US military speed boat cruises off Basilan province

A US military speed boat cruises off Basilan province in the southern Philippines. US forces maintain small forward bases in Zamboanga City and several camps within Filipino military installations in Mindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi Islands. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Suspend U.S. Military Deployments To Mindanao Pending Probe: Citizens' Peace Watch

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 9, 2008) - A broad coalition of non-government organizations, social movements, and political parties from the Philippines on Tuesday called for suspension of all US military deployments in Mindanao pending the conclusion of a fair and thorough probe by lawmakers.

The Citizens' Peace Watch, a group formed to monitor what it fears as the growing and permanent US military presence in the southern Philippines, reiterated its recommendations from a fact-finding mission it conducted in Zamboanga City and Sulu in February. Members of the mission claimed to have seen with their own eyes -- and to have pictures of -- the US' military structures inside Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City.

"The information coming out today about the US military presence in the south confirm what we have been saying all along for many months now," said Corazon Fabros, one of the group's spokespersons. "It is high time to look into them because the government's excuse is becoming more and more ludicrous while the situation is getting more and more dangerous."

The group stressed the following findings from its fact-finding mission (which can be downloaded from: http://www.focusweb.org/philippines/docs/CPWReport.pdf):
That the US has established military basing in the Philippines; that the US is involved in actual combat operations in the country; that the US military has, in complicity with the Philippine military, committed human rights violations in the Philippines; that the US is conducting operations outside the control of the Philippine government and military; that the US military’s so-called humanitarian projects are mere cover for military operations that do not benefit the local population.

It said US basing and intervention in the country is contributing to insecurity and leading to an escalation in conflict. "In light of the constitutional violations and actual danger to lives and human rights, the Citizens’ Peace Watch challenges our elected representatives to take the initiative to demand and conduct Congressional and Senate inquiries into the issue and demands the suspension of US military deployment to the Philippines, specifically the stationing of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines as well as the military exercises, pending fair and independent review of and investigations on their presence and intervention," the coalition said in a statement.

The US Embassy said the American forces are in the Philippines to assist, advice and train local troops on the invitation of the Arroyo government. It said the US has no permanent bases in the country.

US Hands Over Infra Projects In Sulu

SULU, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 21, 2008) – The US military has formally handed over Wednesday to Filipino government several buildings and a road project in the southern province of Sulu.

Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan led officials in the inaugurations of two Area Coordinating Centers in the towns of Parang and Patikul and also two hospital buildings and two school rooms. Tan’s wife, Nurunisah, herself a humanitarian worker, also led local women officials in the ceremonies attended by American and Filipino military leaders.

The buildings are worth several million pesos and Tan said the projects would further support peace and development in Sulu. “We are thankful to the American people and the US government for all these projects which will surely help efforts in promoting peace and development in Sulu,” Tan said.

Sulu’s military chief, Brig. Gen. Juancho Sabban said other humanitarian projects are still going on in Sulu in partnership with the provincial government and the US military.

“All these projects were identified by the people themselves. We asked them of their existing predicaments. They tell us. We immediately respond and set ourselves to work because it is our responsibility to reach out to the people in need,” he said.

Last year, the US military under the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines spend more than $ 6million in various infrastructure and development projects in Sulu.

The AFP, on the other hand, said it spent about P44 million, mostly on school buildings and other smaller projects and livelihood trainings for locals.

Sabban said the military has launched the so-called Community Organizing and People Empowerment approach in an effort to win hearts and minds of the locals. “Our gallant soldiers will continuously uphold the rule of law and respect human rights in the campaign against terrorism.”

“Respect begets respect. Soldiers will remain highly professionalized and will exhibit proper decorum, in or out of uniform. It is imperative that all peace and development stakeholders must continuously work together to keep on the peace that has been achieved so far and to advance it through sustaining the development initiatives,” he said.

Sabban praised Tan for his hard work and dedication to bring peace and development in Sulu. Just last month, Tan also inaugurated a housing project for poor communities in the town of Luuk and several more in the town of Maimbung and Indanan.

The government is rehabilitating the airport in Jolo, the capital of Sulu province, after President Gloria Arroyo has managed to source out funds for its rehabilitation, Tan said.

Engineers and other technical personnel with expertise in airport development are to begin a survey for the expansion of the airport and once finished, huge planes such as 737s and cargo aircrafts, will be able to fly and land safely.

Tan said the project, which will begin in a few months, cost about US$ 3 million to be funded by the United States of America.

Tan said Jolo airport runaway will be expanded to more than 2,000 meters so it could accommodate bigger passenger planes not only from Manila or Zamboanga, but from neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei that makes up the East Asia Growth Area (EAGA), a sub-regional economic cooperation initiative in Southeast Asia that included the Philippines.

Tan said the rehabilitation of the airport is expected to be completed next year.

He said the President has pledged more development projects for Sulu and so is Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), to which the province of Sulu is part of.

"The President has promised us more projects for the people and so is Gov. Ampatuan, who has been very supportive and working hard for the development of Sulu and of the whole autonomous region," Tan said.

Aside from Sulu, the autonomous region comprise of the provinces of Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan and Marawi City. (Mindanao Examiner)

US Plays Quiet Role In The Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (BBC)- Hundreds of US troops have been working in the southern Philippines since 2002. Their role is to help train local soldiers in the battle against insurgents, and their presence divides local opinion. The BBC's Vaudine England reports from Manila.

US-trained troops at Jolo airport, file image, 2007Philippine troops have been battling insurgents for decades. It is one of the most ignored, but perhaps one of the most successful, fronts in the Bush administration's so-called War on Terror.

As part of the Joint Special Operations Task Force, US troops train their Philippine counterparts in counter-terrorism and provide financial and logistical support.

Their presence coincides with a stepped-up US aid budget enabling better roads, schools, clinics, ports and more.

Officially the US troops are not involved in any combat operations. In US embassy words, the programme combines the "iron fist and hand of friendship".

Yet there are many conspiracy theories about what the troops are doing - ranging from eavesdropping on Indonesia to buying the way back into a permanent military presence in the Philippines, which the US lost in 1991.

Tom Green of Pacific Strategies and Assessments, a Manila-based security company, argues that both of these theories are nonsense.

"The US is seeing a regional terror threat and sees the south [of the Philippines] as a potential free haven and incubation area for more radical elements," said Mr Green, a former US military officer.

"The US role is training and assistance, as part of a long term effort to develop local capabilities."
He says the US is taking a low profile because this approach is more sustainable.

"If you've got a constructive presence in a village, you've hopefully got a medium to long term contribution to employment, to health, to education," he said.

"And, more tactically, with a constructive relationship with the villagers, they start talking to you."

There is some support among Filipinos, but concerns persist - both about sovereignty and about what the US presence might be doing to already delicate relationships in the south.

Independence groups from the Muslim minority Moro people were fighting the Manila government three decades before the War on Terror was declared.

Peace talks are now in progress between the Moro Independence Liberation Front (MILF) and the Manila government. But the Abu Sayyaf group, long seen within Asia as a gang of kidnappers and smugglers, continues to pose a threat to law and order.

In the 1990s, Philippine military intelligence officers told me that hundreds of Indonesian militants were training with their Muslim brothers in the south.

Members of the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant group have sought refuge and practiced bomb-making in the Philippines.

Earlier this month the Philippine authorities announced the arrest of three suspected militants plotting to bomb foreign embassies in the capital. The Rajah Solaiman Movement, a home-grown militant group, has also been linked to Abu Sayyaf and JI.

Sometimes opposition to the US troops is expressed as an ideological aversion to any foreign presence in the Philippines - which was once an American colony.

Julkifli Wadi, a professor at the Islamic Studies Institute of the University of the Philippines, argues that "neo-colonialism" is an inadequate word to explain the US role in his country.

Instead, he says, the south is suffering from "multiple colonialisms" with the War on Terror amounting to the "second coming" of the US.

"On the one hand, the Philippines government is able to make her presence felt on the radar screen of US foreign policy and therefore receive hefty financial assistance, making it appear that there is indeed a threat," he said.

On the other hand, he believes that the US is "using the Philippines as a cover for its wider engagement in the region".

To other analysts, the labelling of undesirables as Abu Sayyaf or other terrorists is imprecise and perhaps disingenuous.

"Our feeling is that Abu Sayyaf is decimated," said Amina Rasul, director of the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy think-tank.

"The other group they're trying to hunt is Jemaah Islamiah, but already last year they were only talking about two possible leaders" hiding in the area.

"Is this something that requires the combined forces of the Philippine and US militaries? I'm not so sure," said Ms Rasul.

She notes that, in Indonesia and elsewhere in the region, successful counter-terrorism has been led by local police, not foreign soldiers.

"The more we look at the situation in the south, the more many of us realise they should be strengthening the capacity of local police agencies.

"First, they are local, they know local intelligence, they are plugged into local networks. Any act they do against terrorists will never be seen as a move of the non-Muslim majority against a Muslim community," said Ms Rasul.

Measuring the size of the threat against the size of the US presence is difficult - official numbers are not made public.

Mars Buan, a senior analyst with the Pacific Strategies and Assessments, estimates Abu Sayyaf had about 200 fully armed members at the end of 2007, down from about 400 in 2005-06.

US forces amount to about 500 troops on rotation, in addition to visiting "advisers" and other personnel for "training surges".

Many of these are on civil-military operations, but the bulk of the US contingent is believed to be made up of special forces.

The apparent success of foreign troops in building infrastructure in the troubled region highlights, above all, a failure of local governance.

If Philippine government bodies could manage their resources to shelter and assist their own people, maybe all those special forces could go home.

US Submarine, Special Warfare Support Vessel In South RP

SSV C-Champion at sea.

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 04, 2008) - The 220-feet SSV C-Champion is visiting Zamboanga City in southern Philippines.

The US military in Zamboanga City has invited local journalists for the tour of the SSV C-Champion, one of five Submarine and Special Warfare Support Vessels that are part of the 30 ships in Military Sealift Command's Special Mission Ships Program.

The US military did not give details about the SSV C-Champion, but the Military Sealift Command's Special Mission Program controls at least 30 ships that provide operating platforms and services for unique US military and federal government missions. Oceanographic and hydrographic surveys, underwater surveillance, missile flight data collection and tracking, acoustic surveys and submarine support are just a few of the specialized services this program supports.

Japanese media members have spotted the ship off the Sulu Archipelago last week and reported seeing many Americans on board.

Special mission ships work for several different US Navy customers, including the Naval Sea Systems Command and the Oceanographer of the Navy.

Both civil service and contractor-employed mariners operate the special mission vessels. Technical work, survey operations and communications are conducted by embarked military personnel, civilian scientists and related technicians.

The SSV C-Champion is manned by 14 crew members and 30 personnel.(Mindanao Examiner)

US Military Covering Up Sulu Incident

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 01, 2008) – US military authorities continue to deny reports that American soldiers have forcibly closed down a government hospital in the southern Philippine province of Sulu.

US troops in Sulu ordered last month a hospital in Panamao town to close every night and prevented medical personnel from treating patients after sundown.

Dr. Silak Lakkian, head of the hospital, has complained about how US troops meddled into their operations.

US soldiers also threatened to shoot anybody in the hospital incase there is an attack by terrorists. American soldiers have been in Sulu since 2006 to train local forces to hunt members of the Abu Sayyaf group said to have links to Al-Qaeda.

The Philippine military also ordered US troops away from the hospital. There were alleged threats to US forces camped near the hospital.

The meddling of US troops in local affairs drew widespread criticism and protests from provincial leaders and has triggered calls from political activists in Manila for Congress and Senate to hold an investigation into the incident.

“They have already apologized,” Philippine Army Special Forces commander Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan told the Mindanao Examiner.

Provincial governor Abdusakur Tan had angrily criticized the nightly closure, saying US troops did not have the authority to make that order. He also ordered the resumption of hospital’s operation at night to cater to emergencies.

But the US military command in Zamboanga City has continuously denied the incident, despite an investigation over the weekend about the incident.

The Philippine military’s Western Mindanao Command based in Zamboanga City quoted a US military spokesperson, Lt. Cdr. Melissa Schuermann, as saying: “All these information were allegations and are not true unless proven otherwise.”

A Philippine military spokesman Maj. Eugene Batara said Western Mindanao Command chief Maj. Gen. Nelson Allaga ordered a separate investigation into the meddling of US forces in the operation of the hospital.

He said the Western Mindanao Command and the US Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines have exerted coordinative efforts to address the reported incidents and bring out the truth regarding the matter.

“The directive to investigate is to determine the truthfulness of the allegations and the result of the investigation shall serve as the basis in recommending the appropriate punishment to the guilty party or mediate the differences or misunderstanding between the parties involved if any.”

“The Western Mindanao Command chief further stressed that the Armed Forces of the Philippines shall uphold the sovereignty and integrity of the Filipinos and shall bring the matter to proper US authorities if warranted, pending the result of the investigation of (Philippine Army’s) Joint Task Force Comet (in Sulu),” Batara said.

"The hospital has resumed operations at night and everything is back to normal again," Pabustan said.

The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) called on Congress and the Senate to immediately launch a thorough probe on the real role of US troops in Mindanao.

“We are calling on both Houses of Congress, to call for respective investigations on the matter…We have to uphold our sovereignty if not then foreigners will just trample it under their feet," Rafael Mariano, chairman of KMP and president of the Anakpawis party-list group, said. (Mindanao Examiner)

Where Are The US’ Secret Bases In Philippines?

US gov’t lists RP as hosting “cooperative security locations” -- a category of US bases -- but gov’t has neither announced their existence nor disclosed their locations.

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 21, 2007) - Revealing that the Philippines hosts US “cooperative security locations” (CSLs) -- a new category of US military bases, a new report launched by an international research institute raised the question: Where are these bases in the Philippines?

In a little-reported event, the US’ Overseas Basing Commission, a body created by the US Congress to review the ongoing realignment of US military presence around the world, has listed the Philippines as among the countries where the US has been developing CSLs.

The Philippine government, the report noted, has neither announced its decision to allow the opening of these CSLs nor has it revealed where these bases are located.

Entitled ‘At the Door of All the East’: The Philippines in US Military Strategy, the report is published by Focus on the Global South, an international policy research organization based at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, with country offices in Manila and Mumbai.

According to the Pentagon, CSLs are categorized as US military installations that are nominally owned by host governments, but are to be provided for the US’ use when needed.

They would most likely be ran and maintained by host-nation personnel or even private contractors. They are useful for pre-positioning logistics support or as venues for joint operations with host militaries.

CSLs are also called “lily pads” intended to allow the US to hop on from their larger bases to their destinations rapidly when necessary. With their low profile, they are envisioned not to attract the level of attention that has fueled domestic opposition to US military presence in many places around the world.

Though the Philippine government has neither acknowledged nor identified the locations of these bases in the Philippines, the report quotes a prominent American journalist and author who has visited such facilities as suggesting that one such CSL is in Mactan island in Cebu province, once a base for P3 Orion reconnaissance planes operating in Mindanao.

Other possible leads offered for those with the capacity to probe further include the Subic Bay port, the Clark Airfield, and the General Santos City airport.

Comparing the amounts of US military assistance countries in East Asia get with their own military expenditures, the Philippines stands out for having the largest percentage of US military assistance relative to its military budget, according to a report by the Focus on Global South.

This is an indication that the Philippines is the most dependent among all recipients of US military aid in East Asia, its report said.

The report shows that, since 9/11, the Philippines has been by far the largest recipient of US military assistance in all of East Asia. In fact, between 2002-2005, the country obtained approximately 85% of the total allocated to Southeast Asia.

Its $54 million annual average is over ten times more than the next biggest recipient, Thailand, another close US ally, which got an average of $4 million annually during that period, it said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

At the same time, the Philippines has one of the lowest military budgets in the region. In absolute terms, the Philippines tops only Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in average annual military spending from 1988 to 2005.

At $814 million a year (in constant 2005 prices and exchange rates), the Philippines’ is just a little over one-fifth of top spender Singapore and one-third of Indonesia and Thailand. As a percentage of annual economic output, the Philippines’ average annual military spending is the lowest in the region.

Taking into account the share of US military aid as a proportion of the total military budget, the Philippines is relatively the most dependent on US military assistance among countries in the region, if such can be gauged by comparing how much a country gets from the US and how much it is spending.

By this measure, from 1988 to 2005, US military assistance was equivalent to over 8% of the Philippines’ average annual military expenditure. This is far larger than any other country in the region, much more than that of another close US ally, Thailand, for which US military is only 0.4% of its annual military expenditure.(Herbert Docena)

RP,US Soldiers, Provincial Health Office Hold Joint Medical Mission In Jolo Island

Scene from the medical mission. Photos contributed to the Mindanao Examiner by the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines.

JOLO ISLAND (Mindanao Examiner / 04 Jul) – Some 900 Muslim villagers benefited from a joint RP-US medical mission on the volatile island of Jolo in the Sulu Archipelago, a known base of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.

The local Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) also joined the humanitarian project carried out by the US Navy and members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Treatments ranged from tooth extractions to minor surgeries, with many participants receiving medical supplies for various conditions free of charge from the pharmacy. The medical mission was held at the weekend in the village of Suuh.

“We chose Suuh because it is one of the hardest to reach,” said Erma Carpizo, health emergency management staff coordinator for Sulu. “We can only get here by land when it isn’t raining and only by sea if it is.”

The road to Suuh becomes muddy and impassable in the rain, which prevents assistance from being able to reach the people who need it most, she said.

The ability of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US Navy to use boats made a seaborne landing a possibility early in the planning process, which started nearly a month ago, she said.

“Putting on a MEDCAP from the sea is difficult, because of the high cost of transportation,” said Carpizo. “With that variable out of the equation, it made it possible to get help to where it was needed most.”

The IPHO was able to bring 13 volunteers from the Luuk District and 15 from the Panamao District, including translators, dentists, dental technicians, and nurses to give inoculations and perform malaria smears, she said.

“The IPHO volunteers are the real key to this MEDCAP, because they are a lot more familiar with the needs of the people,” said US Navy Capt. Yves Nepomuceno, officer-in-charge of the USS Peleliu MEDCAPs.

“They give the local population a comfort level, a second person to give clarification in their native language on the medications and treatments we are recommending.”

As part of the Peleliu Pacific Partnership program, Peleliu brought doctors, nurses, dentists, and support personnel to the Philippines for six MEDCAPs, three of which were in the Sulu Province.

“In 23 years as a doctor in the Navy, these are the first humanitarian missions I have been a part of,” said Nepomuceno. “There is a lot of pride in taking care of our own guys, but there is also a lot of pride in taking care of our allies as well. For us in the medical field, it’s why we got into it, to give something back.”

Nepomuceno truly gave something back, and it meant a bit more for him personally, as he is a native Filipino.

“There is a lot of pride for my family, and for me, to come back to the Philippines and serve,” he said. “The Philippine Army soldiers can’t believe a Filipino is an O6.”

Nepomuceno wasn’t the only US Sailor proud of what they were able to accomplish during Peleliu’s stay in the Philippines.

“The people here have been so appreciative,” said US Navy Lt. Elizabeth Solze, an internal medicine doctor from the Peleliu. “It’s so nice to feel like we really able to help somebody.”

U.S. Gives Old Copters To Philippines To Fight Terrorism

A modern U.S. chopper flies in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines.The United States on Saturday, 09 June 2007 hands over phased out UH-1H helicopters to its ally, the Philippines, to help the Filipino military combat terrorism.(Mindanao Examiner Photo Service)

MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 09 Jun) – The United States handed Saturday ten UH-1H helicopters to Manila as part of a commitment to assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ modernization program.

The refurbished helicopters will be used by the Philippine Air Force to supplement its modernization program and will increase its capabilities to combat terrorism and provide humanitarian assistance during natural disasters.

President Gloria Arroyo accepted the documents of the nine choppers from U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney.

The aircraft are part of 20 helicopters designated for the Philippines by President George Bush. They were refurbished in the United States through the U.S. Foreign Military Financing program at a cost of $22 million for the 20 aircraft. The U.S. gave nearly $30 million in Foreign Military Financing to the Philippines last year. In April 2006, the U.S. also delivered a C-130 cargo aircraft to the Philippines.

"Today, we have a tangible reminder of the strength that our two leaders show to the world as we see their vision realize in this turnover of helicopters. UH-1H helicopter is the finest helicopter in the world," Kenney said.

The U.S. military also provides training, advice, and security assistance, and shares information with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Ongoing U.S.-Philippine military cooperative programs include Philippine Defense Reform; counter-terrorism training; annual exercises; education and training; advice and support for logistics, engineering, equipment, and maintenance; civilian assistance programs such as free community medical, dental, and veterinarian clinics; and humanitarian assistance cooperation during natural disasters.

Kenney said the UH-1H helicopter is the "backbone of the US Armed Forces wing fleet" and now the backbone of the Philippine military aviation helicopters.

Kenney said the choppers would also pave the way to improve the PAF air assault capability against dissident terrorists, and also in their search and rescue operations during calamity. The U.S. has phased out the UH-1H helicopters which were used during the Vietnam war.(Mindanao Examiner)

Top U.S. Commander In Southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 12 Apr) – The commander of the United States Special Operations Command, General Bryan Brown, inspected Thursday American soldiers deployed in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines.

Brown, accompanied by Colonel David Maxwell, of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Task Force – Philippines, also met with senior Filipino military officials headed by General Juancho Sabban, of the Philippine Marines at the Western Mindanao Command headquarters.

Local security officials did not give details about Brown’s visit, but hundreds of U.S. troops are currently stationed in Zamboanga City and other parts of the southern region helping the Philippine military defeat terrorism.

Filipino troops are battling Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants tied to al-Qaeda terror network in the islands of Mindanao and Jolo in the Sulu Archipelago.

Brown is responsible for all special operations forces of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps; active duty and reserve. (Mindanao Examiner)

US Troops Winning Hearts And Minds Of Muslims In Southern RP

U.S. soldiers guard Monday 26 Feb 2007 the Muslim enclave of Mariki in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, where American and Filipino soldiers held a medical mission. A soldier was also spotted playing with a child and a Muslim boy shows a poster of wanted Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya distributed by soldiers. And Celso Lobregat, the mayor of Zamboanga City, looks at a match with photos of wanted terrorists. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 26 Feb) – More than 850 mostly poor Muslims benefited Monday from a joint RP-U.S. medical mission on a remote and dangerous coastal village in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines.

The medical outreach in the Muslim enclave of Mariki was part of the Balikatan 2007, the codename of the joint military exercise between the Philippines and the United States.

"It was really a very warm welcome and we are happy to serve the Filipinos. This is a joint project between the Armed Forces and the U.S. military and part of the Balikatan 2007," the spokesman of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines, U.S. Air Force Major John Redfield, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Security was tight during the entire medical mission in Mariki, previously used as escape route of criminal gangs and Abu Sayyaf militants operating in Zamboanga.U.S. soldiers were spotted talking with villagers. Children were playing with American troops.

"They are big, just like in the movies and they looked like characters from G.I. Joe. They are kind and gave us free medicines," a 12-year old boy, Usman Hashim, said.

Hashim was referring to the G.I. Joe, the animated television series famous among children in Zamboanga.

Thousands of U.S. and Filipino troops began the training Feb. 18 in Jolo island and is aimed at enhancing combat capabilities of troops, but this year's exercises will concentrate more on humanitarian activities to win the hearts and minds of many Muslims on Sulu Archipelago and on the main island of Mindanao, where the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya are actively operating.

And this would be followed with similar anti-terror trainings in Tawi-Tawi island near the Sabah border and continued in central Mindanao island.

Philippine troops are battling the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya militants in the troubled southern region. The groups were blamed for the string of bombings in the Philippines and Indonesia that had already killed scores of people the past years. (Mindanao Examiner)

US Army, Marines Release Counterinsurgency Manual

WASHINGTON (Vince Crawley / The Washington File, AINA) - The U.S. Army and Marine Corps have published an updated field manual for fighting insurgencies that stresses cultural awareness, personal contacts, reconstruction strategies and close cooperation with nonmilitary agencies.

The manual, titled Counterinsurgency, updated for the first time in 20 years, includes new lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, as well as a historical overview spanning more than a century that calls attention to important aspects of past insurgencies.

Its publication was overseen by Army Lieutenant General David Petraeus, who recently was recommended by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to replace General George Casey as senior coalition commander in Iraq.

The manual stresses that constant learning is the key to defeating an insurgency. "The side that learns faster and adapts more rapidly - the better learning organization - usually wins," says the new manual.

The field manual has been unusually popular for a military doctrine and training publication. Although packed into a bulky 14-megabyte computer file, it was downloaded 600,000 times in the first four days after its December 15, 2006, public release, said Conrad Crane, director of the U.S. Army Military History Institute. Crane was the manual's lead author and has done extensive research into the history of counterinsurgency missions and military reconstruction.

The field manual includes "significantly increased emphasis" on cultural awareness for U.S. troops, Crane said in an interview. For example, he said, the key author for the manual's Chapter 3, "Intelligence in Counterinsurgency," was a cultural anthropologist and includes in-depth discussions of how military staffs should map out the social structures of the country or location where they are working.

The manual's introduction warns that, throughout history, governments targeted by insurgents have been slow to recognize what is taking place, and their counterinsurgency actions typically have shown poor results at the beginning. The manual uses the acronym COIN for counterinsurgency.

"Western militaries too often neglect the study of insurgency," the manual says. "They falsely believe that armies trained to win large conventional wars are automatically prepared to win small, unconventional ones. In fact, some capabilities required for conventional success - for example, the ability to execute operational maneuver and employ massive firepower - may be of limited utility, or even counter-productive in COIN operations. Nonetheless, conventional forces beginning COIN operations often try to use these capabilities to defeat insurgents; they almost always fail."

The manual includes a detailed guide on how to plan and conduct counterinsurgency operations. It also includes historical vignettes and appendices on how to analyze social networks, working with linguists and interpreters and legal considerations.

"Counterinsurgency (COIN) is an intelligence-driven endeavor," the manual says at the beginning of Chapter 3. "Intelligence in COIN is about people. U.S. forces must understand the people of the host nation, the insurgents, and the host-nation (HN) government. Commanders and planners require insight into cultures, perceptions, values, beliefs, interests and decision-making processes of individuals and groups."

The manual includes lists of successful and unsuccessful practices. Successful practices include:
Emphasize intelligence. Focus on the population, its needs and its security. Establish and expand secure areas. Isolate insurgents from the populace. Conduct effective, pervasive and continuous information operations. Provide amnesty and rehabilitation for those willing to support the new government.

Place host-nation police in the lead as soon as possible. Expand and diversify the host-nation police. Train military forces to conduct counterinsurgency operations. Embed quality advisers and special operations forces with host-nation forces.

Deny sanctuary to insurgents. Encourage strong political and military cooperation and information sharing. Secure host-nation borders and protect key infrastructure. Unsuccessful practices include: Over-emphasize killing and capturing the enemy rather than securing and engaging the populace. Conduct large-scale operations as the norm. Concentrate military forces in large bases for protection. Focus special operations forces primarily for raiding. Place low priority on assigning quality advisers to host-nation forces. Build and train host-nation security forces in the U.S. military's image.

Ignore peacetime government processes, including legal procedures. Allow open borders, airspace and coastlines. In addition, the manual lists seeming paradoxes about counterinsurgency operations. For example, the manual says, "Sometimes, the more force is used, the less effective it is."

Also, "Tactical success guarantees nothing," the manual says, adding, "arguably, the decisive battle is for people's minds." The manual also stresses that even personnel at the lowest level of the chain of command must be prepared for decision-making responsibilities that can influence the outcome of the campaign.

"In many ways, the conduct of COIN is counter-intuitive to the traditional U.S. view of war," the manual says, "although COIN operations have actually formed a substantial part of the U.S. military experience." (With permission to repost from the Assyrian International News Agency http://www.aina.org)

Philippine Military Says U.S. Involved In Intell Ops In Troubled South

MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 03 Jan) - The Philippine military on Wednesday admitted that U.S. intelligence experts were involved in tracking down members of the Southeast Asian terror group, Jemaah Islamiya, believed hiding with Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern island of Jolo.

"It's principally on the field of technical intelligence," the Philippine News Agency quoted a Filipino military spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro as telling reporters at the Camp Aguinaldo headquarters here.

"As to the details of the technical intelligence, I don't know, I'm not privy. They are providing us limited technical intelligence," Bacarro said.

The U.S. military in the past not only provided valuable intelligence to the Armed Forces of the Philippines about the Abu Sayyaf, but also took part in a covert operation with local soldiers to rescue a kidnapped American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham held by the Abu Sayyaf in Zamboanga del Norte province in 2002.

The U.S. previously used unmanned drones and Orion spy planes and electronic warfare in locating hideouts of terrorists in the southern Philippines.

Philippine authorities said as many as 30 Jemaah Islamiya terrorists are operating in the troubled region of Mindanao and Jolo island, about 950 kms south of Manila.

At least 5 of them, including Dulmatin and Umar Patek, both wanted by Jakarta for the 2002 Bali bombings, are said to be in Jolo under the protection of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.

Just last month, Filipino military commanders in Jolo island said soldiers dug up what they believed were the remains of Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, who was killed in a clash with troops in September. But DNA tests are still needed to confirm whether the remains belong to the elusive leader, blamed for the spate of terrorism in the southern Philippines.

The Philippine military also linked the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, to the Jemaah Islamiya, an accusation strongly denied by the country's largest Muslim rebel group.

Washington tagged both the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya as foreign terrorist organizations and offered millions of dollars in rewards for the capture of Dulmatin and Janjalani. (Mindanao Examiner)

Santa Cheers Up Poor Zambo Kids

It's St. Nick, alright!

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Christmas came early for Filipino children in Zamboanga City, thanks to the U.S. military, which arranged for Santa Claus to visit local charities and distribute gifts to needy.

Children were able to tell Santa what they would like for Christmas during the event, which brought holiday cheer to everyone attending, a U.S. military statement said Tuesday.

The North Pole visitor also made an appearance during the city’s “A Night to Remember” holiday family festival on Dec. 9, where he joined local child star Aaron Junatas to toss candy to the crowd and talk to children.

Santa Claus was played by a U.S. Navy officer from the U.S. Joint Special Operations Task Force – Philippines (JSOTF), which is in the country assisting the Armed Forces of the Philippines by providing advice and training, and sharing information.