"The return of U.S. troops to a nation with a long history of subjugation by foreign armies has triggered a political uproar in Manila," reported the February 7 Washington Post. The protests and wider controversy in Philippine society have been sparked by the deployment of U.S. troops together with soldiers of the Philippine armed forces in an offensive against the Abu Sayyaf organization on the southern island of Basilan. The Bush administration justifies the intervention by claiming that Abu Sayyaf, a relatively small organization that has kidnapped and held for ransom a number of local people and foreign nationals, has links to al Qaeda.

Washington recently offered combat forces to the Philippine government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who accepted an "advisory" role for up to 650 U.S. GIs. Around 80 special forces troops have already been deployed, divided among 40 units of 120–140 Filipino soldiers. Brig. Gen. Donald Wurster, the forces' overall commander, emphasized that "there is no question that American soldiers will be there where they could become injured or killed if the Philippine element is attacked." The U.S. soldiers, who will fall under the command of U.S. and not Philippine officers, have been officially encouraged to return hostile fire.

Local officials and opposition politicians in the Philippines, a nation of 83 million people, have expressed fears that the offensive could destabilize Mindanao and other majority-Muslim southern islands, and jeopardize a cease-fire with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest of the rebel organizations in the south. They also say that the U.S. intervention might increase sympathy for Abu Sayyaf.

MILF leader Sharrif Julabbi described the situation as "volatile.... The American soldiers are not our enemies. But we would like them to stay as far away as possible from the places we have troops. Otherwise there will be a confrontation, a clash between their forces and ours." Other MILF leaders have warned that Philippine troops must gain their permission before entering their territory in pursuit of Abu Sayyaf fighters.  
 
'Negation of our self-respect'
On February 6, the Supreme Court announced that it would give the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo 10 days to justify the presence of U.S. troops. The directive followed an initiative by two lawyers, who argued before the court that the U.S. intervention violates a constitutional ban on the presence of foreign combat troops. "To unleash American GIs...even under the cover of expanding the U.S.-led war against global terror in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, is not only an unmitigated insult against the Filipino soldier but a negation of our self-respect as a people and a mockery of the Philippine constitution," the lawyers told Reuters news agency.

President Arroyo has called opponents of the U.S. intervention "terrorist lovers" and "un-Filipino." On January 26 she stated that another 2,000 U.S. troops may be involved in exercises in Luzon scheduled for later this year. Luzon is the northernmost island where the capital city is located.

"The United States may use its current military deployment in the Philippines to realign its forces towards the region," wrote Miriam Donohoe in the February 8 Irish Times. Referring to the U.S. Navy's use of ports in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines, she wrote, "At present Washington has six military hubs in the Asia-Pacific but they are all oriented towards North East Asia where the U.S. forces are positioned for a potential conflict in the Korean peninsula."

Washington is pressuring the Vietnamese government to allow the U.S. Navy access to the Cam Ranh Bay, a sheltered deepwater naval base built by Washington during the Vietnam War, which ended in the expulsion of the U.S. forces and victory for the Vietnamese revolution. A 25-year lease signed by the Vietnamese and Russian governments for use of the facilities is due to expire in 2004. Moscow has said it cannot afford to renew the agreement.

"Analysts said the Bush administration decided to elevate East Asia in U.S. military priorities before the September 11 terrorist attacks because of concerns about the rise of China, a possible Chinese attack on Taiwan, increasing instability in Southeast Asia, and extensive U.S. commercial interests in the region," wrote the International Herald Tribune.  
 
 
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