|
|
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
US troops struggle to win hearts of Jolo folks (2:40 p.m.)
JOLO -- American troops used to evoke fear in Mara Harun, a Muslim mother of three, but she may become one of their most fervent supporters on hostile Jolo island after they helped her regain what she had lost for years - her eyesight.
It had been only minutes since an American medical relief team at a crumbling Jolo hospital removed the cataracts that had kept Harun in the dark for seven years, but the 60-year-old already was bubbling over with excitement.
A Filipino doctor involved in the US mission removed the white gauze bandages and asked if she could see anything. "Nothing, nothing yet," she mumbled.
The first thing she wanted to see, she said, were "the faces of people who did this favor for me."
Harun, from a dirt-poor farming family, said it was her first-ever hospital visit and that she almost didn't make it because she could not afford to travel from her home just a few kilometers (miles) away.
The same crushing poverty that officials say has helped send recruits to the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants on Jolo is now prompting hundreds of villagers to welcome a U.S. campaign to wean ordinary folk from Islamic extremism through humanitarian missions.
About 100 US troops have been stationed for several months on Jolo, a predominantly Muslim island with bitter memories of a brutal American occupation in the early 1900s. The troops have fixed roads, built schools and wells and improved the island's infrastructure.
Such an approach helps the US improve its image in Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, regarded as breeding grounds for Islamic militants.
US Pacific commander Adm. William Fallon flew under extra-tight security to Jolo on Monday to visit American troops involved in relief work, including those aboard the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy.
"I can see a long line of people from the helicopter," Fallon told reporters at the Jolo Station Hospital, where hundreds of poor villagers, many with babies and children, scrambled to get free medicine and treatment for ailments like malaria and tuberculosis.
"Our aim is to set those conditions so the terrorists don't have any place to put down roots and people will say they'd much rather do things that are useful ... than to support terrorism," Fallon said.
US medical personnel and aid workers from the Mercy have provided free medical services in three Jolo hospitals shielded by concertina wire, treating 300-500 patients a day. Some patients have been flown to the ship for more complicated surgery, said US Air Force Maj. Anne Carbowski.
Even with the gentle approach, American troops have to grapple with the danger, costs and opposition in Jolo, a turbulent region 940 kilometers (miles) south of Manila.
Abu Sayyaf militants have launched deadly bombings and have plotted attacks against Philippine and American troops, military officials say.
Islamic activists are demanding that all Americans withdraw.
Fallon's visit to Jolo was not announced publicly and the huge, white-hulled Mercy was anchored far from the island. A US military convoy en route to a hospital Monday was met by waving villagers and one critic.
"I like the Americans because they're giving us medical attention," said Ayang Sahibudin, a frail-looking housewife who had been coughing blood. "The Abu Sayyaf only bring violence and fear in our town."
Michael Ray Johnson, an American civic volunteer, said he was delighted to see hundreds of Jolo villagers welcoming the US relief teams.
"You can't fix everything with humanitarian work," he said.
"But I think you can do much more with this, touch their hearts, than you can with a gun." (AP) |
|
|
|
