ARLINGTON, Va., March 2 (UPI) -- Cooperation with international partners is integral to winning the global war on terror, a U.S. Defense Department official said.
Thomas W. O'Connell, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, said that successes occur when U.S. forces work with military and intelligence communities of other countries, the American Forces Press Service reported Thursday.
O'Connell addressed the 18th annual Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Symposium in Arlington, Va., on Wednesday.
As a model of this international partnership O'Connell cited the 2002 U.S.-Philippine combined action against the Abu-Sayyaf organization. U.S. special operations forces helped force the terrorist group off Basilan Island in the southern Philippines by training and assisting Filipino forces.
"That's a classic example of how you apply an indirect model, (and) some direct action helping the ... Philippine government," he said.
O'Connell said U.S. forces allowed the Filipino government to take credit for the operation, which "put a foreign face on the thing, and accomplished our objectives in terms of diminishing the terrorist network."
O'Connell also stressed the importance of sharing intelligence among partners. He said that foreign intelligence agencies will be "more robust" than U.S. agencies on many specific concerns.
