Accompanying the AFP on Mindanao and other southern islands is “an elite, 600-soldier [U.S.] counterinsurgency force that operates in Mindanao alongside Philippine armed forces,” as the New York Times (23 November) reported from the area only a couple of days before the Maguindanao massacre. The “visiting forces” agreement for the Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines was renewed this year by the new Obama administration in Washington. And as the Philippine Daily Inquirer (9 August 2008) remarked under a dramatic photo of a U.S. soldier in an armored personnel carrier in Zamboanga City, with “no sign of leaving after 6 years” (now seven), “it sure is becoming a long visit.”
Ang Visiting Forces Agreement para sa Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines ay muling ni-renew sa taong ito ng bagong adinistrasyong Obama sa Washington . At batay na rin sa isang litrato ngPhilippine Daily Inquirernoong Agosto 9, 2008 ng isang Amerikanong sundalo na nasa ibabaw ng isang Armored Personnel Carrier sa Zamboanga City hawak-hawak ang isang placard na “no sign of leaving after 6 years” (pampito na ngayon), talaga naming palawig ng palawig ang pagbisita ng mga Amerikanong tropa! Nakakasiguro tayo na mga ang mga Tropang Kano ay nakakonekta sa mga milisya ng mga warlord, kagaya ng sa Afghanistan .