Were Americans involved?
IT'S AN interesting twist in the probe into the Mamasapano clash that killed 44 Special Action Force (SAF) elements, 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters and five civilians. I am referring to the possible involvement of United States in the operation to get Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin hir alias Marwan and his local cohort, Abdulbasit Usman, in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last Jan. 25, 2015.
An unnamed SAF source, quoted by an Inquirer.net report posted on Feb. 16, 2015, described the Mamasapano operation as a US-directed project from start to finish. “The Americans started this. They funded the operation, including intelligence,” the SAF source supposedly said.
If the report is true--and this still has to be established by the continuing probes on the incident—then it should be the missing piece in the Mamasapano operation puzzle. It explains the strange actions of those involved in the planning and the execution of “Oplan Exodus”: the utter secrecy and lack of coordination that resulted in the failure of other units to reinforce the pinned-down SAF commandos.
If the help was limited to providing information on the whereabouts of Marwan and Usman, then US participation was most welcome. But if the Americans were active in the planning and execution stage, then we have a problem. Because it now looks like the fault in the Mamasapano operation lay mainly in lack of coordination with other armed units in Maguindanao, which in turn was a product of faulty planning.
Meaning that if this were really an American project, then blame can also be pinned on the US for the resulting fiasco.
I actually have reason to believe that the role of the US in the Mamasapano incident is not limited to providing information on the terrorists' whereabouts.
Marwan and, by extension, Usman are mainly US targets as shown by the prize pinned on their heads ($5 million for Marwan and $1 million for Usman). While Marwan was based in Maguindanao, his alleged terrorist acts supposedly straddled the boundaries of nations. He was even tagged the “Osama bin Laden of Southeast Asia.” Thus I would say that US interest in getting Marwan was higher than the Philippines' interest in him.
That explains why Marwan's finger, which the SAF commandos cut off for identification after he was killed, directly went to the laboratory of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The US is known to link up with elite forces of the law enforcement units in the country where it wants to operate. Remember the Abu Sayyaf that kidnapped American missionaries Gracia and Martin Burnham in 2001? The Americans linked up with the Philippine Marines to get one of the terrorist groups' leaders, Abu Sabaya, months later.
It was a very elaborate project that the US had a part of from the very beginning until its completion. The Americans helped the Marines track Sabaya's whereabouts, including the planting of tracking equipment on a waist belt that an informant gave to the Abu Sayyaf leader.
The Americans were also there in the execution of the plan to get Sabaya in the seas off Sibuco town in Zamboanga del Norte. An article by The New York Times written by Raymond Bonner and published on Sept. 22, 2002 noted that US Navy Seal commandos joined the operation but were prevented from firing their guns by a Marine commander.
Indeed, as The New York Times pointed out, “American military's assistance in the operation that killed Mr. Sabaya was considerably greater than Philippine and American officials have previously acknowledged.” Is this also true in the Mamasapano case?