Front-line Vets

The article below is from The Economist newspaper. The Economizer's comments follow below after the mark (***).

American forces in the Philippines:
Drawing lessons from a rare success

Jan 28th 2010 | JOLO | From The Economist print edition

A force of up to 600 American soldiers, many of them counter-insurgency specialists, has been training elite Filipino troops to fight militant groups ever since [2002]. American gadgets, tactics and intelligence seem to be helping. Fifteen of the 24 names on a Philippine most-wanted poster have been crossed out, either captured or killed. Foreign troops are forbidden to fight, so combat duties fall to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The Americans keep busy with aid projects designed to woo locals in areas thick with militants. These days, there are fewer of them. The AFP estimates that Abu Sayyaf, a group notorious for bombings and beheadings, has fewer than 400 fighters on Jolo and Basilan islands. General Benjamin Dolorfino of the AFP boasts the group can no longer stage attacks on Mindanao itself.

American military thinkers wonder if there are lessons for other parts of the world where al-Qaeda lurks. With a modest outlay here, the Pentagon has dealt a blow to Islamist radicals and sharpened the skills of an ally. American troops are overstretched, expensive and make attractive targets for jihadists, so it makes sense to train other forces to fight where they can.

America, however, is unlikely to find other partners as perfect as the AFP, which is modelled on America’s armed forces. Filipino officers speak English, know and admire America, once the colonial power, and can bond with their comrades over beer and karaoke. Try that in Yemen.

Critics gripe that the AFP has been slow to finish off Abu Sayyaf because it wants American military aid to continue. That may be true. But a greater distraction from the campaign in Mindanao is the persistence of another, far broader insurgency. Ask a Filipino officer which group poses the gravest security threat and the answer is probably the communist New People’s Army, which has been fighting across much of the Philippines since 1969. America has not only to train its ally but also to convince it that jihadists are the real foe.


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COMMENT:

Soldiers live and die by bravery, but surely this is bolder: first, The Economist patronizes the Filipino soldiers, then accuses their leadership of betrayal, and then tries to impose a pro-American strategy upon them.

Let's try to answer these points one by one. On the first point, that Filipinos are the Americans' little brown buddies, the condescending attitude of this British newspaper does not merit a reply; let's leave it at that.

On the second point, that the AFP are deliberately sabotaging their own security just to keep the Americans longer, The Economist does not adduce a shred of evidence in support of its bald assertion. Instead, it offers snide remarks aplenty. The fact is that the AFP have been fighting the Abu Sayyaf since the 1990s: why would they want the fight to continue? Just to keep themselves busy? This unprincipled speculation does not even have courtesy to follow logic.

And finally, the New People's Army IS the biggest threat to Philippine security. It is motivated by Marxism and Maoism, two ideas from the 19th and 20th centuries that have been proven to be nothing more than a misapprehension of reality and an offense against civilization. In the 21st century, its members have descended from Marx’s intellectual pretension to extortion of every kind of business, from multinationals to the small sari-sari store all over the archipelago, unlike the Muslim insurgency and the Abu Sayyaf banditry which are confined to southern Mindanao. In terms of geography and economics, which indeed is the bigger threat? That which runs up and down the country and directly harms the livelihood of ordinary Filpinos? Or one that is confined to a corner of Mindanao and a minority religion?

To the Americans, the answer is clear: they are here because of the link between al-Qaeda and the Muslim insurgents. It is in their national interest to pursue the al-Qaeda and its associates wherever in the world they may be operating. But is it also in the Philippines’ national interest for the AFP to drop everything and just follow the Gringos around?

The Philippines has not only to enlighten their ally but also to convince her that jihadists are America’s real foe . . . and that the extortionist, communist, terrorist NPA is the Filipinos’ real enemy.