U.S. troops will patrol in RP, but carefully<\/p>\n
Agencies, Zamboanga, Philippines<\/p>\n
U.S. forces will patrol in the southern Philippines with local
\ntroops fighting Moro guerrillas but only in areas with a low risk
\nof combat, a Philippine military spokesman said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The patrol areas -- part of joint training exercises due to
\nget underway on Jan. 30 -- will be carefully selected with the
\naid of sophisticated U.S. intelligence systems, Major Noel
\nDetoyato told Reuters.<\/p>\n
"We will see to it that the area where they will go to is
\nwhere the threat level is low, not where we think the enemy would
\nbe," Detoyato said in an interview at the headquarters of the
\nsouthern Philippine military command.<\/p>\n
"That's the condition," Detoyato said.<\/p>\n
Philippine officials have given conflicting statements about
\nwhether the U.S. troops will go out in the field as part of the
\nexercises.<\/p>\n
The U.S. troops will be armed and allowed to fire in self-
\ndefense and many critics have said that is highly unusual in any
\ntraining.<\/p>\n
Critics have said the government is using the training to mask
\na deployment of U.S. troops in a combat role, which would be
\nagainst the constitution.<\/p>\n
Popular support for U.S. troops joining Filipino soldiers in
\nanti-terrorist military operations is overwhelming, with
\ncommunists the only dissenters, President Gloria Arroyo said on
\nSunday.<\/p>\n
"Our people support this wholeheartedly," Arroyo told Bombo
\nRadio here in an interview.<\/p>\n
"Only a few people object to their presence, particularly the
\ncommunists."<\/p>\n
Leftist groups have warned against escalating the U.S.
\nmilitary presence to wage war on a 33-year old communist
\ninsurgency.<\/p>\n
Asked about the possibility that U.S. troops accompanying
\nlocal forces might be ambushed by the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas,
\nDetoyato said: "That's part of (being a soldier) but that element
\nis from zero to nil."<\/p>\n
About 660 U.S. soldiers will take part in the training but
\nonly about 120 to 160 members of the U.S. elite Special Forces
\nwill actually go out with local soldiers into Basilan island,
\nwhere the Abu Sayyaf extremists have been holding a U.S.
\nmissionary couple hostage for eight months.<\/p>\n
The deployment of the U.S. forces on Basilan, a rugged island
\nof mountains, forests and steep ravines three times the size of
\nSingapore, marks the first significant military involvement of
\nthe United States in the Philippines since the closure of the
\nlast U.S. military base in the former U.S. colony in 1992, which
\nended almost a century of U.S. military presence.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/us-troops-will-patrol-in-rp-but-carefully-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}