February 8, 2002 A Safe Place for a War By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF AMP CABUNBATA, Philippines
This steamy, sullen jungle island of Basilan is becoming the next front in America's war on terror, and everybody is getting ready for the 660 American troops who are beginning to arrive in the area.
Muslim fighters are sending their wives away, out of respect for American military prowess. Philippine soldiers are angling for new laser targeting gear, out of respect for American technology. And bars are busy recruiting teenage girls as "entertainers," out of respect for American libido.
But we've been had. This new deployment of troops isn't really about fighting international terrorism, as the Bush administration insists (and perhaps believes, which may be worse).
Anyone who comes here to the jungles of Basilan, home to the Abu Sayyaf movement that we're supposed to destroy, discovers pretty quickly that Abu Sayyaf isn't a militant Islamic terror group. It's simply a gang of about 60 brutal thugs.
"It is clear that they're ordinary criminals, unlike the Taliban, who fought for a cause," said Capt. Harold Cabunoc, commander of the Philippine forces at Basilan's Camp Cabunbata, where about a dozen American Special Operations troops will soon be based (most of the American troops will stay on safer ground off Basilan). "These guys just kidnap for money. They're just common criminals."
In the early 1990's, Abu Sayyaf had aims of carving out an Islamic state in the south of this mostly Roman Catholic country. But Abu Sayyaf soon degenerated into another of the gangs that have made kidnapping one of the Philippines' leading service industries.
Abu Sayyaf has been asking for $2 million ransom in exchange for a Kansas missionary couple, Martin and Gracia Burnham (there are signs that we could all be celebrating their release very soon).
In short, Abu Sayyaf has perfected the art of extorting money from foreigners. And now President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo seems to be learning the art as well. She seized upon the opportunity created by 9/11 to portray Abu Sayyaf as international terrorists, accepted an offer by President Bush to eradicate them, and promptly won $100 million in fresh American military aid.
I have a grudging admiration for Mrs. Arroyo's shrewdness. Perhaps if New York City wants to get the assistance that the Bush administration promised it after 9/11 it should demand urgent help crushing "international terrorists." If the Philippines can get $100 million because of a gang of 60 crooks, think how much New York City is entitled to!
When I asked President Arroyo whether Abu Sayyaf really counted as a terrorist group, she acknowledged that in recent years there had been no proven links to Al Qaeda. "It doesn't matter if they're connected with Al Qaeda," she added, asserting that Abu Sayyaf kidnappers were terrorists because they instilled terror.
Oh? I didn't press her aggressively on that definition of terrorism. Considering how politicians view journalists, I thought I might be labeled a terrorist.
Normally I'm thrilled by American efforts to provide security abroad, but this one makes me nervous. Sure, Basilan will be better off once Abu Sayyaf is stamped out, but the Philippine authorities have already reduced the number of Abu Sayyaf fighters here from 600 three years ago. The group would have been extinguished soon even without the complication of American help.
Meanwhile, the American presence is inflaming the sensitivities of the Muslim minority in the Philippines. In Manila, I dropped by a Muslim slum and some residents were venomous as they condemned the arrival of the American troops.
On Basilan, one danger is that the American troops will brush against an important rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and disrupt the peace process between the front and the Philippine government.
Beyond that, the American deployment here seems little more than a propaganda ploy, saying less about terrorism than about politics in Manila and Washington.
Mrs. Arroyo has astutely used the new partnership with President Bush to shore up her previously wobbly presidency. And the Bush administration has found a safe place to continue the war on terrorism, even if a closer look suggests that isn't exactly what it is.
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