Word: southerning
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Just before dawn, residents of a small village on Jolo Island, in the southern Philippines, were woken by footsteps and muffled hoofbeats. Peeking out in the dim light, they saw dozens of heavily armed men marching past their houses. One was on horseback. With a pang of fear, some villagers recognized him: Khaddafy Janjalani, leader of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group and one of Southeast Asia's most wanted men. They had seen his face in posters advertising a $5 million reward for his capture...
...Founded in the late 1980s by Filipino Muslims who fought with al-Qaeda during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Abu Sayyaf (Arabic for "Father of the Sword") aims to create an Islamic state in the southern islands of the mostly Catholic Philippines. Its bombings, kidnappings and assassinations have killed some 300 people and wounded hundreds more. Abu Sayyaf first caught the world's attention in 2000, when it used speedboats to snatch 21 tourists from a Malaysian beach resort within reach of Jolo. The following year it seized 20 more people from a resort on Palawan, in the southwest Philippines...
...tactic of the security forces is identifying the terrorist group's leaders and picking them off one by one. The walls of military and police headquarters across the southern Philippines feature posters displaying photos of the most-wanted Abu Sayyaf and J.I. members - and the prices on their heads. Rewards of up to $5 million are funded by the U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice Program, which has paid out over $10 million so far in the Philippines. It relies heavily on local informants like Chief. Thirteen of the 24 most-wanted faces on the latest chart are stamped...
...Australian forces ended their mission in southern Iraq this week and began heading home, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd praised the troops but said the decision to send them had been a mistake. The government of his predecessor, John Howard, had joined the war against Saddam Hussein's regime "without a full and proper assessment ... of its consequences." At Tallil air base, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Websdane's praise for his soldiers was unqualified: "You should be proud of your achievements...
...Pakistan are more central to the war on terrorism and that our resources in those countries would bring a higher rate of return. Given that fundamental difference, a joint trip to Iraq--and only Iraq--concedes McCain's key assumption. Perhaps Obama should counter by proposing that they visit southern Afghanistan, where America's war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda has been crippled for years by the diversion of troops and attention to Iraq...