| U.S. Policy in Asia and the State of Philippine-U.S. Security Relations A top secret memorandum issued by the Philippines� defense department in 2000 reveals the shift of the U.S.-Philippine Balikatan exercises to anti-guerrilla warfare training against MILF rebels. "The arming of the Alliance of Christian Vigilantes for Muslim-Free Mindanao and the Spiritual Soldiers of God in Mindanao to whom 20,763 units consisting of M14s and M16s had already secretly been distributed," the document also read. By Roland G. Simbulan* Bulatlat.com Since Sept. 11, 2001, as part of its international campaign against terrorism, the United States has made the Philippines its "second front" next to Afghanistan in its fight against perceived terrorists. With the attack against the very symbols of imperial capitalism (World Trade Center) and U.S. military hegemony (Pentagon building- the U.S. Department of Defense), the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has given the United States the carte blanche to go full-scale in its efforts to renew American military presence in the Philippines and, possibly, even restore its military facilities and bases. Any restoration of U.S. military presence and facilities in the Philippines would have regional, if not international, repercussions. In the history of U.S. bases in the Philippines, these have been actively used as staging areas for military intervention, strikes and attacks against other Asian countries such as in Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia. This is evidenced by U.S. official documents that speak of the regional role of the Philippines in the fulcrum of U.S. security interests in Asia and as far as the Middle East. The United States sees the Philippines as a good location to restore its military forces in Southeast Asia in the light of threats from Islamic fundamentalist groups especially from Indonesia and Malaysia where the United States finds it dangerous to deploy its forces. The Philippines is also the gateway of the Pacific to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf and would be therefore ideal for forward-deployed U.S. forces in the Western Pacific. From the 1900s to 1991, the Philippines was the Pentagon's military stronghold in its economic, political and military linchpin in Southeast Asia. U.S. bases in the Philippines provided important logistical support to America�s wars in Korea and Vietnam, and later in the Gulf in the war against Iraq. The Philippines also served as a regional center for the CIA's covert operations against Indonesia and against the national liberation movements in Indochina. With the victory of the Filipino people's struggle against the U.S. bases in 1991, U.S. military presence shifted to Japan, which became the cornerstone of American power in the Pacific and adjacent areas through the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. In Okinawa, U.S. Marine Expeditionary units that now train regularly in Balikatan exercises in the Philippines, form the core of today's interventionary forces in the Asia-Pacific, if not the entire world. U.S. military posture in Asia-Pacific In our Asia-Pacific region, U.S. military might is actually the largest land and sea military force overseas of a foreign power. As former U.S. Air Force Pacific General John Lorber bragged in 1995, "We, the U.S., are a Pacific nation where command extends from West Coast of the United States to the eastern coast of Africa and includes both polar extremes. The U.S. has 7 defense treaties worldwide, and 5 of them are in the Pacific region." Immediately after the Cold War and with the demise of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European socialist bloc, there was indeed a quantitative rolling back of U.S. forces in some parts of the world, especially Europe. It became even more difficult to justify a cold war budget for the continuance of a cold war defense structure in a post-Cold War era. But numbers can be deceptive, because what was reduced in quantity was actually enhanced in a qualitative sense. Capabilities have been expanded because of improvements in war-fighting technology, thereby enhancing lethality and mobility of US forces. The Pentagon's budget has been steadily increasing after the Cold War despite quantitative reductions of US forces at home and overseas. Everything seemed to be "rolling back" EXCEPT in the Asia-Pacific where U.S. kept the status quo as far as its Cold War fighting infrastructure was concerned. To some extent, the U.S. Pacific Command forces were even upgraded. In the 1995 East Asia Strategy Report of the U.S. Department of Defense, it was noted: "This report reaffirms our commitment to maintain a stable forward presence in the region, at the existing level of about 100,000 troops, for the foreseeable future...for maintaining forward deployment of U.S. forces and access and basing rights for U.S. and allied forces...If the American presence in Asia were removed...our ability to affect the course of events would be constrained, our markets and interests would be jeopardized." The exception was in the Philippines, for the historic rejection of the bases treaty by the Philippine Senate in 1991 signaled an involuntary retreat for U.S. forces in the Philippines which, in the past, has been regarded as a formidable U.S. military stronghold and enclave by Pentagon planners. According to the 1997 Report of the Quadrennial Defense Review by the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. national defense and security policy implemented by 100,000 U.S. troops deployed in the region, is intertwined with economic globalization such as "the protection of the sea lanes of trade", and " ensuring unhampered access to key markets, energy supplies and strategic resources." Pentagon literature now treats the operational jurisdiction of the U.S. Pacific Command as "highways of trade which are vital to U.S. national security." The restoration of the Republicans to the U.S. presidency under George W. Bush Jr. has indicated, even before Sept. 11, efforts to reverse the Cold War trend in all aspects. Of course, the Sept. 11 attacks have practically given the United States a justification to its people and its allies to unilaterally expand its borderless military in an already borderless world economy dominated by the United States and the G-7 countries. The United States has established bases and military facilities in several former Soviet republics like Kazakstan and Uzbekistan. Besides the former Soviet republics around Afghanistan, it has established a very large military presence in Afghanistan itself, while consolidating its control over the Pakistani armed forces through more U.S. military and technical assistance. Likewise, a military presence in Yemen and other Middle East countries surrounding Iran and Iraq have been reestablished. Next page Back to Main Page |