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CNN Live Saturday

War on Terrorism Takes American Troops to the Philippines

Aired January 26, 2002 - 22:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: The war on terrorism is taking American troops to a new front. More than 100 U.S. soldiers are now in the Philippines. They're laying the groundwork for a larger force of about 600. And they will be there to conduct joint training exercises with local fighters and are not supposed to be involved in combat. But they, of course, will be in close proximity to a terrorist group that may be connected to al Qaeda.

Joining us now for some expert insight into this new operation and to other developments out of Afghanistan today is CNN military analyst, retired general David Grange.

General, thanks for being with us on this Saturday night.

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Good evening.

CALLAWAY: Let's talk about this delicate mission that the U.S. is now involved in, in the Philippines. There is a constitution there in the Philippines which prohibits foreign fighters to fight -- foreign fighters to be on soil there. They're there on the visiting forces agreement. What happens if these U.S. troops are there and Abu Sayyaf or one of the other groups that have reported links to al Qaeda fire upon these troops? What kind of guidelines are these troops under now, as they move into the Philippines?

GRANGE: Well, the situation happens like this. Our soldiers will have the right to fire back. And sure those kind of things have been discussed, but we're there to train and advise, provide intelligence, helicopter support, other types of equipment integration that they may need in this increased effort against the terrorist guerrilla forces against the Filipino government.

You know, this fight's been going on for quite some time. And they haven't made much success. And hopefully, the combination of U.S. help with the Filipino army will make a difference.

CALLAWAY: What exactly will the U.S military be doing there in the Philippines?

GRANGE: Well, mainly it's just advising on tactics and techniques, and providing some more technological, advanced capability. Like I said earlier, like intelligence as an example. But some -- maybe some better techniques on how to eliminate this force or capture this force. And it's a tough issue because no, it's not adjacent to another country like South Vietnam was to North Vietnam or Laos. It's, you know, hundreds of hundreds of violence -- jungle, rough terrain.

And probably more importantly, you have a Muslim sympathetic populace, that helps the guerrilla element to some extent, against the government. So that's a tough one to resolve.

CALLAWAY: You mentioned Vietnam. Some parts of this are reminiscent of the situation in Vietnam, but you have to be concerned about the safety of these 600 troops that are moving into that region for the reasons that you just mentioned. Is the U.S. military prepared for what could happen?

GRANGE: Well, I believe so. There's no doubt the soldiers understand the risks involved. They are in harm's way. It's a dangerous situation. I had a good friend killed in the Philippines several years ago, that was an ex-POW from Vietnam. And that was up in Manila.

I mean, it can happen. And they understand that. And if the soldiers need additional support because the hostilities increase, I'm sure that we'll provide that and work that with the Filipino government.

CALLAWAY: Let's change subjects here and talk a little bit about the situation in Guantanamo Bay and the classification of the detainees, possibly being called POWs. What are your thoughts on that? And would that, at all, change the way the military treats these detainees?

GRANGE: You know, I listened to the earlier piece that we had on. I think it's prudent to call them detainees right now, until some of these other issues are resolved. It has to do with being able to charge some with a crime or not. And you know, their POW status, it doesn't give you the flexibility to do that. And I would think that we would want as much flexibility as possible and to resolve some of these complex situations.

I mean, we know some of these Taliban, al Qaeda operatives are citizens of some of the allied countries that are working with us over in Afghanistan. So I think that's going to move a little quicker than people think, but it takes a while. Now they're not going to -- they're not in Guantanamo Bay if they're just normal troopers for the al Qaeda. They're there because of initial interrogations. They obviously are a little higher priority. So that's why they're in that location.

And I think they're getting treated very well. As many people have said, better in a lot of cases than soldiers, as I recall myself or my soldiers in many situations.

CALLAWAY: What do you think is eventually going to happen to the detainees? Whether or not they're classified as POWs or not? Are they going to be released back to Afghanistan?

GRANGE: You know, what's really interested on this is, you know, as was stated earlier, even if they're called POWs, you keep them, unless they're seriously injured, until the hostility is over.

CALLAWAY: Well, that's going to be difficult to declare.

GRANGE: Absolutely, because it's not just Afghanistan. The al Qaeda network is worldwide. And this is a war globally against terrorism, that could be a long time. I think one thing to be concerned about is when they are released and they go back to their respective countries, what's their attitude against us in the future, which I would not think would be very nice?

CALLAWAY: If, and we just heard John Zarrella's report, that some of the Taliban and al Qaeda are indeed trying to organize, while they're in prison, not surprising to you?

GRANGE: Not at all. You know, this is a technique of all prisoners. They communicate through different means, tap codes, different items of materials that they have. And I'm sure that the people that are guarding these detainees are quite aware of those techniques. But some of it, they may be able to play out of it because you learn some stuff about who the emerging leaders are, which really were the leaders elsewhere. So some of the information can be obtained from that.

CALLAWAY: You know, general, I have to ask you this before you go. And I asked Barry Pollack this. This is the year 2002. And the situation is a lot different than in World War II. Should there be some -- should this be re-examined in situations like this, now that we do have terrorist groups as part of our new world?

GRANGE: Well, probably so to some extent, but the Geneva Convention is a very good baseline for countries to follow. And if people are treated humanely, I mean that's probably 80, 90 percent of it. And so, yes, there's probably some modification that has to be looked at. But again, to get everybody together worldwide to do that is tough.

CALLAWAY: Yes, it is. All right, General David Grange, thank you very much for being with us on this Saturday night. We appreciate it.

GRANGE: Thank you.

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