'U.S. troops will free oppressed in RP'

'U.S. troops will free oppressed in RP'

Reuters, Zamboanga, Philippines

Only a few of these men are built like the steely warriors they are reputed to be. Most look like college freshmen while a few exude the air of university professors.

But the elite U.S. Green Beret troops that arrived on the small Philippine island of Basilan on Sunday have been to some of the world's hottest flashpoints -- Somalia, Iraq, Haiti, Kosovo, Afghanistan -- carrying the battle cry: "Liberate the Oppressed".

Officially known as special forces, the troops carry America's war on terror to Basilan, the mainly Muslim island in the southern Philippines, for exercises aimed at stamping out Abu Sayyaf guerrillas Washington has linked to Osama bin Laden.

"We are trained to survive. We're trained for every situation that could come up, everything," Sergeant Bryan McFarland, 24, told Reuters before two U.S. military helicopters lifted him and his buddies out of Zamboanga city to Basilan, the Abu Sayyaf's island stronghold 900 km (560 miles) south of Manila.

Shaped like a turtle and about three times the size of Singapore, Basilan is clad in jungles so thick you cannot see the enemy five meters (yards) beyond your nose, Filipino soldiers say.

The landing of the U.S. special forces on Basilan marked the most significant expansion of America's campaign against terror after the destruction of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Its fighters from the U.S. Army are better known as the Green Berets, while their Air Force counterparts are dubbed air commandos. The Navy component, called Naval Special Warfare Command, is more popularly known as the Seals.

Officers say each special force unit has its own specialty. Collectively, they are experts in guerrilla warfare and counter terrorism, in conducting raids with the stealth and quickness of a cat and the deadliness of a tiger.

They are experts in surveillance, using high tech equipment, and one of their units, Delta Force, has a reputation for rescuing hostages from behind enemy lines.

They are trained as sharpshooters and can parachute into enemy territory from low-flying aircraft or land from assault helicopters equipped with special radar that enables them to fly through the heaviest storms over mountainous terrain. Individual equipment includes body armour, assault rifles, and night vision goggles.