Word: filipino
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...crew members' bodies had been recovered and seven more were unaccounted for. That this second front in the war on terror has turned costly was to be expected. The U.S. is helping Philippine soldiers stomp out Abu Sayyaf, a kidnap-extortion gang on Basilan holding two Americans and one Filipino hostage. The gang once had ties to al-Qaeda, notably through Ramzi Yousef, who tried destroying the World Trade Center in February 1993 and two years later planned the Manila-based Bojinka Plot to blow 11 airliners out of the sky over the Pacific. Since then, Abu Sayyaf's links...
...Islamic extremists. The six-month mission, Washington?s first outside Afghanistan, will deploy about 600 U.S. personnel, including 150 special forces, to train and advise Philippine soldiers fighting Abu Sayyaf guerrillas. The group has been linked to the al-Qaeda network and has held two U.S. missionaries and a Filipino nurse hostage for eight months. ZIMBABWE Another Nail in Democracy?s Coffin As March presidential elections approach, Zimbabwe?s Parliament approved a bill that essentially gags independent journalists. Although clauses that barred criticism of President Robert Mugabe - who is fighting for his political survival after nearly 22 years in power...
Plenty of opposition politicians and ordinary Filipinos think Arroyo is being too welcoming to U.S. troops. Senior Filipino lawmakers question the legality of an "exercise" that brushes close to the constitutional ban on foreign combat and are worried that it is the first step toward re-establishing U.S. bases. Some analysts charge Arroyo with exaggerating Abu Sayyaf's strength in order to grab more American aid. And Muslim leaders in the southern zone fear the U.S. presence will reactivate mainstream separatist outfits...
...funded by front organizations linked with al Qaeda, and had hosted 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef during his stay in the Philippines. Yousef, who had trained with Janjalani in a camp at Khost, hoped to use Abu Sayyaf operatives to attack U.S. airliners in the Philippines. The Filipino organization's longstanding affection for the Pakistani terrorist is reflected in the fact that they typically demand Yousef's release from prison in the U.S. as one of their conditions for freeing Western hostages. After Janjalani was killed in a clash with the Philippine army in 1998, Abu Sayyaf...
...presence of U.S. personnel in the Philippines is not uncomplicated, however. The withdrawal of the U.S. from its longtime naval base at Subic Bay and Clark Airfield in 1991 came after decades of Filipino nationalist pressure, and inviting American troops back in remains a sensitive decision for President Gloria Arroyo. Her insistence that U.S. forces will be limited to advisory and support roles may reflect a concern that her political rivals may try to exploit nationalist sentiments against her over a renewed American presence. The Maoist New People's Army whose four-decade insurgency in the central Philippines continues...