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Flashpoint: Marawi and the tug of war between American and Chinese influence in the Philippines

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In many ways the battle for Marawi has been a curious event which has seen bandits belonging to the allegedly ISIS affiliated Maute Group attacking a Muslim city in order to raise their public profile and demonstrate their power to the Philippine government.  Philippine SOF units and Marines worked hard to cordon the enemy into a small neighborhood and have been closing the net to finish them off.  In the background of the conflict, US Special Operations soldiers have provided ISR support and enabled near real-time intelligence information to be provided to the Philippine forces.  Marawi has even led to some hand wringing from American journalists like Nick Turse who would like to use the siege as a case study for why US Special Operations has failed in the Philippines.  This is quite a conclusion to jump to as many parties seek to overlay their agenda on unfolding events.

What has largely been lost in the conversation about Marawi from an American perspective is how Leahy vetting is preventing us from supporting the Philippine Armed Forces.  The Leahy Law is the term commonly used in reference to the Foreign Assistance Act which prevents the United States from providing arms or military support to countries, militaries, and even individuals who are involved in human rights abuses.  Leahy vetting often has to take place before US Special Forces soldiers are able to work with host-nation partner forces.  For example, US Special Forces were not able to work with the Nigerian Army for many years in the fight against Boko Haram because the local units had a reputation for executing prisoners and other abuses.  The Leahy Law is in many ways a reaction to past abuses (real or perceived) by right-wing groups in Central America that received US support against the communists in the 1980s.

Interestingly, the CIA does not seem to be hampered by the Leahy Law the way DOD is.  In Jordan, US Special Forces have conducted vetting interviews with militia members and turned up disturbing evidence that they are jihadis.  When that information is turned over to the CIA who are running the overall covert operation, those who report it are told not to worry about it.  Authorization to provide dubious Islamists with weapons and military training is soon given, perhaps due to a confluence of agendas between the CIA, White House, and Department of Justice.

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  • Avatar
    Andrew L

    You raise an important subject and valid concerns, but the issue is implementation of the law, not the law itself.

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    J M

    The US screwed up after WW2. We should have ensured that the Philippines should have been at the same level as Japan and Germany after the war. We should always remember the sacrifices that your uncles and numerous Americans made. We should also remember the victims of the NPA since then. They were the original targets on the GWOT. I was at Clark AB when Mt. Pinatubo exploded and it was a sad day when we left.

  • Avatar
    Gene F

    Well written again Jack. Jokes aside about my many port visits to Subic, its crazy how we have let a great relationship with a trusted country go to shit. I can remember protest out side the gate during the 70’s and 80’s and how heated they got. After a couple days the flips army would step in and “resolve” the issue ! Thorough out the 80’s the PI political jackasses kept pressing the USA to cough up more dough to use our bases there, bases that provides a shit ton of jobs, brought shit ton of money in PI. Eventually USA told PI to pack sand and we left. Sad. At Subic we had amazing ship repair facilities and air craft facilities. Of course,not only did we loose a huge refit and play port, thousands of folks became instantly unemployed. Sad times I’ve mentioned how these amazing people saved my uncles life during ww2, I can tell ya, he would be one pissed off dude to see what is happening now.

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    james p

    The Leahy Law is holding up the DOD, the CIA can do as they please, but there are also companies like SOC (private US company contracted to do work in these regions – like Boko Haram) that work in various theaters of operations. Lots of lessons to be learned here from other countries, the Philippines, our allies, and our hampering laws.

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    Pat G

    The Chinese seemed poised to eat up the Philippines if Duterte doesn’t wise up and realize who his friends are! We are in a quandary with that Leahy Law. I didn’t realize that or understand much about the Marawi situation. Thank you so much for this informative article, Jack.