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.