Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Un'altro fronte nella "guerra al terrorismo"

Sotto a chi tocca e avanti il prossimo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/21/international/asia/21FILI.html?ei=1&en=b06bc45440adffbe&ex=1046834946&pagewanted=print&position=top
U.S. Combat Force of 1,700 Is Headed to the PhilippinesBy ERIC SCHMITT
ASHINGTON, Feb. 20 - The United States will send more than 1,700
troops to the Philippines in the next few weeks to fight Muslim
extremists in the southern part of the country, opening a new front in
the campaign against terrorism, Pentagon officials said today.
 The first troops are to be deployed within days. Unlike a six-month
mission last year that involved 1,300 American troops, it will not
limit United States forces to an advisory role allowing them to fire
only in self-defense, military officials said.
 The operation will last as long as necessary "to disrupt and destroy"
the estimated 250 members of the extremist group Abu Sayyaf, one
official said. It steps up the battle against terrorism as the United
States prepares for possible war with Iraq and continues to hunt Al
Qaeda in Afghanistan.
 Under the new plan, about 750 ground troops, including 350 in the
Special Operations forces, will conduct or support combat patrols in
the jungles of Sulu Province. About 1,000 marines, armed with Cobra
attack helicopters and Harrier AV-8B attack planes, will stand ready
aboard two ships offshore to act as a quick-response force, and
provide logistics and medical support.
 Negotiations between the two countries have been under way for
months, officials said, but Abu Sayyaf's repeated attacks and the
bombing death of an American Green Beret last October spurred the
Philippine president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and the American
defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, to agree on this plan.
 President Arroyo's spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, said on Monday that
American troops would be sent to Sulu Province, but he described the
mission as an "exercise" that would "more or less" resemble the
mission last year on Basilan Island.
 A Pentagon official said tonight that one reason for telling
reporters today about the new mission in the Philippines was that Mr.
Bunye had mischaracterized the scope of an operation that had already
been agreed upon in private. President Bush signed off on the
operation after being briefed by Mr. Rumsfeld last week, officials
said.
Dispatching commandos to the jungles of the southern Philippines gives
Pentagon officials a chance to show that they can, as they have
asserted, fight a war with Iraq and still hunt down terrorists
elsewhere.
 Welcoming help from the Philippines' former colonial ruler, the
United States, has proven a delicate issue for President Arroyo. But
she has now said she will not seek re-election, and some diplomats
said that could make it easier for her to weather any political
fallout.
 The Philippine Constitution prohibits foreign troops from carrying
out unilateral combat missions, but the American forces will
technically play a supporting role in the Philippine-led operation, a
distinction that may allow Mrs. Arroyo and her supporters to skirt the
legal issue. "It's something they will have to finesse," one senior
American official said.
 American officials suggested that the American track record in the
Philippines in recent months might help overcome Philippine
skepticism. By leaving on schedule and honoring the restrictions on
accompanying combat patrols, the United States assuaged many fears
that the training mission last year on Basilan would turn into a
permanent American encampment. Since then, smaller numbers of advisers
have been in the Philippines on training missions.
 The new combat operation reflects the Pentagon's growing concern that
militant Islamic networks pose an increasing threat to Americans in
Southeast Asia.
 It also indicates that the mission with Philippine forces last year
on Basilan failed to quell the Muslim rebels. Only one major Abu
Sayyaf leader was killed during that operation, and the group's other
leaders have since reorganized in Sulu Province, principally on Jolo
Island.
 While the American-led mission effectively drove Abu Sayyaf from
Basilan and parts of southern Mindanao, the American-trained
Philippine forces have not sustained the momentum. Abu Sayyaf has been
tied to a string of recent bombings and attacks in the southern
Philippines, including an explosion outside a karaoke bar last October
that killed Sgt. First Class Mark Wayne Jackson and two Filipinos and
injured many more, Pentagon officials said.
 Philippine forces have made some inroads recently. A top Abu Sayyaf
commander, Mujib Susukan, was reported to have died on Wednesday from
wounds suffered during a government assault on his hide-out on Jolo a
day earlier, a Philippines military commander said.
 "The Philippines have a terrorist problem and we have offered our
assistance," a senior Pentagon official said today.
In a sign of the importance the Pentagon is placing on the mission,
the American forces will be led by Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Weber, the
commander of the Third Marine Division, based at Okinawa.
 The Bush administration has declared Abu Sayyaf a terrorist
organization. A decade ago, when the group was founded with a goal to
create an Islamic state, Osama bin Laden sent a brother-in-law to
coordinate with the group. He provided money and sought to arrange a
merger between Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a
much larger group in the Philippines.
 American and Philippine intelligence officials have said the
relationship never developed. Abu Sayyaf degenerated into kidnappers
for ransoms. The group kidnapped several Americans, including Martin
and Gracia Burnham. Mr. Burnham was killed in a botched rescue by
Philippine soldiers on June 7, as was a Filipino, Ediborah Yap; Mrs.
Burnham has since returned to the United States.
 Some American officials believe that in recent months, Abu Sayyaf has
established connections with Jemaah Islamiyah, a radical network that
seeks an Islamic state across Southeast Asia.
 A military assessment team is expected to arrive in the Philippines
in the next few days, and a full force could be conducting combat
operations against Abu Sayyaf within a month, a Pentagon official
said.
 As they have for months, the United States Navy will continue to fly
regular reconnaissance missions over the Sulu Archipelago to provide
intelligence to Philippine and American forces.

technically play a supporting role in the Philippine-led operation,
Cioe' saranno solo di supporto alle forze armate filippine :))
-Stefano