Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Saturday
More U.S. Soldiers Arrive in the Philippines
Aired February 16, 2002 - 18:06 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: More U.S. special forces have arrived in the Philippines to join a growing American force on a new front in the campaign against terrorism.
And CNN's Jonathan Aiken is joining us now from the Pentagon for the very latest on that. Good to see you, Jonathan.
JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And you too, Catherine.
And what we're talking here is the largest buildup of U.S. forces in the war of terrorism outside of Afghanistan. Thirty members of the U.S. special forces teams don't sound like much. They're arriving this weekend, they're being flown in from Okinawa, Japan. But they're going to be joining about 660 other U.S. troops on a group of islands in the Philippines, part of the Philippine chain and Mindanao, in a town called Zambuonga.
What these troops are going to be doing is, they're going to be spending the next six months training and advising Philippine soldiers and also taking part in war games, the goal here being not only training and advice but also to help the Philippines' military crush a Muslim insurgent group known as Abu Sayyaf.
Now, Abu Sayyaf is a group that has been around for some time. They claim to be a group seeking independence for a cluster of predominantly Muslim islands, which are located at the southern end of the Philippine Island chain. Others say really the group is all about money more than power.
The government in Manila has been after them for some time. They've put 5,000 soldiers on Basilan island, which is the home base of Abu Sayyaf and a small island located directly across a small strait from where the U.S. troops are landing this weekend.
For the past year, the Philippines have been basically playing hit and run with about 100 Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, so they are a small group, but they are, in fact, a violent group. They're not afraid to use violence in their search for money. In fact, they have conducted kidnappings and ransoms, and they are known to hold several hostages know, a Filipino nurse among them, and also these two people, two Americans from Wichita, Kansas, Martin and Gracia Burnham. They are U.S. missionaries, and they were last seen in the control of Abu Sayyaf on Basilan Island about a month ago. And we should tell you that the Pentagon tells us that as long as these war games and this project is under way for the next six months, U.S. forces will only be able to use their weapons in self-defense, but also already today on Basilan Island, a group of American soldiers outfitted with assault rifles, bulletproof vests, and night vision goggles have already arrived, accompanied by Philippine troops, Catherine.
So it looks like a long stay for advice, training, and some war games.
CALLAWAY: Right, a long and dangerous stay.
And moving from one dangerous mission to another, is the Pentagon saying anything about what happened in Afghanistan with the gunman firing on the peacekeepers there?
AIKEN: No formal comment from the Pentagon, because U.S. troops are not involved in any way with the international peacekeeping force trying to maintain order in Kabul. That is primarily a British-led operation. There are no U.S. soldiers involved.
What happened there was that in the early morning hours Saturday, a group of British soldiers at an observation post in Kabul were fired upon by someone in a car driving by. None of the British soldiers were hurt. They returned fire. I don't know if they hit anyone specifically, though there was a body found in a nearby house.
Just what the connection is between those two fact not entirely clear, but again, the point should be raised that U.S. troops are not a part of the international peacekeeping force. That is a force led predominantly by the British, and designed basically to maintain law and order in Kabul as the interim government of Hamid Karzai gets its feet settled into the ground and are able to get a local constabulary set up and under way.
CALLAWAY: CNN's Jonathan Aiken at the Pentagon. Thanks, Jonathan.
AIKEN: Sure thing.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
