Posted by cool_ambo on February 12th, 2015 | Comments Off on Mamasapano Encounter (continuar)
Mamasapano
The Philippine Army has never learned a lesson.
Every operation in the Moroland of Maguindanao
almost always end up in ambush.
The targets or objectives oftentimes
have been forewarned of their coming.

As a consequence it has been a normal sight
to see this procession of catafalques
of dead soldiers
amidst the lamentation of their women,
and the grievances of a bereaved general

General Espina.mp4
How was the enemy forewarned?
Military Intelligence probably knew the answer to this question.
What they have yet to learn is how to deal with it.
But they tried, and this operation to get Marwan
is their attempt to correct the situation.
A very tight lid has been provided such an operation to get Marwan,
internationally-wanted terrorist bomb-maker
with a $5 million prize on his head;
and his prime student, Basit.
But somehow, information about the operation leaked out
and the 44 or so police Special Action Force
was caught in a crossfire just as they were withdrawing.
What happened afterwards was a cruel, animalistic abuse of
the 44 soldiers, some of them shot while they were down,
and were robbed of weapons and personal belongings.
It has been well-known that there are petty jealousies between the different branches of the military. Every branch try to outdo the others in obtaining coups and achievements for some reason or another which the officers know. marines, Rangers, Commandos, Seals and now the Police SAF have each had their share of ambushes and tragedy.
To make matters worse, there is an existing connivance between the soldiers and the armed contingents of the moros, further complicated by private armies belonging to some wealthy moros. What makes this situation impossible to untangle is that armed men have joint memberships in all the groups that are mentioned.
The SAF command had this operation under wraps for so long a time that even if the General In Charge got suspended, nobody issued an order to either cancel or proceed with the plan. The aim to incapacitate Marwan and Basit would tremendously benefit the world and such a cancellation of the operation nobody dared to order on pain of incarceration.
This is a police action, anyway, and no truce nor agreement between the Philippine Government and the Bangsamoro Negotiators would have the legitimacy to stop the operation nor prevent the SAF from entering the Bangsamoro lands in question.
Such a truce provided the reason for the rest of the Armed Forces to hesitate entering the Basngsamoro. A big mistake by the planners of this operation in that the backups were not close to the operation and that heavier firepower were not available to cover the withdrawal. They were overly concerned about secrecy in the operation, in such a way that the other branches of the army were not informed beforehand, and that support from these were not coming. Besides, these heavier weapons might have been earlier sold to the terrorists already before this.
By about this time, military intelligence could filter out the source of the leak. If they have the right wits and the will to do it.
But the operation could have been done better, with no casualties, nor any uncalled for noise if it were done this way…..
(of course I won’t tell you how I could have done it. Dare me and I will. Otherwise, I won’t)
