Does ‘Oplan Trident’ really exist?

Our Deep Throat inside the military (not Strep Throat, so common nowadays) yesterday got hold of documents marked "Secret" which contained a plan which would be mind-boggling – if true.

The report concerned spoke of an MKP (rebel) plan to seize the Batasan Complex and hold hostage members of the House of Representatives "in order to establish a political-military stronghold complemented by the convergence of multi-sectoral groups and a broad alliance at St. Peter's Parish Church while Special Operations on selected high-value targets will be conducted to interdict opposing forces in order to bring down the government."

I checked and there’s no doubt the report came from the military. But it is based on a 7-page document outlining this bold strike, calling it "Oplan Trident", and dated 15 April 2006.

My problem is that there is no way to check the veracity of this startling report, since the details of Oplan Trident were taken from a laptop (personal computer) seized last Friday in the safehouse at 34 Adler St., Fil-invest 2, Batasan road, where six fugitive officers from the Magdalo mutineer group were arrested by a police and military raiding team.

The computer in question was an Army computer allegedly "belonging" to 1st Lt. Aldrin Baldonado (Army) who had been listed as AWOL for months (absent without official leave) and had been arrested with the group.

The AFP and PNP have presumed that the move would have been made next Monday (July 24) when the President delivers her State of the Nation Address (SONA) to both Houses of Congress and assembled dignitaries.

Yet, could the rebels have the numbers, resources, and "support" from sectors of the civilian population to carry out such an ambitious Oplan?

And why did one of them spell everything out in a computer, very clumsily encoded, which might have been captured? Very amateurish, indeed.

Remember the Islamic terrorist Ramzi Youssef (who trained the Abu Sayyaf in bomb-making for Osama bin Laden, later tried unsuccessfully to blow up New York’s Twin Towers, the World Trade Center), put a bomb on a PAL flight to Japan, which exploded and killed just one passenger?

Returning to Manila to "kill the Pope" who was scheduled to arrive, Ramzi had been foiled when his rented Manila apartment caught fire from the explosive chemicals he and a confederate had been mixing. Youssef got away, but his computer – left behind in the apartment – was taken by the Manila police.

Deciphering it helped lead to Ramzi’s arrest in Pakistan (he was pinpointed by an informer there). More interestingly, the PC contained plans for a terrorist operation dubbed the Bojinka Plot, part of it was to hijack US commercial jets in the Pacific, and a scenario in which a plane loaded with explosives would ram itself into the White House.

Ramzi’s computer in truth contained a kernel of the 9/11 plan by which hijacked US passenger planes – full of fuel – were rammed into the Twin Towers in New York and The Pentagon near Washington DC. No need for explosives then. A fully-fueled commercial jet had been discovered by al-Qaeda to be a powerful flying bomb in itself.

It will be forever speculated that if the Americans had paid more attention to interpreting the contents of Ramzi Youssef’s computer, they might have thwarted 9/11.

And now come the MKP plotters, carelessly putting the details of their explosive "Oplan Trident" in a computer? Foolish – but in this cock-eyed world, foolish things happen.

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In any event, "Oplan Trident" makes both alarming and entertaining reader. If it were true, it hints that not a few rebels continue to exist within the armed forces. The Oplan lists as "Friendly Forces" a "contingent" from HQs Marine Corps at Fort Bonifacio; a contingent from HQs FSRR (Scout Rangers) from Camp Tecson, San Miguel, Bulacan; a contingent from the Special Action Force (SAF), Philippine National Police, Sta. Rosa, Laguna; a contingent from Special Operations Wing (SPOW), Philippine Air Force, Clark Field, Angeles; and "other sympathetic forces in the field."

The Oplan was "supposed" to be accomplished using four Task Groups (TG) and three Special Ops Teams.

The "plotters" assumed that "the political situation is favorable for a drastic military action" and that their "action will be bold enough to create a condition to seize the initiative."

The plan pointed out that the Batasan (legislative building complex) "is a vulnerable target for a small military unit to seize and secure, as compared to other key military objectives in the National Capital Region such as Malacañang, Camp Aguinaldo, Camp Crame and other military camps."

The document revealed a blueprint for "direct military action and people’s support" with the end in mind of bringing down the GMA government. The Oplan was expected to be executed by "MOL 120 MKP forces" complemented by "mass protesters composed of allied sectoral groups, religious groups, active and retired military officers’ and civil society groups that will assemble at St. Peter’s Parish Church."

Further down, the report notes that "the MKP’s tactics will capitalize on delaying, disrupting and dispersing (superior) government forces while they vie for time to attract defectors and attain critical mass."

A thought intruded as this writer scanned the documents. Were they deliberately "leaked" out by the military to give the AFP and police the justification to crack down harder on would-be protesters and demonstrators and significantly beef up "security" in the Batasan and its environs. However, as is axiomatic, better safe than sorry.

Each objective or staging area was given a code-name in the computer-derived Oplan Trident. The Batasan was called "OBJ BIGHOUSE." St. Peter Church was dubbed "OBJ Cockpit." (Didn’t the cock crow after St. Peter had denied Christ three times?)

"REHEARSE" in code meant "the commencement of infiltration." "WALKTHROUGH" was the signal for rebel forces having crossed phaseline "MAINGATE." The code "CARPARK" meant that "respective assault positions had been occupied." "BIGBANG" was to signal that assaults should be started on respective OBJs (objectives). "KITKAT" signified that the OBJ "had been taken down, held and secured."

Guess that’s enough to whet your appetite. There’s more, but I’ve to check further whether the computer details are genuine or simply planted.

Did the capture of the rebel fugitives and their cohorts write "finis" to Oplan Trident? Or is there a bigger plan still waiting to be sprung?

What do you think?