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CNN Live At Daybreak

U.S. May Face Tough Situations in Philippines

Aired February 04, 2002 - 06:36   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. troops will be helping the Philippine military in jungle war against the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf, but as CNN's Maria Ressa reports, the U.S. might be getting into more than it expects.

MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Patrols like this go into the jungle for anywhere from three to 10 days. This is the terrain, sweltering heat, tropical insects, foliage so thick you can't see two feet in front of you. They are alert because at any moment this can happen.

The targets know where gunfire is coming from, you watch your back, you watch your sides. There's three, no four, scream two soldiers. They move ahead spraying gunfire for safety at enemies they can barely see. Finally they break into what looks like a makeshift camp. They think it's an advance team of the al Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf cooking breakfast for the main group.

One person is hit. Like nearly every armed man you meet on Basilan Island, he's wearing army fatigues. The only way you know he's not a soldier, he's wearing slippers.

These are the men on the front lines, Marine patrols like this and the elite scout Rangers. Few, if any, U.S. military units have the combat experience of the Rangers. Training is so savage it's considered acceptable for six percent of the candidates to die.

Now there is the light reaction company, the LRC. Seventy strong, these volunteers, many former scout rangers were secretly trained and outfitted by Delta Force last year.

LT. ROY CIMATU, SOUTHERN COMMAND CHIEF: When our soldiers are watching, the international (ph) parade with their equipment, with their communications, with their night-vision goggles. They are the source of envy of our soldiers.

RESSA: But that won't prevent mistakes like this from happening. The men these soldiers thought were Abu Sayyaf are actually civilian volunteers armed by the military.

(on camera): This is some of the equipment American soldiers have brought here to the Southern Command headquarters in Zamboanga. This is where they are for now, but over the next few weeks, about 160 U.S. Special Forces will join combat patrols of the island of Basilan. Once there, like their Filipino counterparts, they will find it difficult to tell friend from foe. But unlike the Filipinos, they made well become the main targets of the many armed groups there.

Maria Ressa, CNN, Zamboanga City, the Philippines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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