Duterte Thinks He Can Bomb Islamists Into Submission

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Duterte Thinks He Can Bomb Islamists Into Submission. He Cannot.

By ZACHARY ABUZA

The Philippine Air Force conducted aerial bombings on Islamist militant positions in Marawi, on the southern island of Mindanao, this month.CreditNoel Celis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

WASHINGTON — On June 13, as militants loyal to the Islamic State were tying down Philippine soldiers in the southern city of Marawi for a fourth week, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis testified before a U.S. Senate committee that the decision to scale back the United States counterterrorism mission in the Philippines in 2014 had been “premature.”

At the time the mission, known as the Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines, looked like a success. With just a small footprint — never more than 600 people — it had spent well over a decade providing intelligence and training to Philippine forces, while working closely with the United States…

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