[ OUR OPINION ]
GIs in Philippines should
begin packingTHE rescue of an American missionary and the death of her husband and a Philippine nurse bring to an end a year-long ordeal in which they were held hostage by a gang with reputed ties to the al-Qaida terrorist organization. It also should lead to the phase-out of an operation in which U.S. troops trained and advised Filipino soldiers in combatting terrorism.
THE ISSUEAn American missionary has been rescued from a militant group in the Philippines but her missionary husband and a nurse were killed.
Missionary Martin Burnham of Rose Hill, Kans., and nurse Ediborah Yap were killed in gunfire between the Abu Sayyaf gang and Philippine troops on the island of Mindanao. Burnham's missionary wife, Gracia, was wounded and taken to a military hospital.
Abu Sayyaf, a rebel group advocating establishment of a Muslim state in the southern Philippines, kidnapped the Burnhams and Yap on May 27, 2001. It also had kidnapped 17 other Filipinos and Giullermo Sobero, of Cornoa, Calif. Sobero was beheaded in June of last year.
In January, President Bush entered into a six-month agreement to assist the Philippine government in its fight against Abu Sayyaf, identifying it as part of a worldwide terrorist network. The Pentagon immediately deployed 600 troops, and the force has grown to 1,200. The rescue of the Burnhams was a key goal of the operation, which is scheduled to last through July.
The operation has been largely successful. Abu Sayyaf's ranks have been reduced from an estimated 1,000 to fewer than 100. It has splintered into three groups, two of which fled to Mindanao from the gang's main lair on the nearby island of Basilan.
Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, the new chief of the Honolulu-based Pacific Command, visited the Philippines two weeks ago and recommended that U.S. advisers train Philippine troops at the company level, which is part of the six-month agreement. However, that would allow Americans to join Philippine soldiers on patrol, placing them in greater risk.
With the rescue of the Burnhams no longer an element of the mission, the American interest in pursuit of the dwindling number of gang members is greatly reduced. The justification for expanding the U.S. mission or extending it beyond July as part of the war against international terrorism is questionable.
Abu Sayyaf is more a ransom-seeking kidnapping enterprise than a revolutionary force. Philippine Ambassador Albert Del Rosario said in Honolulu this week that its "direct link to the al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden started to get hazy in 1995" and now is claimed by the gang for "propaganda purposes." The remnants of Abu Sayyaf essentially have become a domestic problem in the Philippines, from which U.S. forces should soon exit.
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