Long-term US strategy emerges out of Philippines

To be sure, analysts like Mr. Gershman worry about the long-term costs. Gerhman argues that increased military cooperation sends the wrong message to countries that have fragile or developing democracies because it could bolster domestic military interests over civilian political control.

Skeptics also point to the legacy of US interventions in Latin America and Asia in the 1970s and 80s, when the US worked with regimes that abused human rights, creating hostility toward the US that persists in some corners to this day. Others worry that as the US expands its military ties, it could be drawn into far more complicated entanglements than efforts to wipe out the Abu Sayyaf.

Still, the current situation in the Philippines amply demonstrates the short-term gains, diplomats and analysts say. The military relationship between the two countries has been boosted to its highest point since the Philippines closed US bases there almost a decade ago.

During that time, the Philippines received almost no US military hardware. That changed this year, when the Bush administration promised the Philippines $40 million in military financing, equipment, and services. Sniper rifles, transport planes, mortars, and sophisticated communications equipment have all been provided through the current package.

The US has also been able to prepare the ground for future deployments in a region that US policy makers have worried about since the war on terror began. The Philippines has embraced the US presence, and the response from the rest of Southeast Asia, which policymakers were worried about, has been largely indifference.

US troops have improved roads and airstrips on Basilan and Zamboanga islands, and some analysts say that's not just to make it easier to go after the Abu Sayyaf.

"There's an argument in the administration that we should keep improving facilities down there that we can go in and use if we have to,'' says Roger Baker, a military analyst at Stratfor, a Texas-based private intelligence company. "What the Philippines does really offer is a nice location for other operations in Southeast Asia.''

Such as in Indonesia, Mr. Baker continues. The US believes the world's largest Muslim country harbors terrorists with Al Qaeda sympathies. While direct US military intervention there is unlikely, it makes the US feel more secure to have a presence nearby, he says.

So far, the Philippine mission has involved little danger for US troops. Roughly 160 US Special Forces officers and 850 supporting troops have been training Philippine commando units from the relative safety of battalion headquarters.

In June, those units, working with the US, freed Gracia Burnham, one of three American hostages the Abu Sayyaf snatched from the Dos Palmas resort last year. Her husband, Martin, was killed in the rescue attempt as was Deborah Yap, a Filipina nurse who was also taken hostage.

The third American, Guillermo Sobero, was murdered by Abu Sabaya, the commander of the Abu Sayyaf unit that led the kidnapping.

Last month, Philippine authorities say the swaggering and flamboyant Mr. Sabaya was killed in a military ambush that was supported by US intelligence and communications equipment. Though Sabaya was not at the top of the group's loose organizational structure, his frequent threats against US targets and boasts of ties to Osama bin Laden made him a particular American target. The US government had a $5 million price on his head.

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