EDITORIAL
U.S. role in Philippines needs some explaining

On the eve of an invasion of Iraq and with a critical proliferation crisis in Korea, the Bush administration now chooses to embark on a major escalation of the U.S. military's role in the Philippines.

How many of us remember candidate George Bush complaining that President Clinton had stretched our military too thin by sending troops to the Balkans? Now we're told the same forces can handle simultaneous wars in Iraq and Korea, along with lesser roles in Afghanistan, the Philippines and more.

Pentagon sources say unambiguously that Special Forces troops will serve in a direct combat role in a major new counterterror offensive against Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines.

Last year, U.S. troops participated in operations on Basilan island, but only in a training role.

The Pentagon intends to "wipe out the Abu Sayyaf guys" by throwing about 350 U.S. Army Green Berets into a Philippines military offensive, likely to begin next month. They would be supported by 400 more troops based nearby in Zamboanga, and by a team of 1,000 Marines aboard Navy ships able to respond on short notice with jets and helicopters, logistics help and medical aid.

In some ways, these plans are all too reminiscent of pre-1965 U.S. involvement in Vietnam. No date has been set for withdrawal, and no explanation has been offered as to how the prohibition in the Philippines constitution against foreign combatants will be skirted.

But a crucial difference from Vietnam is that Abu Sayyaf is estimated to number only perhaps 500 rebels. As long as the target is confined to this group, the American force, operating jointly with Filipino troops, should hopelessly overmatch the rebels.

Such clarity could be endangered, however, by loose talk about fighting "terrorism," which after all is a technique, not an affiliation. While some rebels in the southern Philippines are suspected of having ties to al-Qaida, most fall into two types: outright criminals and Muslim insurgents representing a population that long has complained about rule by Catholic Manila.

Few would object if U.S. troops can help eliminate a handful of bandits without endangering the constructive but tenuous accommodations that have been worked out with more peaceful, and much larger, Muslim factions. And the operation delivers on White House promises not to neglect the war on terrorism as it closes in on Iraq.

Still, open-ended involvement in the Philippines at a time when U.S. troops are already tied down in the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, in Europe, Japan and Korea, is not a step to be taken lightly.