Since February 2002, an undetermined number of Special Operations Forces have been stationed in Sulu in the southern Philippines. 
Considered as the elite unit of the US military specializing in covert missions, the US troops roam around a small war-ravaged island considered the stronghold of the Moro National Liberation Front and the Abu Sayyaf Group. Barred by the Philippine constitution from engaging in "actual combat," these soldiers claim that they are involved only in training exercises and humanitarian projects. But this is not what the people there are saying. What are the US troops really doing in Sulu? Will their actions finally put an end to "terrorism" in the country?

his video-report contextualizes the issue of US military presence in the country within the long and bitter history of conflict in the south. Countering the reductionist frame set by the narrative of the "global war against terror," it examines the historical conditions that led to the emergence of the Moro separatist movement and the subsequent rise of the Abu Sayyaf. It dissects the government´s contradictory attempts to downplay its threat while at the same time justifying escalating military operations in the region.

Against this backdrop, the report then probes allegations of US military involvement in the war. Contradicting US and Philippine officials´ oft-repeated claim that the US troops are never involved in combat, it zooms in on one particular operation in which US troops were said to have joined Filipino soldiers in their offensives against the MNLF. Challenging the governments´ attempts to narrow down the definition of "actual combat," the report goes on to ask larger questions about the foundations of the Philippines´ deeply entrenched military and political alliance with the United States and its response to the Moro´s continuing demand for self-determination. 
In the process, the report is referred back by the interviewees to an episode in the past that may hold answers for the present.

This video-report accompanies a printed report on the US military on Sulu available for download from www.focusweb.org/pdf/ unconventionalwarfare.pdf.

(Produced by Focus on the Global South)

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SCHEDULE OF SCREENINGS and PUBLIC FORUMS:

* 10 February 2007, 1:00 PM
Sulu State College
Jolo, Sulu

* 16 February 2007, 2:30 to 5:00 PM
Bulwagang Recto, Faculty Center
College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman
Sponsored by: Stop the War Coalition, Focus on the Global South, UP ALYANSA

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