U.S. troops in Basilan may be fighting wrong war
U.S. troops in Basilan may be fighting wrong war
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Asia News Network, Manila
Foreign journalists covering the Balikatan war exercises in
Basilan have been wondering aloud if the U.S. Special Forces are
not fighting the wrong war.
Time magazine's Anthony Spaeth, for instance, reported
recently that while the Abu Sayyaf is known to have had strong
ties to al-Qaeda in the mid-1990s, such links seem to have
"atrophied" since then. Thus, a victory over the Abu Sayyaf would
likely have "little impact on eradicating global terrorism."
The "real terrorist threat," according to Spaeth, comes from
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which has "much fresher
links" to the international terrorist network of Osama bin Laden.
He said there is evidence that two Palestinians and a Jordanian
arrested last November are part of an al-Qaeda cell and have had
frequent contacts with the MILF. The separatist group is also
believed to have played host to hundreds of Islamic fighters from
the Middle East, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia.
This theme of the MILF being the "real challenge" to the war
on terrorism also runs through the reports filed by New York
Times correspondent Nicholas Kristof. Kristof even accused
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of having hoodwinked U.S.
President George Bush into fighting the Abu Sayyaf instead of the
MILF, which has "much stronger ties to terrorism." He surmised
that the reason is that Bush's real aim is not to eliminate a
real threat but to "demonstrate momentum in the war on terror" by
picking an enemy that can be "quickly beaten." What the U.S.
wants is "a feel-good declaration of victory more than a defeat
of terrorism," he concluded.
This is a very unflattering portrait of the only remaining
superpower and its leader who has vowed to crush international
terrorism and made it the overriding goal of his administration.
But don't expect the Arroyo administration or the Armed Forces of
the Philippines (AFP) to lift a finger to help disabuse the media
of this notion.
To the AFP, nothing would be more welcome than getting
American troops to fight the MILF. To the administration, this
may not be a realistic option, but even the possibility that the
Americans can be persuaded to expand its operations and take on
the MILF strengthens its hand when dealing with the guerrillas.
Better trained and better equipped government troops facing
one less enemy are going to be a more formidable foe to the MILF
and other rebel groups. What more U.S. troops fighting alongside
the AFP? The Vietnam War may provide an inspiration to rebels,
but facing American soldiers with their sophisticated weaponry is
not something guerrillas of any stripe look forward to.
No wonder Philippine military spokesmen have stepped up their
efforts to link the MILF to the Abu Sayyaf and al-Qaeda. One
official said the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF are one and the same.
AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan has accused the MILF of
not only blocking efforts to rescue the two American missionaries
and a Filipino nurse being held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf but
also providing sanctuary to the bandits. The MILF also had a hand
in some of the Abu Sayyaf's raids, he said.
Now even government peace negotiators seem to be playing
hardball. On Wednesday, the presidential adviser on the peace
process, Eduardo Ermita, announced that the government was
temporarily suspending peace talks with the MILF which were
earlier scheduled to resume on March 9 in Kuala Lumpur.
Ermita said there was need to clear the air of charges and
countercharges from both sides about violations of the ceasefire
agreement. The military has accused the MILF of engaging
government forces in 14 clashes, staging two ambuscades and 10
other cases of violence in a span of two weeks. Adan said these
incidents were initiated by the MILF to gain leverage in the
talks.
If this were so, then MILF leaders must have lost their
capacity to look any further than their gun sights. For no matter
how they look at it, the government has gained a stronger hand in
recent months. The only problem is that the government may not be
playing its cards right. By pushing the MILF to the wall, it may
be squandering the opportunity to win a lasting peace.