U.S. SF to train Filipinos against insurgents

[2RHPZ]

July 6, 2004

BY JIM GOMEZ

MANILA, Philippines -- U.S. forces will provide guerrilla-style combat training to Filipino soldiers battling Muslim and communist insurgents and al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah militants, officials said Monday.

The anti-terror maneuvers from July 26 to Aug. 14 will bring U.S. Special Forces trainers to Carmen in North Cotabato province, a new southern training ground for the Americans. Muslim separatists and marxist rebels are active in the region, military officials said.

Defense Undersecretary Edgardo Batenga said the counterterrorism training in Carmen would be attended by more than 150 Filipino soldiers and more than 20 American counterparts, and would be confined to military camps and areas. The Americans will not engage in any combat operations, military officials said.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main Muslim separatist group holding peace talks with the government which operates in North Cotabato, will be notified of the maneuvers to avoid accidental encounters, Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.

A separate group of American troops will provide counterterrorism training and undertake civic projects with about 800 Filipino troops in a program called Bayanihan, or ''lending hands,'' in southern Zamboanga city from July to December, military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero said.

[2RHPZ]

The FBI plans to train Saudi intelligence

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The FBI plans to train Saudi intelligence in an effort to bolster its capabilities in the kingdom's war against Al Qaida.

An FBI team has been reviewing the requirements of Saudi intelligence and security agencies, U.S. officials said. The team has been touring several Saudi facilities and assessing the strengths of the kingdom's security and intelligence community.

Over the next year, officials said, the FBI would host an unspecified number of members of the Saudi intelligence community. They said the Saudis would be invited as part of a U.S. effort to improve the law enforcement effort of Islamic allies of the United States.

"We need to bring people from other countries to work with us here jointly, whether it be from Indonesia or Pakistan or Saudi Arabia or elsewhere," FBI director Robert Mueller told the Council on Foreign Relations on June 22. "U.S. law enforcement will have to be aligned with our counterparts overseas, much like our military forces are aligned with their counterparts overseas."

[mobster]

Sweet, 'bout fukkin time. 5th Special Forces Group perhaps?
Time to play their own game.

[seruriermarshal]

Sweet, 'bout fukkin time. 5th Special Forces Group perhaps?
Time to play their own game.

1 Special Forces Group ?

:roll:

[Helly]

Sweet, 'bout fukkin time. 5th Special Forces Group perhaps?
Time to play their own game.

What seruriermarshal said, 1st SF Group. They've been in Mindanao since 2001, I believe. Check out this photo gallery (http://media.militaryphotos.net/photos/Special_Forces-Philippines). Nice setup they have there. They train the Philippine Army while getting some jungle warfare training of their own (courtesy of the Philippine Army Scout Rangers).

Exercises between American and Filipino troops have been going on for years. The Balikatan exercises started back in 1991 which incidentally is the year all US bases in the Philippines (including the all-important Subic naval base) reverted back to the control of the Philippine government.

Apart from the Green Berets, the USMC routinely trains with Philippine Marines. Members of the Philippine Navy's SWAG (Special Warfare Group), supposed to be the best in the Philippine armed forces, routinely get training from US Navy Seals.

[2RHPZ]

Al-Qaeda-linked group exporting terror from southern Philippines: US

http://10.5.4.103/www.channelnewsasia.comm/imagegallery/store/AFP/SGE_FBI93_160604222554_00_171x245.jpg
A member of Jemaah Islamiya wearing an Osama tee shirt in Indonesia

MANILA : The United States said it remained deeply concerned about terrorist training camps in the southern Philippines run by militants with links to the Al-Qaeda network.

US ambassador Francis Ricciardone said the camps on Mindanao island were run by Jemaah Islamiyah, the group blamed for the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali and other attacks across Southeast Asia.

"With respect to the Philippines we remain very concerned at the presence of training camps of the Jemaah Islamiyah," he told the Foreign Correspondents Association in Manila.

He said group's activities on Mindanao, where Muslim rebels have been fighting an anti-government insurgency for decades, posed a threat not only to the Philippines but to the wider region.

"When you train someone in Mindanao to device bombs and how to plant them, that becomes a threat and it's not limited just to the immediate neighborhood where that person was trained," Ricciardone said.

"They can go throughout the Philippines, throughout Southeast Asia, throughout the world, and murder people. So it is a continuing threat."

The ambassador said JI had been able to set up shop in the southern Philippines because of the weak rule of law in the area.

Filipino security officials acknowledge that JI militants, including some who have been linked to bombings in Indonesia, trained until the late 1990s in guerrilla camps on Mindanao.

Some of the camps were operated by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Philippines' largest separatist guerrilla group.

The MILF publicly condemned terrorism last year as it prepared to hold peace talks with President Gloria Arroyo's government, but the subsequent death of its leader Salamat Hashim have left negotiations in limbo.

Filipino Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita says the authorities estimate there were still around 40 Jemaah Islamiyah militants in the Mount Cararao region of central Mindanao. He says most of them are Indonesians who are training local Muslims.

JI's ultimate goal is to unite Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines into a fundamentalist Islamic state. It uses terrorist attacks as its most high-profile weapon to destabilise regional governments.

Six suspected Filipino JI members were arrested in southern Manila last week after police foiled what they described as a plot to bomb the June 30 inauguration of President Arroyo.

Ricciardone said terrorist funds were flowing across borders and he said there was a direct link to the Philippines from the Middle East.

"We know that there are at least ideological links and personal links from here to the Middle East, from Mindanao to the Middle East," he said.

"There are personal connections, family connections, (they) travel back and forth and they are quite worrisome."

He said local groups drew inspiration, as well as sometimes weaponry and funding, from international terrorist organisations.

The US government announced this week that it was sending small numbers of troops to Mindanao to give Filipino troops counter-terrorist training. About 1,000 US special forces troops were deployed in the south in 2002.

Ricciardone also expressed disappointment at the failure of the new MILF leadership to resume peace talks with the Philippine government.

The US Congress last year alloted 30 million dollars to support the development of Mindanao once Manila signs a peace treaty with the MILF, but the ambassador said part of the funds have since been reallocated.

[2RHPZ]

I didn´t notice if somebody posted this:


RELEASE NUMBER: 040706-03
DATE POSTED: JULY 06, 2004

PRESS RELEASE: Special Forces Soldier dies in Philippines

U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, July 6, 2004) — An Army Special Forces Soldier died July 1 in Manila, Philippines due to unknown causes.

Staff Sgt. Robert K. McGee, 37, a senior Special Forces weapons sergeant assigned to the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Lewis, Wash., was found dead in his hotel room in Manila. He was there as a member of an advance team preparing for a future deployment to the area for a light-infantry tactics training mission.

The cause of death is under investigation.

McGee, a native of Antioch, Tenn., joined the Army in 1984. Following One Station Unit Training at Fort Benning, Ga., he completed the Basic Airborne Course at Benning. McGee was then assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., serving as an infantryman, machine gunner, fire team leader and squad leader.

He volunteered for Special Forces training in January 1988 and upon completion of the Special Forces Qualification Course, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 1st SFG at Torii Station, Okinawa, Japan.

During McGee’s tenure with 1st Battalion, he served as a junior and senior SF weapons sergeant and participated in numerous Joint Combined Exchange Training exercises to Korea, Japan, Republic of the Philippines, Kingdom of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. McGee developed and implemented heavy weapons training, small arms marksmanship training, waterborne surface and sub-surface training and small unit tactics training.



In October 1992, McGee was assigned to the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, where he taught Special Forces students. Three years later, he returned to 1st SFG serving as the senior weapons sergeant.

After serving 10 years as a Special Forces Soldier, McGee ended his military career and began a new career in the computer industry in Nashville, Tenn. Following the terror attack of Sept. 11, he once again volunteered for active service as an SF NCO and was assigned to the 1st SFG at Fort Lewis as a weapons sergeant.

His military education includes the Basic Airborne Course, Static Line Jumpmaster Course, Waterborne Infiltration Course, Combat Diver Qualification Course, Combat Diving Supervisor Course, Jungle Warfare Course, Jungle Survival Course, Winter Mountain Warfare Course, Special Forces Qualification Course, Primary Leadership Development Course, Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course and the Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course.

McGee’s awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Multinational Force and Observers Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Expert Infantry Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Scuba Diver Badge, Expert Marksmanship Qualification Badge, Malaysian Parachutist Badge, Special Forces Tab, and Royal Thai Army Airborne Wings.

His wife, Shannon, and two sons, Michael and Zachary, survive him. He is also survived by his mother, Martha R. Goins, and a brother.

RIP

[NcDeuce]

I didn´t notice if somebody posted this:


RELEASE NUMBER: 040706-03
DATE POSTED: JULY 06, 2004

PRESS RELEASE: Special Forces Soldier dies in Philippines

U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, July 6, 2004) — An Army Special Forces Soldier died July 1 in Manila, Philippines due to unknown causes.

Staff Sgt. Robert K. McGee, 37, a senior Special Forces weapons sergeant assigned to the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Lewis, Wash., was found dead in his hotel room in Manila. He was there as a member of an advance team preparing for a future deployment to the area for a light-infantry tactics training mission.

The cause of death is under investigation.

McGee, a native of Antioch, Tenn., joined the Army in 1984. Following One Station Unit Training at Fort Benning, Ga., he completed the Basic Airborne Course at Benning. McGee was then assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., serving as an infantryman, machine gunner, fire team leader and squad leader.

He volunteered for Special Forces training in January 1988 and upon completion of the Special Forces Qualification Course, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 1st SFG at Torii Station, Okinawa, Japan.

During McGee’s tenure with 1st Battalion, he served as a junior and senior SF weapons sergeant and participated in numerous Joint Combined Exchange Training exercises to Korea, Japan, Republic of the Philippines, Kingdom of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. McGee developed and implemented heavy weapons training, small arms marksmanship training, waterborne surface and sub-surface training and small unit tactics training.



In October 1992, McGee was assigned to the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, where he taught Special Forces students. Three years later, he returned to 1st SFG serving as the senior weapons sergeant.

After serving 10 years as a Special Forces Soldier, McGee ended his military career and began a new career in the computer industry in Nashville, Tenn. Following the terror attack of Sept. 11, he once again volunteered for active service as an SF NCO and was assigned to the 1st SFG at Fort Lewis as a weapons sergeant.

His military education includes the Basic Airborne Course, Static Line Jumpmaster Course, Waterborne Infiltration Course, Combat Diver Qualification Course, Combat Diving Supervisor Course, Jungle Warfare Course, Jungle Survival Course, Winter Mountain Warfare Course, Special Forces Qualification Course, Primary Leadership Development Course, Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course and the Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course.

McGee’s awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Multinational Force and Observers Medal, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Expert Infantry Badge, Master Parachutist Badge, Scuba Diver Badge, Expert Marksmanship Qualification Badge, Malaysian Parachutist Badge, Special Forces Tab, and Royal Thai Army Airborne Wings.

His wife, Shannon, and two sons, Michael and Zachary, survive him. He is also survived by his mother, Martha R. Goins, and a brother.

RIP

Read this earlier as well...Antioch is only about 50 miles from Fort Campbell, KY. R.I.P. RM