A Job for the Filipinos

United States combat troops should not be fighting in the Philippines. Last week, unidentified Defense Department officials said that up to 3,000 U.S. soldiers would do just that. The government of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo promptly issued denials, and on Monday the Filipino foreign secretary, Blas Ople, said the Washington reports “emanate from junior officials who don’t know what they are talking about.”

Let’s hope that’s true. Indeed, the Philippine government is doing the United States a favor by saying American soldiers are welcome to train and advise Filipino forces but not to march into the jungle themselves to fight Abu Sayyaf guerrillas.

The rationale for such an expanded role is simple: the war on terror.

By most accounts, Al Qaeda has cells or affiliates in scores of countries. After Sept. 11, the United States has helped foreign governments target them. But there is a danger in spreading forces too thin. It’s also important to listen to the concerns of host countries.

Abu Sayyaf has operated in the southern Philippines for a dozen years, specializing in kidnapping foreigners and extorting millions of dollars in ransom. Its founders fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan, and some members may be Islamic militants. More are thugs, motivated solely by money.

In any case, the group is thought to have only a few hundred members. Other groups that have fought the central government for decades, including the Moro National Liberation Front and the communist New People’s Army, are much larger.

Last year, the Pentagon sent about 500 Special Forces soldiers to train forces battling Abu Sayyaf. Some U.S. troops accompanied Philippine troops on patrols and returned fire after encountering guerrillas. The training paid off. Fighting more aggressively, the Filipinos won battles. Their battles -- an important point.

The Philippines is not Vietnam, and this is not the 1960s. Still, Washington must remember the lessons of that quagmire in expanding trainers’ and advisors’ missions and increasing their numbers.

The Philippines was a U.S. colony for nearly 50 years. It was home to two major U.S. military facilities until 1992, when Filipinos, bridling at American influence, demanded the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Today, the nation remains a solid ally. The Pentagon shouldn’t put that relationship of mutual respect at risk by swaggering in to do a job Philippine soldiers can learn to do themselves.