THE WASHINGTON POST, Wednesday, January 16, 2002; Page A01
Special Forces Join Effort in Philippines
Trainers to Aid Anti-Guerrilla Patrols
By Steve Vogel, Washington Post Staff Writer
U.S. Special Forces have begun arriving in the Philippines to assist Philippine troops
in their fight against Muslim guerrillas linked to Osama bin Laden, part of a significant
expansion of the U.S. war on terrorism outside Afghanistan.
Although the deployment is a training exercise, the U.S. troops will accompany
frontline Filipino forces on patrols in guerrilla-threatened areas in the southern
Philippines. Approximately 650 U.S. soldiers -- including 160 Special Forces troops --
will take part in the exercise, defense officials said yesterday.
"It is not a modest number, it's several hundred plus," Secretary of Defense Donald H.
Rumsfeld said in an interview with radio journalists. "But it is a group of people that
are going to be with the Philippine forces for the purpose of training."
Even as Pentagon officials say that the focus of the war will remain on Afghanistan,
the dispatch of hundreds of U.S. troops to the Philippines underscores the
administration's intention to wage its fight on terrorism on a global scale.
Having put aside such targets as Iraq, at least for now, the administration is working
with friendly governments such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore that are
seeking help in rooting out terrorist groups. It is also looking to such countries as
Indonesia, Yemen and Somalia where al Qaeda cells are believed to be located.
The U.S. forces moving to the Philippines will help the Philippine army in the fight
against Abu Sayyaf, a terrorist group that Washington says is linked to bin Laden,
whose al Qaeda network is blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
"United States military trainers will be helping the Philippine government and
Philippine armed forces to deal with the terrorist threat they have that affects their
interests, as well as ours," Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said in an interview
yesterday with ABC News.
A shipment of weapons from the United States, including automatic rifles and grenade
launchers, arrived in the Philippines in recent days, part of a package of American
military assistance. "More of this stuff will be going in," a Pentagon official said.
Over the next 30 days, about 150 troops, primarily Army Special Forces, will arrive in
the Philippines and begin accompanying Filipino forces on patrols on Basilan, a
rugged and jungle-clad island that is a stronghold of Abu Sayyaf.
"The reason they're doing that is they want to assess what their capabilities are and
what type of terrain they're operating in," the Pentagon official said. Based on those
assessments, the official said, U.S. forces will offer further training and assistance.
"The only combat they're likely to see would be in a self-protection mode," the official
said, adding, "Any time you're accompanying forces in pursuit of terrorists, there are
risks involved."
About 5,000 Philippine troops have been fighting on Basilan for months to counter the
1,000 or so Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who have taken many hostages, including a U.S.
couple and a local nurse they have been holding captive for more than seven months.
"Some of the hostages have been killed, some have been released, and so they have
a very real terrorist problem," Rumsfeld said.
Philippine Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said yesterday that the U.S. troops would
only be in a training and support role. "We will do the fighting. It is the Filipino soldiers
who will go out and they will be assisted by the American forces in terms of advice
and joint assessment and sharing of expertise and equipment," he said.
Several dozen members of the U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific are in the
Philippines preparing for the exercise. "They're doing site survey work to determine
the logistical support needed for the U.S. forces coming on for the exercise," said
Marine Maj. Sean Gibson, a spokesman for the Pacific Command.
The full contingent will include about 150 U.S. Special Forces personnel -- including
Navy SEALs, the Army's Green Berets, Marines with special operations capabilities
and Air Force Special Forces. Backing them will be about 500 U.S. support and
technical personnel, Reyes told local radio, according to the Reuters news service.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) offered support
yesterday for the U.S. effort in the Philippines. "It's limited assistance and it's
appropriate," Levin said during a breakfast with defense writers.
But Levin cautioned that more information would be needed if the United States
wanted to significantly expand the role. "I'd want to know a lot more about it before I
said yes," Levin said.
In Afghanistan yesterday, U.S. Marines discovered and destroyed a cache of
weapons hidden near their base at the Kandahar airport, days after coming under
attack. Marines at the base suggested that the weapons were evidence that hostile
forces were massing for another assault on the base, according to an Associated
Press report.
A senior Defense Department official discounted this possibility. "It looks to be more
of a strategic reserve," the official said.
"One thing we are finding, in place after place, is arms caches," the official added.
"They're everywhere. It's just amazing, the quantity that was stored."
"Very, very sizable arsenals are being discovered," Rumsfeld said yesterday. "Tanks
and artillery pieces and surface-to-air missiles and small arms and all kinds of things
that they've been in the process of destroying a great deal of it in different locations."
U.S. forces are searching for more al Qaeda complexes such as the one at Zhawar
Kili, which was subjected to heavy bombing for much of the last two weeks. On
Monday, Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint
Staff, said the United States had largely finished destroying facilities and equipment
and sealing off equipment at the extensive compound.
There were no airstrikes yesterday, defense officials said.
Much of the U.S. attention is focusing on the region around the towns of Khost and
Gardez, north of Zhawar Kili, in eastern Afghanistan where intelligence has indicated
is still a haven for al Qaeda and Taliban forces. "It's certainly an area that has our
interest," the senior official said.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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