Manila Times: Bush Targetted for Assasination in the Philippines

Is there any truth to this?

THE communist New People’s Army has deployed at least 50 of its “elite, highly trained” troops in Metro Manila to carry out an assassination assignment on US President George W. Bush, who is scheduled to visit the country on October 18, military sources said.

Requesting anonymity, the source said the deployment began as early as August “to establish an intelligence network” that would relay information and details to the NPA chain of command about Bush’s eight-hour visit.

“Their first assignment is to link up with front organizations [of the NPA] and, from there, share intelligence information so that an effective assassination plan would be established,” the source said, declining to identify the front organizations.

The guerrillas tasked to carry out the assassination, the source said, are all marksmen who have undergone extensive training in Southern Luzon for that purpose.

Individuals supportive of the NPA cause in Metro Manila will provide refuge to the assassins during their stay before October 18, the source added without elaborating.

My impression is that the Secret Service and Condoleezza Rice would rather see Pres. Bush bypass the Philippines in his itinerary because of the "risks involved" in visiting the Philippines (JI and Al Queda terrorism, assasination), but the US president wants to do Mrs. Arroyo a favor for supporting the America's "War on Terror".

It will be a short, short Phiilppine visit for the US president though... only 8 hours. Understandable, since the Secret Service would want to move Bush out of the country as soon as possible.

So Mrs. Arroyo has only 8 hours to make the most out of Bush's visit and get that "endorsement" from him in preparation for her 2004 presidential run.