Things heat up in the Philippines

Talk about timing. I've been arranging for months to embed with a small U.S. Special Operations unit in the Philippines, known as the Joint Special Operations Task Force (pronounced jay-sot-off).

I arrived in the capital of Manila on Saturday night and woke up the next morning to discover that the worst fighting in five years had broken out between the Filipino military and a rebel group, known as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The MILF, as it's known, is fighting for an expanded autnonomous Muslim region in the southern Philippines, or for a separate Islamic state, depending on whom you talk to.

American troops here are barred from combat, as every U.S. soldier and diplomat I encounter is constantly reminding me. The US military came here six years ago to stop the Philippines from becoming a safe haven for terrorist groups such as Jemaah Islamiyaah and the Abu Sayyaf Group that have al Qaida links. They provide intel support, help train the Filipino military and work with the Filipino government to build roads, conduct medical clinics and other efforts that increase the population's confidence in the government. (In fighting terrorism, that's called "draining the swamp.")

Still, from my bunk here at a base in Cotabato City, I can hear planes and helos coming and going from the conflict area. Two Filipino soliders and an unknown number of MILF fighters have been killed, and perhaps 100,000 people have been displaced (estimates differ slightly).

Philippine Army Maj. Gen. Raymondo Ferrer, the local commander, told me the fighting could well get worse, especially if the country's Supreme Court completely junks a draft peace agreement that the court put on hold earlier this month.

All this may seem like small potatoes compared to Russia's gobbling up of portions of Georgia, the medal race at the Olympics and the presidential campaign.

But the Muslim-Christian conflict here, more over land and resources than religion, mirrors sectarian conflicts in places as far-flung as Baghdad and the Palestinian territories. And while major acts of international terror have been absent from the region lately, groups with roots in Southeast Asia have played a role in the worst terror attacks of the 21st Century, from the 9/11 plot to the Bali bombings.