US military advisors in the Philippines since 2002: special-forces troops average “no more than a few hundred at any one time”

MANILA, Philippines - U.S. troops, in possible violation of the Philippine Constitution, have taken part in combat operations against guerrillas linked to Al-Qaida, an activist group said in a report Monday.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop disputed the allegation.

“Visiting U.S. troops in the Philippines advise, assist, share information with their Philippine counterparts, but they do not engage in combat and they have no direct role in combat operations. Any combat operations are 100 percent Filipino,'’ he told the Associated Press.

The group Focus on the Global South, citing a number of U.S. military writings, doctrines and witness accounts to back its claim, said an independent investigation should be conducted to determine whether the alleged combat operations violated the Philippine Constitution.

The U.S. special-forces contingent has been deployed in the south since 2002, nearly a year after the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf kidnapped three Americans and 17 Filipinos from a resort. One of the Americans was beheaded soon after the kidnapping and another killed during a military rescue operation the following year.

Lussenhop said the number of special-forces troops average “no more than a few hundred at any one time.'’

Herbert Docena, who wrote the report for the activist group that promotes human rights and fair trade, said U.S. troops also may be violating the Philippine constitutional ban on the stationing of foreign military bases in the country since they have not left the south since they arrived five years ago.

… Docena said witnesses claim to have seen U.S. troops near hostilities, operating military equipment, defusing land mines and performing other war-related activities. U.S. troops also operate spy planes over areas of hostilities, including one drone aircraft that crashed last year, he said.

… Philippine security officials have accused the group of having ties with the Al-Qaida-linked Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah, but Muslim rebel leaders have denied such links.

[Oliver Teves, Associated Press: MercuryNews.com]

Unconventional Warfare: Are US Special Forces Engaged in an ‘Offensive War’ in the Philippines?

Focus on the Philippines Special Reports, No. 1, January 2006

Since January 2002, US Special Operations Forces (SOFs) have been stationed in the southern Philippines and have not left since then. Their deployment has significant implications for issues of peace and security in the southern Philippines, on democracy in the country and its sovereignty, on the geo-political balance in the region, and on the US’ global military posture. But – because of domestic historical factors and the current balance of political forces – it is on the claim that the US Special Forces are not engaged in “actual combat” that their continuing presence in the Philippines seem to stand.

Five years after the initial deployment, this report gathers the available information and evidence regarding this claim. It relies on publicly available information provided by US troops themselves who, in writing about their missions for military publications, have gone on record to describe their experiences in ways that cast their operation in a different light. It is based on first-hand interviews with witnesses who have dared to come out and who claim to have seen US troops in action. It gathers various separate news articles, reports, and papers offering little-known or little-discussed information on the mission and puts them together to provide a bigger and more coherent picture. Finally, it studies and analyzes overall US global military strategy in order to contextualize their mission.

It finds that the US troops may not only be waging war within the Philippines, they may also established a new form of U.S. bases in the country.

[Focus on the South]

Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines:
“It’s continuous as long as we are allowed to stay”

Unconventional Warfare: Focus on the Philippines

In the US military, a “Joint Task Force” is established whenever there is a need to bring together units from more than one service for conducting specific missions. What is now known as the JSOTF-P evolved in July 2002 from the earlier Joint Task Force-510 (JTF-510) which was deployed to Basilan island, in the Southern Philippines, in January 2002. JTF-510 is described by the US Pacific Command as its “crisis response, rapid deployment” unit. According to an Army Major in a paper for the US Army Command and General Staff College, this task force has established a “forward operating base” in Zamboanga City.

While the number of participants in the training exercises is publicly disclosed prior to each exercise, this information has been withheld in the case of the JSOTF-P since its creation. Based on various media reports, the number of troops deployed to the southern Philippines has ranged between 160 and 350 but it is not clear what the actual total number is for a specific period. US embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop at one point claimed it “wouldn’t be above 100.” But US Lt. Col. Mark Zimmer, JSOTF-P public affairs officer, said it varies “depending on the season and the mission.”

While many of the exercises are conducted inside Philippine military training camps or other designated training areas, the JSOTF-P has been operating in an area in which actual hostilities with forces seen as hostile to the Philippines government have ensued and are still ongoing. The exact coverage of its area of operation remains unclear. Moreover, the training exercises are conducted with no specified target or enemy in mind; the JSOTFP, on the other hand, has been explicit in targeting “terrorists,” in particular the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), and lately, the Jemaah Islamaiah, both of which are listed as “designated foreign terrorist organizations” by the US Department of State. Indeed, from the very beginning, US and Philippine government offi cials announced that the deployment was part of the US-led “global war against terror.”

Unknown to many, the JTF’s deployment here was labeled by the US military as “Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines” (OEF-P) to signify that that the nature and the goal of the deployment was in the same league as the original “Operation Enduring Freedom” – the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. According to an article in the New York Times, the deployment to the Philippines was probably “the largest deployment of Special Forces into a combat zone” since Afghanistan, where Special Forces were also at the forefront.

[R]egular training exercises are close-ended and usually last for no more than a week or two, after which the participating units return to their home bases; on the other hand, the JSOTF-P’s stay has been indefinite. Contrary to former National Security Adviser Roilo Golez’s assurance in 2002 that the US troops will “be gone” after six months, the troops remain. Despite persistent queries from reporters and civil society organizations, US and Filipino officials have refused to give an exit date. Capt Eddie Paruchabutr, former JSOTF-P information officer, could only say, “It’s continuous as long as we are allowed to stay.”

… In November [2005] the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] launched operations allegedly against the Abu Sayyaf, even as those who were fighting back claimed to belong to the Moro National Liberation Front, a group whose peace agreement with the government has frayed but which is not tagged a “terrorist group” by either Manila or Washington. Eyewitnesses of the encounters claimed to have seen US troops actually join the Filipino soldiers in operations at the immediate vicinity of the fighting. They were seen aboard military trucks with their Filipino counterparts and in rubber boats, mounting heavy artillery, operating military equipment, removing
landmines, or evacuating casualties. Throughout the clashes, a spy plane – which locals claim had been flying over the skies for months – was seen hovering above the area where fighting was ongoing.

US officials dismissed these reports as “absolutely not true.”
[Focus on the Philippines Special Reports, No. 1, January 2006]