rssIEDs Kill U.S. Troops in the Philippines
Friday, October 02, 2009 at 11:09 am
- 5 Comments
I got a disturbing press release last night from the Defense Department. Two U.S. soldiers — Sgt. 1st Class Christopher D. Shaw and Staff Sgt. Jack M. Martin III — were killed supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. The deaths of U.S. soldiers at war is tragically all too familiar. But look at how Sgts. Shaw and Martin died:
The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died Sept. 29 in Jolo Island, the Philippines, from the detonation of an improvised-explosive device.The soldiers were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, Fort Lewis, Wash.
I was not aware that insurgent groups in the Philippines were now using IEDs. NPR reports that the likely culprit is the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Abu Sayyaf and that Sgts. Shaw and Martin were supporting a school-construction mission. (NPR also mistakenly says these two soldiers were sailors, and unless there was another IED-related fatality I haven’t been notified about, this appears to be wrong.) That’s somewhat different from what I was told by Maj. Emanuel Ortiz at the Army Special Operations Command’s public affairs office. Ortiz told me their mission was to “conduct training and mentoring” of the Philippine Army.
How did their mission support Operation Enduring Freedom, the name of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan? Ortiz referred that question to U.S. Pacific Command, and since it’s about 4 a.m. in Honolulu, where Pacific Command is located, I am still unclear on that question, as well as whether we’re seeing a new battlefield for the migration of IEDs, the trademark innovation of insurgents in Iraq that has unfortunately spread to Afghanistan.
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5 Comments
Comment posted October 2, 2009 @ 8:06 pm
In case you were unaware, there are a number of OEFs. Afghanistan, Philippines, Trans-Sahara and Central and Caribbean.
Comment posted October 2, 2009 @ 10:02 pm
This is disturbing, indeed. If insurgency expertise gained from Iraq is spreading all over the globe, the disastrous war in Iraq will be with us a very long time. This was one of my greatest fears and one of the reasons I opposed that idiocy.
Comment posted October 5, 2009 @ 7:59 pm
I will just say it's nothing new to the theatre. IED's are a day to day reality there. I recommend the book Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda's Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia to further educate yourself on the mission in SE Asia.
Comment posted December 2, 2009 @ 2:48 am
SISTER of Jack M Martin, the remote Jolo Islands are the ideal target for the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group. The al-Qaeda are quick to reign the repressed and uneducated. The Special Forces team that my brother was a part of WAS on a humanitarian mission, building schools so these people will not be uneducated, easily repressed and vulnerable. So, that they, like you and I; will be able to choose whether or not they want to join an insurgent al-Qaeda linked group. Possibly, they, like you and I; would like to have the opportunity to read the daily news and input their opinion. Perhaps, they, like you and I; would like to be able to have an opinion.
Comment posted December 2, 2009 @ 7:48 am
SISTER of Jack M Martin, the remote Jolo Islands are the ideal target for the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group. The al-Qaeda are quick to reign the repressed and uneducated. The Special Forces team that my brother was a part of WAS on a humanitarian mission, building schools so these people will not be uneducated, easily repressed and vulnerable. So, that they, like you and I; will be able to choose whether or not they want to join an insurgent al-Qaeda linked group. Possibly, they, like you and I; would like to have the opportunity to read the daily news and input their opinion. Perhaps, they, like you and I; would like to be able to have an opinion.
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