Philippines a model for counterinsurgency

[unhappycamper]

Philippine soldiers walk with U.S. Sgt. Scott Didion on Basilan island. The militaries have worked together since 2001.


Philippines a model for counterinsurgency
By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

BASILAN, Philippines — Standing on a hilltop camp carved out of dense jungle, Lt. Cmdr. Craig Replogle, a U.S. Navy SEAL, peered at a distant hill where the Philippine military had recently overrun militant camps.

"We continually monitor where they are," he said of Abu Sayyaf, a once-powerful insurgent group linked to al-Qaeda.

Though not widely known, the Philippines once threatened to become a hub of al-Qaeda. In the 1990s, before Osama bin Laden became a household name in America, top al-Qaeda leaders such as 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were in this Pacific island chain developing ambitious plans to strike at America and the West.

Since 9/11, the small U.S. contingent here has given the Philippine military the tools and know-how to decimate Abu Sayyaf on its own and have created what some military experts say is a model for how to stop Islamic insurgencies before they require an invasion force to defeat.

"Nobody understands it better than the soldiers that have experience in the Philippines," said Army Brig. Gen. Edward Reeder, commander of the Army's Special Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. "They understand counterinsurgency.



unhappycamper comment: A hundred years later, and we are still doing the same shit. Why do you think the .45 caliber handgun was created?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1911A1

In response to problems encountered by American units fighting Moro guerrillas during the Philippine-American War, the then-standard Colt M1892 revolver, in .38 Long Colt, was found to be unsuitable for the rigors of jungle warfare, particularly in terms of stopping power, as the Moros had very high battle morale and frequently used drugs to inhibit the sensation of pain.<4> The U.S. Army briefly reverted to using the M1873 single-action revolver in .45 Colt caliber, which had been standard during the last decades of the 19th century; the heavier bullet was found to be more effective against charging tribesmen.<5> The problems with the .38 Long Colt led to the Army shipping new single action .45 Colt revolvers to the Philippines in 1902. It also prompted the then-Chief of Ordnance, General William Crozier, to authorize further testing for a new service pistol.<5>