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US Troops In Phillipines

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  • 26-01-2002 4:23pm
    #1
    Fidelis
    Registered Users Posts: 2,425 ✭✭✭


    From the Irish Times.

    "President Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines yesterday won crucial backing for US troops to join military operations in the southern Philippines against the Muslim Abu Sayyaf group"

    The article explains that the US soldiers will only train the Phillipines and not engage in combat. I also read that the US has linked the Abu Sayyaf group with Osama Bin Laden :rolleyes:

    This coming at the same time that Bush announced his call on overall military spending to rise by 15 per cent or $48 billion.


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    #2
    Sand
    Registered Users Posts: 12,524 ✭✭✭✭Sand


    Foreign troops are specifically forbidden from operating in the phillipines by virtue of the constitution. It was hard enough to find a loophoole to allow them to act as advisers. I dont think combat is a possibility given that the terrorists in question are estimated at being only 80 men strong, and the US is training 1200 phillipine troops to hunt them.

    The groups is connected to Bin Laden indirectly. Its founder left the Phillipines to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan where he met Bin Laden. Bin Ladens brother in law later provided the funds to set up the terroriust group which has the stated aim for creating a Islamic state in the South China seas, but which has mainly indulged in murder and ransoming foreign tourists.

    Its not a very important campaign in the "war against terror", but that doesnt mean it shouldnt be done. It is also a way of keeping people on a war footing while Bush builds up his milatary for their next major operation. 8 years of Clinton has left the US milatary in a relatively sorry state. Apparently the operations in Afghanistan stretched US logistics to near breaking point. Despite all the talk, invading Iraq is apparently not feasible given the state of the milatary Clinton left for Bush.


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    #3
    The Gopher
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,004 ✭✭✭The Gopher


    I think the US troops are there merely to live up to the promises that the war wouldnt end with Afghanistan.Exactly what special training can the Americans give?Im sure the Filipinos know well how to engage in a gun battle-after all its an army.If anything the Fipinos could be better at ground fighting than Americans.Their last large scale ground combat was during the Vietnam war[beofre you say Desert Storm only a little more than 100 were killed there.The Iraqis were very quick to surrender and they gave the US very little resistance.]


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    #4
    Boston
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,163 ✭✭✭✭Boston


    sounds alot like what they said jsut before nam, a war in the pjillipines wont be anywhere as simpel as afgan.


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    #5
    Sand
    Registered Users Posts: 12,524 ✭✭✭✭Sand


    I know Boston cant read this so he will never know that they said a war in afghanistan wouldnt be as simple as a war in the Persian Gulf. Not that the US is planning to fight one in the first place.

    The last major firefight the US was involved in was the battle of mogadishu afaik. A ratio of roughly 50 dead enemies for every dead friendly isnt bad at all. In any case the US strategy is no longer based on ground combat but rather air power. Like you said, Iraq didnt put up much of a ground fight precisely because of the US airpower which levelled their defences.

    The special training has to do with equipment that the US is providing the 1200 troops with, specificially to enable them to hunt for the terrorists effectively at night.


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