Philippine gen.: U.S. should keep troops here

[unhappycamper]

Philippine gen.: U.S. should keep troops here
By Jim Gomez - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 4, 2008 13:03:35 EST

MANILA, Philippines — The next U.S. president should keep American counterterrorism troops in the southern Philippines, where they have helped prevent the emergence of a key base for al-Qaida-linked militants, a military official said Tuesday.

The Philippine government expects no major changes in its close ties with Washington, whoever wins the U.S. elections. But some Filipino analysts have speculated that a victory by Democrat Barack Obama could lead to a reduction or even a withdrawal of U.S. troops from the southern Mindanao region, where the Philippine military has been battling a decades-long Islamist insurgency.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, who heads the 8,000-strong Philippine marines at the front line of counterterrorism efforts in Mindanao, said militants linked to the Abu Sayyaf, which is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Washington, still pose a threat despite U.S.-backed offensives that have crippled the militants and destroyed their strongholds.

The U.S. military’s noncombat assistance, particularly the rapid provision of tactical intelligence, has helped prevent terror attacks and training and has neutralized Abu Sayyaf leaders and their Indonesian cohorts from the regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, Dolorfino said.

“This partnership has been crucial in containing transnational terrorist threats,” Dolorfino told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_philippines_110408/%2e