DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REGULAR BRIEFING
BRIEFER: ADM. CRAIG QUIGLEY, SPOKESMAN
PENTAGON BRIEFING ROOM,
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA 1:30 P.M. EDT
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2000
Q: Sir, there are some reports in the Philippines press about some
special forces in the country now possibly joining some anti-terror or
hostage rescue operations. Are there any U.S. forces in the
Philippines now? How many? And why are they there?
Quigley: Yes, but we need to be real clear about there being two
separate events going on. On the one hand, whatever activities the
Philippine government feels are appropriate in order to try to gain
the release of the hostages that are being held by the terrorist
groups. That's over here.
Over here, there is an ongoing Special Operations Forces training
activity going on in a completely separate part of the Philippines,
long-scheduled, for over a year. I think it's the third or fourth one
of its type this calendar year that we have going on for training of
U.S. Special Operations Forces, in conjunction with the Philippines.
This is not being done to train the Philippine Special Operations
Forces, although there is certainly a side benefit of that, of them
being present and training along with our forces. But this is
primarily being done, because of the climate and the geography and the
landscape that you find in the Philippines, as a very good training
ground to provide the training for U.S. Special Operations Forces. Let
me see if I have a number here.
Q: (Off mike) -- Philippine forces --
Quigley: Approximately 200.
Q: (Off mike.)
Quigley: Two hundred U.S., yes.
Q: Oh, okay. How long have they been in the country?
Quigley: I think it will last -- it's already started, and I think it
will last about 45 days.
Q: What kind of training are we talking about?
Quigley: Special Operations training.
Q: The whole gamut?
Quigley: The whole gamut, mm-hmm [affirmative].
Q: And you're saying that this other thing, which is separate, doesn't
involve Americans?
Quigley: Absolutely correct.
Q: But are the Philippine Special Forces part of this U.S. -- involved
in this U.S. training exercise?
Quigley: Yes, they are, as there always are.
Q: Right. I just want to be clear on this. So U.S. forces there are in
fact training Philippines Special Forces.
Quigley: Only as a by-product, Barbara. They're there principally to
receive the training for themselves, for U.S. Special Operations
Forces personnel. But there -- while they are doing that, there are
also Philippine Special Forces personnel there as well. And there is
an advantage to sharing some of that knowledge and training that's
going on.
Q: Can you tell us that the U.S. military has ruled out any assistance
to the Philippines military or government in going after the rebels?
Are you saying --
Quigley: I'm saying I have no knowledge of the government of the
Philippines' intentions as to how they plan on resolving the hostage
situation. My hope is that the terrorists will release the hostages
immediately. But I have no knowledge of how the Philippine government
plans on doing that; it's an internal security matter for them.
Q: Is there some area --
Q: But would we entertain a request to allow the troops that are
currently --
Quigley: I'm not going to go down that road. That's for them to
decide.
Q: How many Philippine soldiers are benefitting from this training?
Quigley: It's a couple of dozen, I want to say, but I don't have an
exact figure, Pam. [Approximately 100]
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
