The Philippines Rebellion: Freedom Fighting, Banditry, or Terrorism?
The Conflict
The United States has sent special forces troops to the Philippines to assist the nation's army in its campaign against Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic extremist group that has been labeled by the U.S. government as terrorist and connected to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Abu Sayyaf is just one of several rebel groups in the Philippines; its primary aim is to create an independent Islamic state, but after the death of its leader in May 2002, the group's leadership is in doubt. With a general lack of grounding as to who is terrorist, who is freedom fighter, and who is bandit among the various groups, the military campaign against Abu Sayyaf could easily come to be viewed in the southern Philippines as repressive and anti-Muslim rather than anti-terrorist.
Political
• Due to years of isolation from the rest of the Philippines, the Muslims in the southern islands have long sought autonomy. Years of discrimination and efforts to integrate them into the island led to the formation of rebel groups. Within the Muslim population, however, there is a diverse range of viewpoints to represent: the fundamentalist Islamists, the elite, the nationalists, and the Marxists, to name a few.
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