Purisima verified location of target before SAF raid
THE US government provided President Benigno Aquino III with “actionable intelligence” to pin down the precise location of Malaysian terrorist and bomb expert Marwan, a police general told the Manila Standard Thursday.
The US used drones and satellites in its intelligence gathering while suspended Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima sent “foot soldiers” to verify the intel.
encounter with Moro rebels in Maguindanao arrived in Villamor Air
Base on Thursday. Sonny Espiritu
“The US intel checked out,” said the source, who requested anonymity.
The police general said Purisima and his US counterpart had been exchanging information since 2005, when Purisima started tracking and following the moves of Malaysian bomb expert Marwan, who was believed to have arrived the country in 2002.
The general said while President Aquino was in Zamboanga on Sunday to closely monitor the developments in Mamasapano, some US troops also stationed themselves in Zamboanga.
“The President even had an advance party of the Presidential Security Group in Cotabato so that he would immediately fly in there to receive Marwan’s turnover. The Americans were also there ready with the $5 million bounty for Marwan’s head,” the source said.
“It was not just coincidental that minutes after the carnage, several US helicopters were already in the area purportedly to transport the bodies,” the general said.
“The Americans were on standby,” he said.
“The Philippine government could not simply fly choppers over areas where the ceasefire is in effect and this could be misconstrued as a violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the source said.
“The Americans were only too willing to accede to President Aquino’s request,” the source added.
The police general said the drones that were discovered in various parts of the country, particularly in most parts of Mindanao, had been used by the US to scour the area and pinpoint the place where Marwan was believed to be in hiding.
“If the drone would detect the presence of Marwan, the US would immediately relay the information to Purisima, who would deploy men to verify the intelligence report,” the source said.
“Satellites and drones had been used in tracking the movements of Marwan. The US provided that to the Philippine government considering that Marwan was among the most wanted terrorist in the US,” the source said.
Asked how Purisima and the US intelligence officials would exchange information, the source said they either met to discuss the information or they used a courier or satellite phones.
Pressed if Purisima and the US officials continued to meet after he was suspended, the source had this to say: “That’s when President Aquino came in, but after he was briefed by Purisima.”
In Congress, Nationalist Peoples Coalition stalwart and Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian urged President Aquino to make a full disclosure of what he knew about the “top secret operation.”
Gatchalian said it was imperative for the President to make a full disclosure in the wake of reports that he was on top of the operation, with Purisima directly reporting to him as the proponent and implementor of the intelligence project to to arrest most wanted terrorist and Jemaah Islamiyah member Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Commander Marwan.”
“As commander-in-chief, it is the prerogative of the President to order a top secret operation to bag international terrorists. However, it is also his duty as the Chief Executive to make a full disclosure to the Filipino people on the SAF operation that resulted in a fiasco with 44 of its personnel being killed by elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front,” Gatchalian said.
Gatchalian said he received information from unimpeachable sources that the SAF operation was funded by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) on orders from President Aquino.
PAOCC, which has an annual budget of P500 million, is headed by Ochoa.
The same sources told Gatchalian that the neutralization of Malaysian bomb expert Zulkifli bin Hir, who has a $5 million bounty for his capture, has long been a project of the SAF beginning in 2005 when SAF personnel almost bagged him somewhere in Mindanao.
The US government has long been seeking Zulkifli, who is on Washington’s list of most wanted terrorists. Filipino Basit Usman carries a $2 million bounty because of his involvement in terrorist activities.
Gatchalian confirmed the Manila Standard report and said he was informed that Napenas was directly reporting to Purisima in the White House in Camp Crame, where the suspended PNP chief holds residence.
“It was General Napenas who was briefing General Purisima, who in turn, reports directly to the President to brief him about the progress and developments in the top secret SAF operation to arrest Commander Marwan,” said Gatchalian.
Roxas later relieved Napenas because he did not follow the chain of command and blindsided the Interior secretary and Espina.
Gatchalian said Ochoa and Purisima should be summoned by Congress to the scheduled investigation of the failed SAF operation since they are the ones who can provide details of the operation from the planning stage up to the implementation.
“Since President Aquino cannot be summoned by Congress, it would do him good if he can make a full disclosure of what he knew about the operation, especially since he was in Zamboanga City a day before the SAF operation started,” Gatchalian said.
Also on Thursday, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the entry of a US air asset to extricate the dead police commandos was “but a normal practice.”
He said, however, that US service are not authorized to participate in any operation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
It is normal practice for government authorities to seek assistance from the United States during a medical evacuation,” Gazmin said.
He could not confirm, however, if US troops were present during the evacuation of wounded SAF members.
Video footage aired hours after the Mamasapan fighting showed Caucasian men with sidearm pistols helping Filipino soldiers evacuate wounded policemen using a blue and white Bell-type civilian helicopter.
“I cannot confirm that (the presence of US helicopter) but I saw the pictures. That is a normal practice whereby we ask assistance from the US forces to evacuate our wounded,” said Gazmin in a radio interview over dzRH.
“That is not part of the operation but we ask help because they have all the assets to provide the medical evacuation,” added Gazmin.
Gazmin also explained the delay in the military’s response to the SAF’s call for help.
He said the Army’s 6th Infantry Division was indeed able to send armor and troops from Division Reconnaissance Company at about 8:20 a.m. Sunday after receiving a request for assistance from the SAF.
Gazmin said the reinforcements arrived after the initial phase of the fighting between the MILF and BIFF between 4:30 a.m. to 5 a.m.
“Why did it take so long? Because the coordination was made while they (SAF) were on their way to the target,” said Gazmin.
Gazmin said that the SAF coordinated with the battalion deployed in the area to guard main supply routes and detachments, but this should have been done at the division level so that the action could be well planned.
The defense chief also noted the targeted area was a big camp of the MILF and there were also Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters present.
“In this kind of major operation, you need to plan very well,” said Gazmin.
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/01/30/us-gave-pnoy-intel-on-wanted-terrorist-/
Reports from anonymous sources, in this instance an unidentified police general, should always be treated with caution. Parts of the story told in this article seem contrived.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the notion that US authorities would be on site and ready to pay some $5 million dollars in ransom money doesn't make sense. Verification of the identity of the body of "Marwan" would have to be done before any reward could be paid and normally this involves DNA testing which takes some time. So this part of the story seems a bit off.
Secondly, the idea that US helicopters were used to transport troops because the military couldn't fly over MILF territory because of the ceasefire doesn't make sense either. US helicopters, as noted by Secretary Gazmin, have been used to provide medical evacuation support, not to transport troops. Furthermore, at night or in the early morning hours, I don't think the MILF would be able to discern the difference between Philippine military or US choppers. Moro leaders would probably attribute any overflights of their camps to the AFP and not the US, so that part of story falls apart as well.
But the real problem is the argument contained in the quote below:
"The police general said the drones that were discovered in various parts of the country, particularly in most parts of Mindanao, had been used by the US to scour the area and pinpoint the place where Marwan was believed to be in hiding."
The "general" appears to be saying that the drones that have recently been discovered washed up in Philippine waters are some how part of US surveillance operations to nab Marwan. Now that argument is patently false. Those recovered craft were clearly identified as US Navy target drones and not intelligence UAVs so that argument can be proven to be untrue.
Bottom line: The source and the author of the report have intentionally or unintentionally misinterpreted information in an effort to "prove" the US was involved in Mamasapano tragedy. I don't believe this to be the case. It would appear that the only US involvement in this operation was to provide humanitarian medical evacuation support at the request of the Philippine military and well after the SAF operation had already turned into a catastrophe.