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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, March 9, 2003

EDITORIAL
Who's responsible for Philippines debacle?

Were it not for the protective cover being provided by the imminent war in Iraq, the architects of the latest U.S. war mission to the Philippines, now hastily canceled, would have much to account for.

The mission was poorly thought out. Pentagon sources said unambiguously that Special Forces troops would serve in a direct combat role in a new offensive against Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines. That language was unacceptable in the Philippines, where the mission was billed as a training exercise, like a similar one last year.

What remains a mystery, of course, is whether the Philippines government expected a combat mission under another name. That kind of deceit won't help us or the Filipinos in the long run.

American planners need to demonstrate more sensitivity for other reasons, too. American troops have a bad reputation in Jolo, where an offensive against Abu Sayyaf bandits is planned. Filipino history recounts the massacre of thousands of Muslims by American troops under Governor General Leonard Wood in 1906. And care must be taken that U.S. military support doesn't enable the Philippines to emphasize military suppression of its Muslim minority over democratic inclusion.

Properly planned, most Filipinos would welcome indirect help in eliminating Abu Sayyaf, a small bandit band. But its tenuous and stale connection to al-Qaida makes it a dubious "second front" in the war on terrorism. Indeed, our ham-handed approach will suggest to many that what we're really after is re-establishment of U.S. access to Philippines bases.