Today is still Wednesday, Janurary 7th, 2009 and it is 11:53 AM here in the Philippines.
I am seeing soemthing new on the Blogs, instead of having all "Comments" posting automatically it is now telling me "Approve Comments." Is that optional? If so, how can I turn it off because I hate censorship of any kind. Anyone that knows what to do , let me know (HINT Crystal and Dtergent since you two are Mods hahaha).
Well, I thought, that since most Filipinos do not even know what is happening in the southern part of their own country ( not their fault, but the govt's), that I would make a quick list of all the major players in this hellhole I call home.
On the govt's side, you have:
AFP = Armed Forces of the Philippines which means Navy (rarely ever worth mentioning), Marines, and Army. the Marines generally stay to the south of Mindanao, busy battling "ASG" and "JI," which I will talk about later.
There are less than 8,000 Marines in the entire nation and more than 7,000 are stationed on Jolo island. Jolo is a small island comparitively speaking, and even with that flood of armed power the govt does not control Jolo or the surrounding Sulu islands.
There is actually 2 groups of Marines on Zamboanga and Basilan but they are very small.Zamboanga is a peninsula on my island, and Basilan is attached to us in terms of govt administration but is a separate, small island.
US Army, Marines, and National Guard, most of which are stationed on Jolo, although some are on the western half of Mindanao as well. There is a clause in this nation's Constitution that strictly forbids foreign forces from ever engaging in armed conflict, either assisting the Philippine Govt or otherwise. The govt here gets around that prohibition by simply denying that it takes place. Actually, I will talk about that a bit later because it requires a bit of explanation.
Fact of the matter is, despite people saying otherwise they do engage guerillas although it is certainly not something they want to do more than the very rare occasion. August of 2007
(8/30/2007), in Baragay Bonbon, Patikul village on Jolo, they were in an outlying district assisting the 11th Marines (Ph. Marines Battalion Landing Team 11) when they were engaged by "ASG."
American gunships (copters with heavy cannons) entered into combat although both govts (US and Ph.) said that the Yanks only ferried dead and wounded from the site.
The US Task Force is biouvaced in private homes in 2 places called "Seit Lake" and "Seit Poblasion" on the eastern half of Jolo, both right on the shores of a volcanic crater lake. Beautiful place, been there actually but not in a few years. As I age I become less and less adventurous. I actually worry about Rizza too much. What would happen to her if I died?
Anyway, with all this military firepower and manpower you would think that Jolo is buttoned down and tight. it is anything but. The US personel are forbidden from even sitting in the yard of the homes that they live in. When they need supplies they have the landl-rd (stupid on their part) go into town and get them things, and heavy supplies are run from the Philippine base.
Not too long ago one of them was murdered although the case is officialy ambiguous, "Cause Unknown." The guy, a kid really, was Social Forces and just on the island. He was an expert diver, in fact that was his specialty in SF. He was found fully clothed and floating face down in the lake.
They have a PC in the house, they talk to their girls, their kids, and that is about it save Filipino TV, mostly in Tagalog/Filipino. One of my friends, a Harvard Professor was stationed there and he hated it. He is still SF but now assiged to the USMC university, and splits his time between Harvard (JFK School) and Washington DC for the Marines University. Tony Abady, great guy. I can only say his name now, since he will not be redployed outside of the US and is about to cash in his chips.
On 12/17 a Chinoy (Filipinos of Chinese descent) was kidnapped by "ASG" in Jolo City, the capital of the island, by the ASG faction under Kummander (means Commander) Albadir Parad. The Chinoy, Peter Go ( actually named Wu Xili) was on Marina St when ASG , wearing pitch perfect Ph. Army Uniforms threw him into a van and sped away. With almost 8,000 troops in total, PLUS Americans (!), ASG still kidnaps in broad daylight, in the biggest city! Go figure!
"ASG" of course is "Abu Sayyaf Group." "Abu Sayyaf" means, in Arabic, Father of the Sword Bearer" and refers to a famous Islamic warrior from about 500 years ago.
It was founded by'Abdujurak Janjalani, the son of a fisherman family on Basilan. In the late 70s oil rich Arab states, and Pakistan as well, took the southern Philippines up as their pet cause. Sending many missionaries, investing money in "madrassas" (Islamic day schools) and and conservative mosques.
Here to fore Islam had only been a very casual affair in virtually all areas of the region. With the oil money things began to change. Islam was more of an ethnic feature than a cause in and of itself. There had been Muslim guerilla forces since the late 1960s but none that carried a real Islamic message.
People like 'Abdujurak, founder of "ASG" were sent, on scholarships, to study Arabic and Qur'an in Arab and other Muslim Nations. There they met other, more radical Muslims, and were exposed to many ideas which they carried with them on their return. Some , like 'Abdujurak entered the Afghan Mujahadin guerilla war and fought the Soviets.
'Abdu met many people, such as Osama Bin Laden who would figure prominently in both his life and world history. Returning to Basilan he formed a group called "Mujahadin Commando Freedom Fighters" with fellow veterans of the Afghan struggle.
Within a year, in 1994 it was renamed "al Harakatul al Islamiyya" ("The Islamic Movement"), but because of his nom de guerre, Abu Sayyaf, the organisation was called "The Abu Sayyaf Group," or "ASG" for short.
It was in 1994 that he began getting direct funding from Laden, as well as Ramzi Youseff, the red haired Pakistani who was the brains behind the 1st World Trade Center bombing, as well as the first attempts at bombing airliners, the so called "Bojinka Plot," that was only averted when a fire in their apartment building led authorities to their bomb making materiels spread throughout their Makati (Manila) apartment.
They began kidnapping for ransom in 1993 and by 2000 this was their main form of revenue. Unfortunately for the leader, he never lived to see them reach international fame, having been killed in a 1998 engagement.
By the time of his death the organisarion had factionalised into 4 distinct branches, all largely independant of one another. 1 in Zamboanga, 1 on Basilan, 1 in Jolo and the last spread through most of the Sulu Islands.
By the time of this death the next leader of stature was his boyhood friend and fellow Afghan vet, Galib Andang who went by the name "Kummander Robot." For some reason the people of the southern Philippines love corny names. "Kummander Sexy" fighting "Kummander Macho" who in turn is fighting "Kummander Rambo" and so it goes. Sounds like a bunch of child soldiers in Liberia or Sierra Leone but that is part nad parcel of the culture here.
ASG reached its peak both in pwoer and notieriety as the new millenia neared. After 2002 it was all down hill. "Robot" was killed breaking out of prison in 2005, but he had already been eclipsed by Janjalni's younger brother Khadaffi Janjalani who controlleed both the Zamboanga and Basilan factions .
The younger brother had less commitment to juhad and much more ambition to become rich and the organisation suffered for this avarice, becoming weaker than it had ever been. Indeed, as the clock struck midnite on New Years 2006 many Analysts belived that ASG was on the way out.
Will continue...
I am seeing soemthing new on the Blogs, instead of having all "Comments" posting automatically it is now telling me "Approve Comments." Is that optional? If so, how can I turn it off because I hate censorship of any kind. Anyone that knows what to do , let me know (HINT Crystal and Dtergent since you two are Mods hahaha).
Well, I thought, that since most Filipinos do not even know what is happening in the southern part of their own country ( not their fault, but the govt's), that I would make a quick list of all the major players in this hellhole I call home.
On the govt's side, you have:
AFP = Armed Forces of the Philippines which means Navy (rarely ever worth mentioning), Marines, and Army. the Marines generally stay to the south of Mindanao, busy battling "ASG" and "JI," which I will talk about later.
There are less than 8,000 Marines in the entire nation and more than 7,000 are stationed on Jolo island. Jolo is a small island comparitively speaking, and even with that flood of armed power the govt does not control Jolo or the surrounding Sulu islands.
There is actually 2 groups of Marines on Zamboanga and Basilan but they are very small.Zamboanga is a peninsula on my island, and Basilan is attached to us in terms of govt administration but is a separate, small island.
US Army, Marines, and National Guard, most of which are stationed on Jolo, although some are on the western half of Mindanao as well. There is a clause in this nation's Constitution that strictly forbids foreign forces from ever engaging in armed conflict, either assisting the Philippine Govt or otherwise. The govt here gets around that prohibition by simply denying that it takes place. Actually, I will talk about that a bit later because it requires a bit of explanation.
Fact of the matter is, despite people saying otherwise they do engage guerillas although it is certainly not something they want to do more than the very rare occasion. August of 2007
(8/30/2007), in Baragay Bonbon, Patikul village on Jolo, they were in an outlying district assisting the 11th Marines (Ph. Marines Battalion Landing Team 11) when they were engaged by "ASG."
American gunships (copters with heavy cannons) entered into combat although both govts (US and Ph.) said that the Yanks only ferried dead and wounded from the site.
The US Task Force is biouvaced in private homes in 2 places called "Seit Lake" and "Seit Poblasion" on the eastern half of Jolo, both right on the shores of a volcanic crater lake. Beautiful place, been there actually but not in a few years. As I age I become less and less adventurous. I actually worry about Rizza too much. What would happen to her if I died?
Anyway, with all this military firepower and manpower you would think that Jolo is buttoned down and tight. it is anything but. The US personel are forbidden from even sitting in the yard of the homes that they live in. When they need supplies they have the landl-rd (stupid on their part) go into town and get them things, and heavy supplies are run from the Philippine base.
Not too long ago one of them was murdered although the case is officialy ambiguous, "Cause Unknown." The guy, a kid really, was Social Forces and just on the island. He was an expert diver, in fact that was his specialty in SF. He was found fully clothed and floating face down in the lake.
They have a PC in the house, they talk to their girls, their kids, and that is about it save Filipino TV, mostly in Tagalog/Filipino. One of my friends, a Harvard Professor was stationed there and he hated it. He is still SF but now assiged to the USMC university, and splits his time between Harvard (JFK School) and Washington DC for the Marines University. Tony Abady, great guy. I can only say his name now, since he will not be redployed outside of the US and is about to cash in his chips.
On 12/17 a Chinoy (Filipinos of Chinese descent) was kidnapped by "ASG" in Jolo City, the capital of the island, by the ASG faction under Kummander (means Commander) Albadir Parad. The Chinoy, Peter Go ( actually named Wu Xili) was on Marina St when ASG , wearing pitch perfect Ph. Army Uniforms threw him into a van and sped away. With almost 8,000 troops in total, PLUS Americans (!), ASG still kidnaps in broad daylight, in the biggest city! Go figure!
"ASG" of course is "Abu Sayyaf Group." "Abu Sayyaf" means, in Arabic, Father of the Sword Bearer" and refers to a famous Islamic warrior from about 500 years ago.
It was founded by'Abdujurak Janjalani, the son of a fisherman family on Basilan. In the late 70s oil rich Arab states, and Pakistan as well, took the southern Philippines up as their pet cause. Sending many missionaries, investing money in "madrassas" (Islamic day schools) and and conservative mosques.
Here to fore Islam had only been a very casual affair in virtually all areas of the region. With the oil money things began to change. Islam was more of an ethnic feature than a cause in and of itself. There had been Muslim guerilla forces since the late 1960s but none that carried a real Islamic message.
People like 'Abdujurak, founder of "ASG" were sent, on scholarships, to study Arabic and Qur'an in Arab and other Muslim Nations. There they met other, more radical Muslims, and were exposed to many ideas which they carried with them on their return. Some , like 'Abdujurak entered the Afghan Mujahadin guerilla war and fought the Soviets.
'Abdu met many people, such as Osama Bin Laden who would figure prominently in both his life and world history. Returning to Basilan he formed a group called "Mujahadin Commando Freedom Fighters" with fellow veterans of the Afghan struggle.
Within a year, in 1994 it was renamed "al Harakatul al Islamiyya" ("The Islamic Movement"), but because of his nom de guerre, Abu Sayyaf, the organisation was called "The Abu Sayyaf Group," or "ASG" for short.
It was in 1994 that he began getting direct funding from Laden, as well as Ramzi Youseff, the red haired Pakistani who was the brains behind the 1st World Trade Center bombing, as well as the first attempts at bombing airliners, the so called "Bojinka Plot," that was only averted when a fire in their apartment building led authorities to their bomb making materiels spread throughout their Makati (Manila) apartment.
They began kidnapping for ransom in 1993 and by 2000 this was their main form of revenue. Unfortunately for the leader, he never lived to see them reach international fame, having been killed in a 1998 engagement.
By the time of his death the organisarion had factionalised into 4 distinct branches, all largely independant of one another. 1 in Zamboanga, 1 on Basilan, 1 in Jolo and the last spread through most of the Sulu Islands.
By the time of this death the next leader of stature was his boyhood friend and fellow Afghan vet, Galib Andang who went by the name "Kummander Robot." For some reason the people of the southern Philippines love corny names. "Kummander Sexy" fighting "Kummander Macho" who in turn is fighting "Kummander Rambo" and so it goes. Sounds like a bunch of child soldiers in Liberia or Sierra Leone but that is part nad parcel of the culture here.
ASG reached its peak both in pwoer and notieriety as the new millenia neared. After 2002 it was all down hill. "Robot" was killed breaking out of prison in 2005, but he had already been eclipsed by Janjalni's younger brother Khadaffi Janjalani who controlleed both the Zamboanga and Basilan factions .
The younger brother had less commitment to juhad and much more ambition to become rich and the organisation suffered for this avarice, becoming weaker than it had ever been. Indeed, as the clock struck midnite on New Years 2006 many Analysts belived that ASG was on the way out.
Will continue...