Washington Post: Pentagon mulling joint exercises in Sulu

WASHINGTON — Pentagon planners are evaluating possible future training exercises in Sulu, following the success of the US-RP Balikatan military exercises in Basilan, the Washington Post reported.

The Post, quoting a US defense official, said they are also worried about the greater challenges in the area given the isolation and the ties of the Abu Sayyaf with the community.

The official said Washington was concerned not only about the recent killing of a Green Beret in Zamboanga City but also about intelligence reports indicating the Abu Sayyaf plan to continue their bombing campaign in the Mindanao region and on the main island of Luzon in the north.

In a Jolo-datelined story, the Post said Philippine and US military officials noted how the US-RP Balikatan campaign in Basilan island in the first six months of 2002 was so successful that it drove the Abu Sayyaf bandits to Jolo island in Sulu province where rebel activity is now the most intense.

About 1,200 US troops were involved in training their Filipino counterparts to crush the Abu Sayyaf as part of the international war on terrorism. US officials said the Abu Sayyaf had links to al-Qaeda terror network of international fugitive Osama bin Laden. The group was primarily held responsible in carrying out the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the US.

Philippine military officials have suggested the Basilan operation be replicated in Jolo, the Post reported on Saturday.

"Now as the two governments prepare for another round of training, scheduled to begin in February, officials in Washington are debating whether to send troops to Jolo next year," the newspaper added.

It said people interviewed in Jolo and Basilan say the task of bringing security to the region will ultimately not be accomplished by military force, but by addressing basic social needs.

It quoted Fahra A. Tan-Omar, chief of the provincial hospital as saying "the rebels are one with the community."

Many families have relatives who are Abu Sayyaf members, so the military must win over the residents as well as fight the rebels, she explained.

"This is Abu Sayyaf country," she said. "If my brother is Abu Sayyaf, I am also Abu Sayyaf. That’s why the military cannot break them."