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To: Dayuhan who wrote (45947)	5/20/2004 10:23:50 PM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 794126

An op-ed piece of mine on the current, and somewhat disturbing, state of the Abu Sayyaf is supposed to be in Friday's International Herald Tribune. Any chance you could give us a link when it appears? Or perhaps you have a digitized copy you could post here.

To: Dayuhan who wrote (45947)	5/20/2004 10:24:41 PM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 794126

Hey, hey, it must be Friday already!>>Terrorism in the Philippines MANILA Abu Sayyaf, one of Asia's best known and least understood terrorist groups, is mounting a comeback. Widely dismissed as a spent force, the group has returned to the headlines in a series of incidents suggesting that the group is changing its tactics, renewing links with other extremist groups and targeting Manila. . Abu Sayyaf has traditionally operated near its base on the southern Philippine islands of Basilan and Jolo. Until recently it has been driven mainly by profit, specializing in kidnapping for ransom. Its heyday was in 2000 and 2001, when a string of kidnappings drew millions of dollars in ransom payments. In response, the Philippine military forced the group underground and killed or captured several faction commanders. By the end of 2003, the head of Abu Sayyaf, Khadafy Janjalani, was hiding in the remote interior of southwestern Mindanao, a hotbed of separatist insurgency dominated by the 15,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or MILF. . Shortly after this relocation, a spate of abortive attacks involving known Abu Sayyaf members occurred in Manila, with authorities claiming to have averted a "Madrid-level attack" with a series of arrests. . Central Mindanao has emerged as a major headache in Asia's war on terror. Local officials and MILF commanders regularly do business with each other, and with terrorists and bandits. Neither the MILF nor the Philippine government can claim complete control over their representatives in the area. . This anarchic region has become a training base for the Southeast Asian terror organization Jemaah Islamiyah and a refuge for outlaws like Janjalani. It has also become an incubator for new terror groups. The Republik Persatuan Islam Indonesia, a radical splinter faction of Jemaah Islamiyah, is reportedly composed of Mindanao veterans. Now a core group of Abu Sayyaf extremists, possibly operating under the name Al Harakatul Al-Islamiyah, or Islamic Movement, appears to have adopted central Mindanao as a base and to have aimed terrorist operations at Manila. . Philippine officials have shown little concern at the transformation. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared that Abu Sayyaf "can no longer resuscitate itself under other guises or names." Such optimism may be legitimate. The strength of the Abu Sayyaf has declined dramatically. The new core group has yet to stage a confirmed attack, and the arrests in Manila, believed to have been based on U.S.-supplied information, suggest that the government has good intelligence on its activities. . Complacency, though, would be inappropriate. An Abu Sayyaf successor group reduced to its ideological core, pursuing terror rather than profit and forming links with militants to the south and radical Islamic converts based on the island of Luzon, could become a major threat. Officials may be excused for hoping for the best, but they must still prepare for the worst. . Intelligence and police work are essential but the terrorists cannot be driven out of Mindanao without military force. The use of American troops would be neither legal nor necessary: Philippine forces, with American aid and training, are capable of defeating any opposing force and establishing physical control over the area. What has been lacking in the past, and what is needed in the future, is the will to implement the reforms needed to make such control last. . The Philippine government can neither drive terrorists out of Mindanao nor protect Manila from terrorism until it applies the full force of the law not only to terrorists and bandits, but also to officials guilty of collusion, corruption and the use of public power for personal gain. Without effective government and the rule of law the terrorist influence cannot be eliminated. . The United States can help to provide the means to achieve control and the will needed to translate control into reform. Ultimately, though, this necessary task can only be achieved by the Philippine government. . Steven Rogers is a journalist who has been based in the Philippines for more than 20 years. << iht.com Excellent, Steven!

To: Dayuhan who wrote (45947)	5/20/2004 10:29:18 PM
From: JohnM	Respond to of 794126

Just read your piece, so kindly posted by CB. Nice piece. Congrats.

To: Dayuhan who wrote (45947)	5/20/2004 10:29:46 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 794126

An op-ed piece of mine on the current, and somewhat disturbing, state of the Abu Sayyaf is supposed to be in Friday's International Herald Tribune. Congratulations! This keeps up, you won't be posting with the likes of us. The latest I spotted on that little band was this. Abu Sayyaf is the smaller of the Islamist groups fighting to establish an Iranian-style Islamic state in Mindanao, an island in the southern Philippines. The Abu Sayyaf group, whose name means, “Bearer of the Sword,” split from the Moro National Liberation Front in 1991. Although based almost exclusively in the southern islands, Abu Sayyaf has ties to a number of Islamic fundamentalist organizations around the world, including Osama bin Ladin’s al-Qaida and Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted of organizing the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. Abduragak Abubakar Janjalani, the former leader of the group, like Osama bin Ladin, was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. Abu Sayyaf has a membership of approximately several hundreds of young Islamic radicals, many of whom were recruited from univerities and high schools.

To: Dayuhan who wrote (45947)	5/21/2004 3:31:09 AM
From: KLP	Respond to of 794126

Congrats Steven...good piece! Stay safe....(some folks there might not want to hear the truth...)