Gathering Places
Gathering Places
The deployment of U.S. military troops, including 160 special forces based in Hawaii, to the Philippines to advise and train thousands of Filipino troops hunting for Abu Sayyaf rebels in Mindanao is outrageous. Another 500 will be assigned as support personnel. America in the Philippines
POINT OF VIEW
Will this be another Vietnam?
COUNTER POINT
By Belinda A. AquinoThis not only violates Philippine sovereignty, as the constitution bans foreign combat troops on Philippine territory, but embroils the Philippines in the U.S. war on terrorism. All it needs is for one of these advisers, or any American for that matter, to get kidnapped in Manila or Zamboanga, and the inevitable will happen: The war will escalate.
The distinction between combat and advisory roles is ludicrous. Those who lived through the Vietnam era fear a similar specter of escalation, notwithstanding U.S. assurances that this foray into Mindanao will only be for training and to help Filipinos contain the Abu Sayyaf. Didn't the Vietnam war start with a few advisers? As the conflict intensified, more advisers came, and soon ground troops were introduced.
When the Philippine Senate terminated U.S. military bases in 1991, we thought the Philippines was on its way to real independence after nearly a century of colonial relations. The divorce was healthy for both countries, especially for Philippine democracy. We expected America to respect our independence.
It wasn't long before the Americans were back, this time under a Visiting Forces Agreement. It was an ambiguous agreement signed in 1998 stipulating that "from time to time elements of the United States Armed Forces may visit the Republic of the Philippines." These short visits would be for training exercises in a spirit of cooperation between the American and Philippine military.
Appropriately, the exercises, a euphemism for war games, are called "Balikatan," the Filipino term for "shoulder to shoulder."
Now, in the post-Taliban era, a U.S. military contingent including Navy SEALs, Green Berets and Marines has been dispatched to the Philippines. A shipment of weapons, including grenade launchers, 30,000 M-16 rifles, a C-130 transport plane, a patrol boat, eight helicopters and ammunition will be part of the assistance package, says the Pentagon.
It's amazing. It's the usual overkill approach of the U.S. military against its enemies in the Third World.
Meanwhile, more than 5,000 Filipino troops have been chasing the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan estimated to be just a few hundred who are holding an American couple and a Filipina hostage. Defense chief Angelo Reyes has indicated that it's the Filipino troops who will do the fighting and that they will be assisted by the American forces "advice and joint assessment and sharing of expertise and equipment."
Isn't this part of a combat role? If one commits a crime on the advice of somebody, isn't the latter as guilty? Law calls it an accessory.
Another myth involves the modernization of the Philippine military. By the time the Americans leave, Reyes swears, "the Filipino military shall have acquired the competence to conduct its own anti-terrorist training." Fat chance.
The Philippine military has been modernizing for more than 40 years. They received tons of money, equipment and materiel from the United States during the Marcos regime. Much went to corruption rather than modernization. They have never been made to account for this, let alone for egregious violations of human rights against thousands of Filipinos during the Marcos dictatorship.
Now President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's administration will receive $100 million in U.S. assistance, plus more in pledges from President Bush in exchange for hosting the U.S. contingent to help bring down the Abu Sayyaf. Will the United States never learn? Is it bent on destroying its former colony?
The late Filipino politician Raul Manglapus used the metaphor of "slaying the father" in his reflections on Philippine-American relations. A literal slaying is not improbable if the situation deteriorates. These U.S. advisers had better read up on Philippine-Muslim history and hurry home to Hawaii where they have a better chance of surviving.
Belinda A. Aquino is professor of political science and director of the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Pundits who six months ago could not find Manila, much less Mindanao, on a map are busily proclaiming the Philippines to be "the next Afghanistan" -- except, of course, for those who are busy proclaiming it "the next Vietnam." COUNTER POINT
U.S. is helping an honored ally
By Ralph A. Cossa
They are being joined in the Philippines by "the Americans are coming" crowd who are proclaiming that U.S. Special Forces' assistance to Philippine military forces fighting insurgents in the south constitutes an attack, not on terrorism, but on Philippine sovereignty.
The Philippines is not the next Afghanistan. Afghanistan is the next Afghanistan. While the "experts" have declared victory and are longing for warmer climates in which to cover the war, the Pentagon keeps pointing out that the job in Afghanis-tan has not yet been finished.
The Taliban is no longer in power but the search for its leaders continues as does the most important task: destroying al-Qaida's terrorist network.
President Bush keeps reminding us that the war on terrorism is not like other wars, and will be waged on many fronts, using diplomatic, political, economic, and financial as well as military means.
Meanwhile, there is a difference between the democratically elected government in Manila and the corrupt generals of old Saigon just as there is a difference between the Viet Cong and the Abu Sayyaf. The Abu Sayyaf of 800 guerrillas has chosen, with apparent al-Qaida backing, to employ terrorist tactics to intimidate others while enriching itself.
It has conducted kidnapping raids in Malaysia and kills innocent civilians (beheading being a favorite means). Two American missionaries are among its hostages. Earlier efforts by nations like Libya to "help" Manila by paying ransom to Abu Sayyaf to release kidnapped victims have allowed the rebel group to arm and equip itself, frequently with better weapons than those of the Philippine forces who have been valiantly fighting the terrorists.
The United States is an ally of the Philippines -- the termination of a basing agreement ended the stationing of U.S. troops in the Philippines 10 years ago; it did not abrogate the Mutual Defense Treaty. As a result, the United States has both a legal and moral obligation to help the Philippines defend itself.
America also has declared war against terrorism. For Washington not to offer to assist Manila in its struggle against terrorists would be inexcusable. Strict constitutional provisions and a new Visiting Forces Agreement provide the guidelines under which American forces deploy to the Philippines, temporarily, for joint training. These are being honored.
Providing a small contingent of Special Forces and support troops as advisers makes great sense. "There's no mystery about it," says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with common sense. The deployment of U.S. military advisers is part of a broader package of assistance aimed at supporting the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
This aid will help Manila to address the root causes of terrorism even as it helps the Philippines fight against those who would exploit impoverished members of society for their own political purposes.
Many of those guiding Washington's antiterrorist efforts were foot soldiers in Vietnam. They demonstrated, as leaders during the Gulf War a decade ago, that they had learned the lessons of Vietnam. They knew the difference between Afghan-istan and Iraq, fighting differently in each instance.
Most importantly, they know the difference between fearing casualties, which can render a military force meaningless, and avoiding casualties, which is a commander's first obligation. Few Americans have thus far been killed in Afghanistan even though they have been in harm's way. The objective, as Gen. George Patton reminded us several wars ago, is not to die for your country but to get the other s.o.b. to die for his.
The forces in the Philippines will be going into harm's way, although their mission is to advise those not so well trained or equipped in the front lines in Manila's battle against terrorism. This is not Afghanistan or Vietnam Revisited. This is America helping an ally in a common cause.
Ralph A. Cossa is president of the Pacific Forum CSIS, a research and public policy institute here.