http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006143225
Group Charges U.S. Troops Engaged Al-Qaida Linked Philippine Insurgents January 15, 2007 11:29 a.m. EST Komfie Manalo - All Headline News Correspondent Manila, Philippines (AHN) - A leftist organization in the Philippines has accused Washington of violating the nation's constitution, as it alleged that U.S. troops have taken part in combat operations against guerrillas with ties to the al-Qaida terror network in southern Philippines. But U.S. Embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop denied the allegations and said no U.S. troops have been involved in any military operations in the Philippines. Lussenhop said, according to AP, "Visiting U.S. troops in the Philippines advise, assist, share information with their Philippine counterparts, but they do not engage in combat and they have no direct role in combat operations. Any combat operations are 100 percent Filipino." Herbert Docena of Focus on the Global South cited a series of U.S. military writings, doctrines and eyewitness accounts to corroborate his claim and called for an independent probe to establish if U.S. troops have taken part in any military actions in the Philippines in direct violation of the constitution. Several hundred American troops have been stationed in the Philippines since 2002 to provide training and assistance to Filipino troops in hunting down Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, believed to have ties with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida. U.S. troops were also providing training to local troops in their hunt for members of the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists in Mindanao. Lussenhop said the number of U.S. Special Forces in the Philippines average "no more than a few hundred at any one time." He added that the American facilities and camps used by the U.S. troops were only temporary. Docena said his group interviewed eyewitnesses who claimed seeing U.S. troops near hostilities, operating military equipment, defusing land mines and performing other war-related activities. The unmanned U.S. aircraft that crashed last year while conducting surveillance over a hostile area was operated by an American soldier, Docena claimed. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
