Conflict

Trying to blend into a place like Jolo is like trying to squeeze an elephant through the eye of a needle-or a lobster through a fish net. The last time a pack of reporters came down, some of them got kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf while trying to get access to the European tourists who were snatched from the Malaysian resort island of Sipadan in 2000. The charismatic but misguided Abu Sabaya even held local Filipino photographers hostage for a few hours and stole their cameras and shoes.

It's been three years since I last worked in the Philippines. I'm back and heading south. Not much has changed except that it's summertime and there's fresh fighting down in Mindanao.

Don't believe the hype-not even my hype. It's dangerous here. But it's not Baghdad. I got off the boat feeling pretty nervous. Julie Alipala met me right away. She wore a lime green bandana and was sporting a t-shirt that read "I'm saved by Jesus, Are you?" Pretty bold statement in a land where Catholics are a tiny minority and have been killed for not believing in some wacked-out version of Islam. The Armed Forces of the Philippines didn't have to bring in more boots from the mainland to chase Malik.

Jolo rises steeply out of the island-dotted Sulu Sea. Thick clouds hover above jagged volcanic peaks on this green and brown patch of tropical forest. Could there be smoke mixed in there too? A little fear mixed with anticipation is playing a few tricks on my mind. I'm on a Weesam-owned fastcraft ship approaching the city, wondering if it is being shelled or not.

There's something to be said for being at the right place at the right time. And I'm glad the cosmos came together for my first photographs of the US military. Though it wasn't the most exciting shoot in the world, a C-17 originating in Fort McChord, Washington landed to drop off supplies 30 minutes after my plane arrived in Zamboanga. About 500 US soldiers, many of them Special Forces stationed in Japan or Hawaii, are rotating out of their 6-mont stint in the southern Philippines.

A grizzly photo on the front page of today's Philippine Daily Inquirer's made me gulp and think about where I'm heading tomorrow. It was a 1-megapixel image spread over 7 columns of the seven, headless bodies found in Jolo. They actually weren't found. The Abu Sayyaf apparently took the time to deliver the heads to an Army camp in the town of Parang. Maj.

These photographs were taken by Ryan Anson on a previous trip to Mindanao, prior to his Pulitzer Center reporting project in 2007.

Jolo is a volcanic island in the southwest Philippines. It has a population of approximately 300,000 people. Jolo is also the name of the town on the island which serves as the capital of the province of Sulu. About a third of the island's population live in the municipality of Jolo. Fighting on the island intensified in February 2005 when between 4,000 and 5,000 Philippine troops clashed with around 800 Islamist militants from the Abu Sayyaf group, along with followers of Nur Misuari. Up to 12,000 people were thought to have fled the fighting. (Source: wikipedia)

Fareed Zakaria interviewed David Enders on Foreign Exchange. Just back from Iraq, David describes a stagnating, often deteriorating security situation, a central government unable to provide basic services to Iraqi citizens, and the rise of militias as the real authority in many areas. The interview is a sobering counterpoint to recent official reports from the region and is, in our view, essential viewing as the Bush administration presents its much-touted "progress report" on Iraq.

We stopped our car along the main road that snakes from Kigali, Rwanda's capital, to the country's western region. We were heading to the volcanoes that soar along the northwest border for a story about mountain gorillas and what has happened to their habitat. But the light was good now, streaking through the rainy season's ever-present clouds, and the cameraman I was traveling with wanted to shoot.

"Another Darfur?" aired as the In Focus piece on Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria.