Mark Phillips: The American Question

2/20/03: The Jolo Island front.

The Pentagon today announced a new front in the War on Islam: Jolo Island in the southern Philippines.

Why are U.S. Special Forces and Marines, up to 3,000 strong, going into combat against a rag-tag guerilla force of about 500?

Because:

1. Jolo Island is currently the farthest reach of the revolutionary wave opened by the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
2. Philippine government troops have proven unable to defeat the insurgents, indicating that the Abu Sayyaf grouping possesses widespread political support among the local people.
3. Jolo Island is an island, theoretically isolatable from sources of supply, definitely isolatable from the press. Pentagon strategists view it as an "easy" target.
4. Open armed warfare is already underway there, meaning military intervention is easier to justify to the American people than it would be in, say, Indonesia.
5. Pentagon strategists are alarmed by the growth of armed Islamic radicalism in Indonesia. By its existence Abu Sayyaf provides legitimization and inspiration to Indonesian militants pursuing a similar strategy. The Philippine intervention is the first battle of a campaign that will eventually lead American and Australian armed forces into Indonesia.

The War on Islam is a global war which will continue for years. The future will see American garrisons under attack by increasingly sophisticated guerilla forces throughout the Islamic world. Potentially, from Jolo Island to the Straight of Gibraltar. As these fighters become more skilled at neutralizing American technological advantages, GI casualty rates will climb. There will be a military draft in the U.S. The emerging disconsensus among the widely-dispersed American ruling elite will widen. The international popular mobilizations which have gained momentum during the buildup to the invasion of Iraq will continue.

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