business being in a theater of domestic conflict like the Philippines. The bandit operations of the Abu Sayyaf are a localized domestic concern in a corner of Mindanao.”
“Even the ongoing nationwide revolutionary people's war in the Philippines -- that the US is principally obsessed to get increasingly involved in -- is an internal matter to the Filipino people. The US has no business intervening in these internal affairs of a supposedly sovereign nation,” Rosal said.
Jolo governor Benjamin Loong said the joint training will bring peace and development to many poor villages on the island. “We welcome them; the Americans and our people are supporting this Balikatan,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said US troops were active in humanitarian activities in Jolo. “Now, we have new schools, water wells, roads and health centers. My people can now avail of free medical services and many more. Balikatan will bring us peace and development,” Loong said.
US troops last week unloaded tons of cargoes, including at least 32 trucks and equipment for road infrastructure projects in Jolo.
The Balikatan demonstrates Washington's resolve to continue the commitment to train, advice and assist the Philippine military to build capacity to counter terrorism, said US Air Force Maj. John Redfield, spokesman of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines.
The Balikatan includes support for comprehensive defense reform; security assistance modules for counter-terrorism training; operations intelligence fusion; and aspects in education programs, logistics, and engineering, equipment, and maintenance and helicopter programs.
It will also enhance the skills and capabilities of Filipino and American forces in combating terrorism and other internal and external security threats. And improve inter-operability between RP and US forces through the exchange of training skills and techniques.
The training is part of Washington security assistance to the Philippines, a key US ally in Southeast Asia in the so-called global war on terrorism. (Mindanao Examiner)
Balikatan 2007 is the codename of an annual joint RP-US anti-terror drill in the Philippines.
Thousands of US and Filipino soldiers have begun three-week training in the southern island of Jolo in the Sulu Archipelago, where local security forces are battling Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants.
A similar training would be held in Tawi-Tawi island near the Sabah border and in the main island of Mindanao.
"This is nothing, but US military interventionism's standard doublespeak. As they have done in the past, the US is using the 'joint military exercises' to justify its military presence and induce conditions for higher levels of intervention and eventual outright military aggression.”
“They intentionally let its troops become targets of hostile fire and once hit, they unleash all their forces and superior weaponry on the pretext of self-defense and launch all-out aggression from then on,” said rebel spokesman, Gregorio Rosal.
Philippine military officials said the US troops would not be involved in actual combat operation against terrorists in the troubled region. They said the Constitution prohibits foreign troops from participating in combat, but are allowed to defend themselves from armed attacks.
Rosal also criticized Maj. Gen. Stephen Douglas Tom, head of the US contingent in the Balikatan 2007, for saying that American soldiers participating in the joint training can use firepower to defend themselves from attacks.
"In the first place, the US military has no business being in a theater of domestic conflict like the Philippines. The bandit operations of the Abu Sayyaf are a localized domestic concern in a corner of Mindanao.”
“Even the ongoing nationwide revolutionary people's war in the Philippines -- that the US is principally obsessed to get increasingly involved in -- is an internal matter to the Filipino people. The US has no business intervening in these internal affairs of a supposedly sovereign nation,” Rosal said.
Jolo governor Benjamin Loong said the joint training will bring peace and development to many poor villages on the island. “We welcome them; the Americans and our people are supporting this Balikatan,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said US troops were active in humanitarian activities in Jolo. “Now, we have new schools, water wells, roads and health centers. My people can now avail of free medical services and many more. Balikatan will bring us peace and development,” Loong said.
US troops last week unloaded tons of cargoes, including at least 32 trucks and equipment for road infrastructure projects in Jolo.
The Balikatan demonstrates Washington's resolve to continue the commitment to train, advice and assist the Philippine military to build capacity to counter terrorism, said US Air Force Maj. John Redfield, spokesman of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines.
The Balikatan includes support for comprehensive defense reform; security assistance modules for counter-terrorism training; operations intelligence fusion; and aspects in education programs, logistics, and engineering, equipment, and maintenance and helicopter programs.
It will also enhance the skills and capabilities of Filipino and American forces in combating terrorism and other internal and external security threats. And improve inter-operability between RP and US forces through the exchange of training skills and techniques.
The training is part of Washington security assistance to the Philippines, a key US ally in Southeast Asia in the so-called global war on terrorism. (Mindanao Examiner)
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